Many years ago at the turn of the 20th century, the fishing vessels, the small nickies and nobbies, that visited Ardglass fishing port during the herring would have have been in their hundreds stretching out across the harbour to the rocks on far side. It was a splendid sight, but today, the landings of herring are completed in a different way, much changed through the advances of technology.
Large pelagic trawlers now arrive to unload their catch of herring in Ardglass. These come mainly from the South West of Ireland. The Havilah and Stephanie M, vessels registered in Northern Ireland now land their catch in Belfast or occasionally in Bangor harbours.
Fishing vessels have grown hugely ion size and one of todays pelagic trawlers could catch as much as the fleet would have caught in by-gone days. And therein lies and issue. The old fishing vessels had a very shallow draught and could slip in and out of the harbour at their convenience. But the new 80-feet trawlers have a draught of almost 20-feet and this is causing a major problem with landing at Ardglass harbour.
These big trawlers tend now to wait for high water to clear the sea bed in the harbour for fear of damage which would be very costly to repair.
Comgall Milligan, Chairman of Ardglass Harbour Developments (AHD), a social enterprise set up to initially ensure that the harbour is improved, said: “The herring boats that come into our harbour have got that bit bigger and are now literally hitting the bottom of the sea bed.
“This can cause a serious problem if there is a swell running and the boats are slammed on to the botttom repeatedly. It can damage their hulls, propellors and sonar gear. So skippers are very wary about coming in blindly. They have to off-load their catch onto tankers fairly quickly and clear the space for the next vessel in the queue.
“All of this costs time and money. The two pelagic processing factories in Ardglass take most of this herring annually and it involves lorries driving the tankers up to the quay and the herring being pumped into the tankers which travel a short distance to the factories for processing. The Irish Sea herring do not travel well so the sooner we can process them the better the final product will be. They will usually be turned into fillets and frozen and stored in the huge cold store that we have. We could unload two vessels simultaneously is the harbour were deepened.
“That is the crux of the matter. Ardglass harbour has over the past ten years received a fraction of what the other two fishing ports have received in capital development. The whole industry is affected – not just the herring and mackerel sector but the prawn vessels too have considerable issue with berthing, including the under 30-feet sector which fishes mainly for crab and lobster.
“Essentially we need the harbour deepened. This will be expensive but we are at that historical point when we have to decide on infrastructural investment. DAERA and a number of government departments have a stake in this.
“Ardglass has been a fishing harbour for at least 200+ years but now needs an injection of capital from government.
“We need the main harbour area deepened to accomodate the big pelagic vessels, and following on from that, we need other areas deepened to improve a new berthing regime. in the harbour. Ardglass has around 35 fishing vessels. Sometimes the trawlers are lying berthed seven deep from the quay and this creates ware and tare on the boats as well as safety issues for the crew. And access to and from this mound of boats is nigh near impossible. Something has to be done.
“One solution put forward by our Board is that a pontoon be installed in the harbour for the small vessels, similar to that in Portavogie and Kilkeel where fishermen can access the pontoon via a secure gate. But this ill probably require some deepening of the inner part of the harbour.”
Also, Mr Milligan explained that the Board of Ardglass Harbour Developments are agreed that a boat repair facility would be a great benefit to the port. It would save much much lost time and cost in travelling to either Portavogie or Kilkeel where slips are available. “We have been denied a boat repair facility for years and now we are calling on this as a necessity.
“Many vessels in the Ardglass fleet have wooden hulls and because of the incidence of gribble worm in the sea bed which attacks the hulls, the vessels have to be dried out for a week each year to be maintained properly. And one of teh key benefits of building a repair facility in Ardglass is that it will create employment eg engineers, welders, marine electricians, ship cartwrights, painters, cleaners etc.”
Newry Mourne and Down District Councillor Dermot Curran who lives in Ardglass said: “I am delighted that the AHD group are making progress on all fronts. To date they have met with a number of agencies and politicians who have their hands on the decision-making process and have explained their case well.
“I have from the start supported their work and recognise that the harbour must be deepened as a first major step to other works. It will no doubt take time and a significant amount of money, but the Board of AHD have spoken to a top engineering company and are confident that the works comprising the deepening, the boat repair facility and new pontoon can be completed at a reasonable cost and will provide real value for money securing Ardglass as a fishing port for generations to come.”
To date Ardglass Harbour Developments has met with the ad hoc group comprised of Newry Mourne and Down District Council, the Strategic Investment Board, and NIFHA. They have received visits from South Down MP Chris Hazzard and Martina Anderson MEP, from the Shadow Secretary of State and the Shadow Minister of State, and they are waiting on a date for a visit from the DAERA Permanent Secretary, Denis McMahon. Jim Shannon MP has also bee contacted and the Board are awaiting a reply from his office.
AHD Board members have met with representatives from the Kilkeel Social Partnership driving the proposals for Kilkeel, and took part in a joint discussion with the ad hoc development group (mentioned above) to try and find a pathway forward.
DAERA has now agreed that Ardglass will receive the same consideration as Kilkeel in its development plan. Newry Mourne and Down District Council has agreed at a meeting also to support the cost of a technical feasibility study for Ardglass in the Northern Ireland fishing industry context. The Strategic Investment Board are to appoint a consultant for this task shortly.
Mr Milligan added: “We set up our group over a year ago and we have presented our case fairly well to the various authorities. We are all looking forward now to the feasibility study which should hopefully set out what is technically and financially feasible.
“Our community depends very much on the fishing industry.
