Greystones fishermen protest at bye laws excluding their way of life - Habour has been taken over by Privateers

wicklow | rights, freedoms and repression | press release

Thursday August 07, 2014 00:23

by pbp

Press release from Greystones fishermen 1 August 2014

Greystones Harbour was opened to the public almost two years ago, in November 2012. The marina opened for summer 2013.

However, despite written agreements and promises from the developer, the commercial fishers of Greystones have been refused access to the harbour and promised berths or moorings have not been offered to us.

We are today entering the harbour and landing freshly caught fish, against regulations, as a protest against this continued exclusion from the harbour, which only two weeks ago included the removal of mooring cleats from the harbour’s north pier in order to prevent boats tying up.

fishing_boat_enters_greystones_harbour_taken_over_by_privateers_2014.jpg

Press release from Greystones fishermen 1 August 2014

Greystones Harbour was opened to the public almost two years ago, in November 2012. The marina opened for summer 2013.

However, despite written agreements and promises from the developer, the commercial fishers of Greystones have been refused access to the harbour and promised berths or moorings have not been offered to us.

We are today entering the harbour and landing freshly caught fish, against regulations, as a protest against this continued exclusion from the harbour, which only two weeks ago included the removal of mooring cleats from the harbour’s north pier in order to prevent boats tying up.
Greystones Harbour was opened to the public almost two years ago, in November 2012. The marina opened for summer 2013.

However, despite written agreements and promises from the developer, the commercial fishers of Greystones have been refused access to the harbour and promised berths or moorings have not been offered to us.

We are today entering the harbour and landing freshly caught fish, against regulations, as a protest against this continued exclusion from the harbour, which only two weeks ago included the removal of mooring cleats from the harbour’s north pier in order to prevent boats tying up.

We want to return to Greystones after seven years of exclusion. Greystones was founded as a fishing village several hundred years ago, and commercial fishing has always been based here in this harbour.

We want to come back. It has been far too long.

And until we are permitted under harbour regulations, we will continue to fish and land fish here as a protest against our exclsuion.

We are also protesting the terms of Draft Harbour Bye-Laws published by Wicklow County Council which cover commercial fishing. The clauses covering fishing are so restrictive that they would effectively prevent commercial fishermen from carrying on business in the harbour.

The only right fishing crews would have under these bye-laws would be to moor their boats. No storage facilities, no bait, and no sales would be permitted. For fishermen, the harbour would be only a boat park, and not a normal harbour where buyers can come direct to fishing boats to negotiate and buy fish.

We are asking all of Wicklow’s county councillors to oppose these clauses of the Bye-Laws when they are discussed at the council, and to replace them with clauses which will allow fishermen to carry on business fully in Greystones Harbour, as they have always done until 2007.

End

Draft Bye-Laws can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/1tCcpKP