Large trawler restrictions welcome but careful management still needed
Fishing boats trawling for sprats at dusk on the River Suir, between Waterford and Wexford, with the Blackstairs Mountains visible in the background. Picture: RollingNews.ie
The Government recently announced that, from October 2026, trawling activity by boats over 18metres will be prohibited from fishing within six nautical miles of the coast. This includes seine nets (nets that are dragged through the water column) and bottom trawls.
It follows a campaign by fishermen in small boats (also called the inshore fleet), NGOs, anglers and coastal communities that has been on-going for more than a decade. It has been a long road to get to this point, but will it finally result in pressure being lifted on important ecosystems and in particular the small whale populations that have abandoned the south coast in recent years for want of food?
