A leading fishing organisation has welcomed a High Court ruling which has effectively led to a Department of the Marine ban of vessels over 18 metres fishing within the six-mile nautical limit being overturned. In that ruling, Mr Justice MacGrath found the policy directive was a national measure designed to further the interests of inshore fishermen and protect ecosystems and he didn’t accept it was “disproportionate” in its impact. And this week he confirmed that the effect of his ruling in July was to render the directive void and without any legal effect, paving the way for the owners of vessels over 18 metres to resume fishing inside the six-mile limit. Mr Minihane and Mr Kennedy had argued their trawlers The Celtic Quest, the Fiona K III and the Ocean Venture II, all of which exceed 18 metres, were prohibited from fishing for herring and bull mackerel inside the six-mile limit. “Mr Justice Michael McGrath has found in favour of the two applicants, Neil Minihane and Tom Kennedy that the ban on over 18 metre vessels fishing inside the six-mile limit was not good law,” he told The Skipper magazine.

Source: The Irish Times October 11, 2020 14:15 UTC