A BANTRY woman has become the 5000th person to sign the Save Our Sprat petition

The petition campaigns for a moratorium on all sprat fishing in Irish waters until environmental studies are undertaken and enough data is compiled to ensure sustainable practices.

Sprat are small fish and are important for both marine and birdlife.

They are considered a keystone species, meaning that they play a large role in the marine ecosystem as a primary source of food for many species including cod, humpback whales and dolphins.

The petition’s 5000th signatory was Meabh Harrington, who has lived near the sea in Bantry for her whole life.

She grew up fishing mackerel in the summer, so sustainable fishing is a cause close to her heart.

‘I hate seeing the pair trawlers in the bay. They are decimating the sprat population and destroying the ecosystem,’ she said.

Meabh believes that overfishing of sprat has led to the shortening of the mackerel fishing season, and an overall reduction in the size of fish.

She concluded that seeing the trawlers in the bay makes her ‘sad and angry’.

‘The government needs to sort these problems out and protect our environmental resources sooner rather than later.’

Despite the Government announcing restrictions on trawling activity last July, the Save Our Sprat campaign group believe the real issue is going unaddressed.

From September 1st 2026, all vessels over 18 metres in length, including those targeting sprat – will be fully excluded from trawling inside the six nautical mile zone.

SOS say that a ban on specific boat sizes will not address the potential depletion of the sprat species.

They claim that advances in technology enable smaller trawling boats to catch similar volumes of fish to the soon-to-be-banned larger vessels.