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The Irish Wildlife Trust welcomes the announcement made today on the long overdue 6 nautical mile (nm) trawling ban. It has been announced that from the 1st of October 2026, trawling by vessels over 18m in the 6 nautical mile zone around Ireland’s coasts will be prohibited. From the 1st of October 2025, vessels over 18m fishing for sprat in the 6nm zone will require authorisation to do so and there will be a limited total allowable catch (TAC) of 2,000 tonnes of sprat for vessels over 18m in length.
Grace Carr, Marine Advocacy Officer for The Irish Wildlife Trust said,
‘It is vital that there are effective resources available to record catches of sprat. Unfortunately, current monitoring of landings falls below what is needed to ensure sustainable fisheries and if the Government is serious about listening to the public and putting in effective measures around the sprat fishery, they need to have more people on the ground monitoring the situation. We are happy to see that there is movement in the right direction on this issue and hope that this ban will not be overturned again. Aside from the ban, there needs to be effective management plans put in place for inshore fisheries, including sprat, to ensure a thriving marine environment and a sustainable livelihood for fishing communities.’
Map of 6nm zone
The Irish Wildlife Trust believes that there needs to be further clarity on how these measures will be implemented, specifically the total allowable catch limit proposed for larger boats from October this year. Greater monitoring of landings needs to occur as sprat could potentially be landed and declared as other species, such as anchovy. Observers from the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) should be there physically to record what is being landed. This will require greater resources to be given to the SFPA to achieve this, as without sufficient monitoring, there will be no way of ensuring that the 2,000 tonne limit is adhered to. ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) have said that no more than 2,000 tonnes of sprat should be taken from Irish waters, but for many years over 14,000 tonnes has been taken (aside from 2022 when just under 8,000 tonnes was taken when the previous ban was in place). Having a TAC of 2,000 tonnes for vessels over 18m means that Ireland will still be exceeding the recommended 2,000 limit as vessels under 18m will also be fishing for sprat.
The Irish Wildlife Trust have advocated on this issue for many years and submitted to the last public consultation at the beginning of 2024 when they called for the option of implementing a ban on vessels over 18m trawling within the baselines and 6 nautical miles around the Irish coast.
Grace Carr of IWT added that “there was huge engagement from the public on this issue during the 2024 consultation and we would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to support this conservation measure over the last few years.”
Contact
Grace Carr, Irish Wildlife Trust Marine Advocacy Officer, grace@iwt.ie