The Irish Sea has been closed to Dublin Bay prawn fishing from this week until next Spring. The prawn, nephrops norvegicus is the Irish Sea’s most valuable harvest and has been a key component of Irish fishing for several years. The species is one of the more robust species in the Sea, thanks to the overfishing of Cod, which is a predator. Nephrops trawling also tends to have cod bycatch, so undermining the Cod Recovery Plan. The fishery was closed because the sector had used up their fishing days, but I would guess that the European Commission is behind this.
