A Court of Appeal judgment has ruled that the Government policy directive introducing a ban on trawling inside the six nautical-mile limit is invalid, and of no legal effect.

The judgment by Mr Justice Murray relates to an appeal taken by Dingle-based fisherman Tom Kennedy and Castletownbere-based fisherman Neil Minihane over a policy directive introduced by the then Marine Minister Michael Creed on March 5, 2019.

The Irish Wildlife Trust has described the judgment as “dreadful news for marine life in coastal waters as the courts once again overturn a ban on trawling due to a technicality”.

“This was to have come into effect three years ago, but pair trawling and other destruction continues,” the IWT said in a post on social media and reported by the Irish Examiner.

The policy directive initiated by Mr Creed had ruled that all vessels over 18m in overall length would be banned from using trawl or seine nets inside six nautical miles, including inside the Irish coast baselines, from January 1, 2020.

The Court of Appeal found that the failure of the minister and the department to notify Britain and the EU of conservation and management measures that would affect non-Irish vessels rendered the policy directive as invalid.

After the six-mile ban was introduced, both Mr Kennedy and Mr Minihane had taken a judicial review, and the High Court found in their favour in October 2020. However, an appeal was lodged in November 2020 by Marine Minister Charlie McConalogue.

The ban was temporarily reinstated in 2021 by the Court of Appeal, resulting in another round of legal action by the fishermen.

Wildlife Trust write to Ministers

The Irish Wildlife Trust has written to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, and Minister for Biodiversity and Land Use, Pippa Hackett, urging them to act swiftly to protect inshore waters and to ban all trawling within six nautical miles of the coast.

The original ban only applied to trawling with vessels over 18m; however, the Wildlife Trust believes that new measures must go much further. This means banning the use of all mobile/towed gears in these waters. This would include bottom and mid-water trawling as well as dredging the seafloor.

To read more see the Irish Wildlife Trust site and visit the Skipper and Irish Examiner.