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The Chief Executive Officer of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation has said some of their members plan to peacefully disrupt Russia's plans to conduct a military exercise in waters off the Irish coast next month.
Patrick Murphy described the area as "very important" for fishermen and said they want to protect biodiversity and marine life.
Yesterday, Russia's Ambassador to Ireland said the controversy around the military exercise was "hugely overblown".
In a press conference in the Russian Embassy in Dublin, Yury Filatov said the exercise was "not in any way a threat to Ireland or anybody else" and he said no harm is intended by it.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Murphy said there are currently half a billion tonnes of blue whiting in the area that move up along the coastline.
"That's a one million tonne fishery – not just for ourselves but for the Russian fleet as well too," he said.
"So there's fierce risks in this. We feel that this is serious. You just had the minister on, Eamon Ryan, saying how critical fuel is.
"This is the same for us. This isn't about €100 per person, this is the livelihoods of fishermen and fishing families all around the coastline here.
"We've already seen 25% of what we were allowed to catch taken from us in the Brexit negotiations, and the cure to that is to wipe out one third of the fleet again? Another 60 boats are looking to be decommissioned by this Government."
Mr Murphy said they are entitled to fish there, describing it as "our waters".
"Can you imagine if the Russians were applying to go onto the mainland of Ireland to go launching rockets, how far would they get with that?" Mr Murphy said.
"It's no different to fishermen, this is our ground, this is our farm, this is where we earn our living.
"Why should somebody be able to come in and do that in our waters... this is going to affect our livelihoods and the marine life... there's seismic activity out there for years and it actually changed the migratory pattern of tuna at one stage.
"So this is a very important ground where fish come to spawn... and we don't know what's going on out here.
"We should be entitled to go fishing there, and if we're fishing there then these boats, these warships shouldn't be having war games."
Mr Murphy added that the ships will be followed by submarines and asked what would happen if the fishing gear at the back of their boats got tangled with a submarine.
He said this is a "real concern" and boats have been sunk by these vessels before.
"We in our industry feel nothing's being done here, like everything else, and we want to act," he said.
"We're not going to face down boats, we're not going to take them on that way, but we are definitely making a point here and we want our Government to do something for us.
"Getting rid of us is not the cure, trust me."
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath, said the Government was "concerned" about Russia's plans for a military exercise.
Speaking on way into Cabinet this morning, Mr McGrath said: "It is a very unwelcome and unnecessary development at a time of rising tensions given the very significant build-up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border."
He said measures to deescalate those tensions were needed.
"We are all looking forward to a new environment with the worst of Covid behind us and the last thing we need are these geopolitical tensions to cause serious problems economically, or worse still to translate into actual military action, which is a place that nobody wants to go," Mr McGrath said.
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Patrick Murphy described the area as "very important" for fishermen and said they want to protect biodiversity and marine life.
Yesterday, Russia's Ambassador to Ireland said the controversy around the military exercise was "hugely overblown".
In a press conference in the Russian Embassy in Dublin, Yury Filatov said the exercise was "not in any way a threat to Ireland or anybody else" and he said no harm is intended by it.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Murphy said there are currently half a billion tonnes of blue whiting in the area that move up along the coastline.
"That's a one million tonne fishery – not just for ourselves but for the Russian fleet as well too," he said.
"So there's fierce risks in this. We feel that this is serious. You just had the minister on, Eamon Ryan, saying how critical fuel is.
"This is the same for us. This isn't about €100 per person, this is the livelihoods of fishermen and fishing families all around the coastline here.
"We've already seen 25% of what we were allowed to catch taken from us in the Brexit negotiations, and the cure to that is to wipe out one third of the fleet again? Another 60 boats are looking to be decommissioned by this Government."
Mr Murphy said they are entitled to fish there, describing it as "our waters".
"Can you imagine if the Russians were applying to go onto the mainland of Ireland to go launching rockets, how far would they get with that?" Mr Murphy said.
"It's no different to fishermen, this is our ground, this is our farm, this is where we earn our living.
"Why should somebody be able to come in and do that in our waters... this is going to affect our livelihoods and the marine life... there's seismic activity out there for years and it actually changed the migratory pattern of tuna at one stage.
"So this is a very important ground where fish come to spawn... and we don't know what's going on out here.
"We should be entitled to go fishing there, and if we're fishing there then these boats, these warships shouldn't be having war games."
Mr Murphy added that the ships will be followed by submarines and asked what would happen if the fishing gear at the back of their boats got tangled with a submarine.
He said this is a "real concern" and boats have been sunk by these vessels before.
"We in our industry feel nothing's being done here, like everything else, and we want to act," he said.
"We're not going to face down boats, we're not going to take them on that way, but we are definitely making a point here and we want our Government to do something for us.
"Getting rid of us is not the cure, trust me."
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath, said the Government was "concerned" about Russia's plans for a military exercise.
Speaking on way into Cabinet this morning, Mr McGrath said: "It is a very unwelcome and unnecessary development at a time of rising tensions given the very significant build-up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border."
He said measures to deescalate those tensions were needed.
"We are all looking forward to a new environment with the worst of Covid behind us and the last thing we need are these geopolitical tensions to cause serious problems economically, or worse still to translate into actual military action, which is a place that nobody wants to go," Mr McGrath said.
Fishermen plan to disrupt Russian military exercise
The Chief Executive Officer of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation has said some of their members plan to peacefully disrupt Russia's plans to conduct a military exercise in waters off the Irish coast next month.
) , that just leaves us with voting in the Left Wing if we want a change....
