Brave ‘guardians’ send Russia sailing
There was a victory of sorts for Ireland this week when the Russian Navy backed down from its plans to carry out military drills in waters critical to the livelihoods of Cork fishermen.
The decision to back down came as a result of objections raised by a number of Irish government departments, as well as the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation which is based in Castletownbere.
The exercise was set to take place approximately 240km off the Cork coast and comes as tensions between the Ukraine and Russia continue to grow.
In a statement, Russian Ambassador in Ireland, Yury Filatov said: “In response to the requests from the Irish Government, as well as from the Irish South and West Fish Producer's Organisation, the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation Sergey Shoigu has made a decision, as a gesture of goodwill, to relocate the exercises by the Russian Navy, planned for February 3-8, outside the Irish exclusive economic zone (EEZ), with the aim not to hinder fishing activities by the Irish vessels in the traditional fishing areas.”
Fishermen from the Rebel County and beyond promised to carry out a peaceful protest to stop the military drill which was set to take place within Ireland's Exclusive Economic Zone this week. According to the CEO of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation Patrick Murphy, the live gunnery and missile firing exercise originally planned to start today, Thursday, could have resulted in catastrophic environmental damage.
He said: “We believe the seas around Ireland are our workplace and while it can be a dangerous and hostile environment to make a living from, we and our natural resources deserve the right to protection from unnecessary and dangerous actions by foreign powers.
“Concern was also raised by fishermen within surrounding the likelihood of increased submerged submarine traffic by both Russian and NATO forces transiting the Porcupine Bank fishing grounds off the west coast for the duration of the exercises.
“It would be infinitely preferable if these naval exercises were relocated further south to waters outside of our EEZ, beyond our 200 mile limit and away from our fishing grounds. As multi-generational fishing families, our members are the guardians and custodians of our waters,” concluded Mr Murphy.