27-05-2025
Seas off Cork a 'marine desert' due to overfishing of sprat, says owner of whale-watching business
Government apathy and inaction towards fish conservation has led to parts of the ocean becoming lifeless marine deserts, a respected whale watching expert has said.
Skipper Colin Barnes, who has spent more than half a century monitoring Irish waters and who gave up commercial fishing in 2001 to set up one of Ireland's first whale-watching businesses, said the whales have left his search area of ocean off Cork because the sprat they feed on has been fished to near extinction in that area.
'It's devastating to see what were once rich fishing grounds become so barren because of the unregulated fishing of keystone species like sprat by just a handful of trawlers,' he said.
Sprat are a vital species. They make the seas rich, because everything eats them, other fish, seabirds, dolphins, whales, but they aren't worth as much money as salmon so no one has done anything about the overfishing.
'But because they have been overfished to the point of extinction in some areas, the place has become lifeless.
Sprat are a tiny fish but an important food source for larger fish, sea birds, seals, dolphins and whales.
'I've seen it over the 53 years I've been watching these waters. The place used to be heaving with wildlife, but now it's a marine desert.'
He made his comments after confirming the closure of his Union Hall-based Cork Whale Watch business after 25 years in operation.
It comes just weeks after a public meeting in West Cork led to calls on the Government to ban all fishing of sprat in inshore coastal waters, ahead of the next fishing season, which opens in October.
Sprat are a tiny fish but an important food source for larger fish, sea birds, seals, dolphins and whales.
They normally come into sheltered bays to spawn at the beginning of October but campaigners say the sprat are being overfished in their tonnes by Irish trawlers and if it continues, the species will be wiped out, leaving lifeless waters behind.
When they are caught, most sprat are sold to fish farms as fishmeal. It takes roughly 3-5kg of fishmeal to produce 1kg of farmed salmon.
In 2019, government efforts to introduce a ban on fishing of sprat in inshore waters were successfully challenged in the courts.
In 2024, the then minister for the marine launched a public consultation to invite views on introducing the ban again.
Common dolphin: Organisers of a meeting in Bantry earlier this month say a petition of some 1,400 signatures backing a ban on sprat fishing has been gathered.
It attracted more than 5,500 submissions before the closing date of April 2024, but campaigners say more than a full year on, nothing has happened.
The organisers of a meeting in Bantry earlier this month say a petition of some 1,400 signatures backing the ban has been gathered.
They also hope to join forces with communities in other affected bays along the coast to put pressure on the Government.
The minister of state with responsibility for nature and biodiversity, Cork South West Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O'Sullivan, said if someone with Colin Barnes' experience is crying out for something to be done, the Government must sit up and pay attention.
'We have to introduce measures 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," he said.
The Department of Marine is working to ensure its latest proposals are robust, he said.
And he said a similar ban introduced in the UK has had a positive effect there and he hopes Ireland will follow suit soon.
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