‘Greedy' fishermen blamed for driving whales from Irish coast

Telegraph

31-05-2025

A whale-watching boss has blamed overfishing for driving cetaceans away from the Irish coast as he announced his firm was going out of business.
Colin Barnes announced the closure of Cork Whale Watch after 25 years in business, saying 'greedy fishermen' had ruined what used to be a premier wildlife destination.
He said overfishing on the south coast by large trawlers meant sprat fish, the main food source for whales, had been fished almost to extinction, driving the humpbacks and other species elsewhere in search of food.
'Sadly, our world-class whale watching is now a thing of the past. A small number of greedy fishermen with huge trawlers have overfished the sprats to the point of near extinction,' Mr Barnes wrote on social media.
'There is nothing left for the whales to prey upon so they have moved on in search of prey elsewhere.'
Mr Barnes, who has 53 years of experience in Irish waters and started his whale-watching business after leaving commercial fishing, said the change has been dramatic.
He explained commercial trawlers fish for sprat in September and October when they are spawning. The fish pack themselves together and allows the fishermen to catch vast quantities of them at the same time.
Mr Barnes said the depletion of stocks was an 'ecological disaster'.
'At the start of our first season in 2001 it became very clear to me that we had world-class whale watching in the waters off the West Cork coastline, featuring 3 species of baleen whales, fin, humpback and minke whales amongst huge numbers of common dolphins,' Mr Barnes added in his post.
'All we have now in our search area is just a few minke whales and small groups of dolphins, and over the last couple of years our trips have become totally disappointing.'
Mr Barnes said whale activity peaked in November 2004 when a massive sprat shoal brought together what he estimated as 75 fin whales, 15 humpbacks and 150 to 200 minke whales 'amongst common dolphins in thousands'.
'There was never again such a gathering of so many cetaceans since then,' he said.
Mr Barnes told The Irish Times: 'I've given it up in disgust. There is loads of plankton but the bird life is gone and the fish are gone. It's an empty, lifeless sea.'
Sprat, small sardine-like fish, are crucial to the marine food web, but increased demand for fishmeal from fish farms has intensified commercial fishing of the species.
The closure of Mr Barnes's business has prompted Irish government officials to promise action.
Christopher O'Sullivan, the minister responsible for nature and biodiversity, said measures must be introduced 'to protect this forage species, not just for whales, but for all the other fish stocks and wildlife that depend on it – to prevent the collapse of an entire food web.'
Mr O'Sullivan said Ireland hopes to emulate UK restrictions on sprat fishing, which have shown positive effects.
Mark Gannon, who operates Atlantic Whale and Wildlife Tours from Courtmacsherry, agreed with Mr Barnes and said there was a severe decline in wildlife off the coast of Ireland due to overfishing.
'It's a devastating form of fishing,' Mr Gannon said. 'It's like a farmer taking all the grass out of his fields and expecting his cows to thrive.'