The issue over sprat, an essential forage fish that is critical in our coastal ecosystems, providing a link between zooplankton and higher predators such as whales, dolphins, sharks, seabirds, seals and of course other fish, including commercial species, is coming to a head.
On the table of the Minister of State (Marine), Timmy Dooley (FF) are four options:
- business as usual
- a ban on all pair trawling
- a ban on all trawling by vessels over 15m in length
- a ban on all trawling by vessels over 18m.
The IWDG, in its latest submission, chose the option preventing vessels over 18m from trawling inside 6nml on the basis of maximising the environmental benefit while balancing fairness to the fishing fleet (see https://iwdg.ie/fishing-inside-6nm-consultation).
However, we have also advocated for a moratorium on all sprat fishing in our coastal waters. There is no management plan for sprat (or any forage fish in Irish waters such as sand eels) and no quota is allocated to them. Without a detailed understanding of the stock, precautionary advice by ICES recommends an annual catch of sprat not exceeding 2,240 tonnes, however landings for the past few years have been many times that figure. A moratorium should be considered to enable the Marine Institute to collect and process the appropriate data to support a sustainable quota.
Or maybe forage fish should just be left alone, to enable them to live up to their name and be foraged! They are far more valuable if the energy they constitute moves up the trophic food chain so that they benefit species at higher trophic levels… our great whales in particular.
IWDG attended the ICES workshop on a research Roadmap for Channel and Celtic Seas Sprat (WKRRCCSS) in September 2022 and reviewed the available knowledge on the importance of sprat to key marine predators. We suggested that “Fn (fishing mortality) in fishery models should ensure enough sprat is available to not only maintain current populations of key predators but to facilitate population increases, as many of these species are under pressure and declining”.
Most, if not all sprat fishing by Irish boats occurs within the 12nm territorial waters and thus are managed by the Irish state without having recourse to the EU. We would argue that forage fish such as sprat should be left to be foraged and that no extraction be permitted within 12nmls. If quotas are to be set, they should be highly precautionary, until sufficient data on their life-history especially fecundity, recruitment, longevity and stock structure (movements) have been carried out.
The recent Save Our Sprat campaign, originating in the southwest, is very welcome and timely. This campaign is gathering momentum and IWDG understand that at a recent meeting in Bantry on May 18th 2025, the fishers currently targeting sprat by vessels >18m were in attendance and had the floor. They were listened to although perhaps not agreed with.
Colin Barnes recently announced that he is quitting whale watching due primarily to the absence of whales in local west Cork waters, due to the lack of their preferred prey (sprat), which is the reason they visit Irish coastal waters. There is no doubt whale numbers off west Cork have declined dramatically in recent years, but numbers further north off north Mayo and Sligo/Donegal have increased, showing whales are moving north with their preferred prey, seeking cooler waters. Maybe more southerly distributed species such as anchovies and sardines will continue to push north into the south coast of Ireland, and there is some evidence of this in catch data. These are also good prey sources for whales and dolphins. Will the whales switch to this new prey source? Time will tell.
The IWDG have been raising the issue of unregulated sprat fishing for over 20 years. Initially, we were concerned that removing hundreds of tonnes of forage fish from the Lower River Shannon SAC, established to protect a small, resident and genetically discrete population of bottlenose dolphins, would impact negatively on them and was inconsistent with conservation objectives. Successive Ministers have acknowledged our concerns, and in 2014 the Minister referred to a Natura Screening exercise for commercial fishing in SACs carried out by the Marine Institute which concluded there would be no impact on dolphins (http://www.fishingnet.ie). IWDG challenged this as inaccurate and disagreed with using obscure references on bottlenose dolphin diet from New Zealand and using stable isotopes rather than looking at evidence in Ireland.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister of State Timmy Dooley both recently informed the IWDG, and other marine eNGOs, that a determination on the trawling inside 6nm consultation held last year is imminent. Minister Dooley explained that the reason it has taken so long is the drive to make the determination absolutely watertight, and that there should be no legal room for further judicial review by the fishing industry. Unfortunately, there will likely be a two-year delay before the new determination will be fully enforced, but government considers this to be a less risky strategy in terms of getting it over the line and avoiding yet another successful legal challenge by the industry
At a time of increasing pressure on our inshore waters, with offshore renewables, marine protected areas and other marine spatial planning issues, there is no doubt fishermen are facing a “spatial squeeze”. This is a great opportunity for a proper, evidence-based, long-term, all inclusive, sympathetic but ambitious plan to be developed for our coastal waters. Rather than a piecemeal approach to management, let’s embrace a holistic, adaptive approach which will ultimately benefit all stakeholders.
Restricting fishing effort on sprat (and other forage fish), is an important first step to building a more healthy relationship with our seas, those species that live in them, and for coastal communities who are struggling to sustain a viable living.
Be bold Minister and be ambitious, this could be your legacy.
Minke whale feeding on forage fish off West Cork © Pádraig Whooley/IWDG
Link to first submission: (June 2018) https://iwdg.ie/iwdg-submission-to-consultation-on-restriction-of-pair-trawling/
IWDG very concerned about pair trawling in the Shannon Estuary (December 2017): https://iwdg.ie/updated-iwdg-very-concerned-about-pair-trawling-in-the-shannon-estuary/