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Displaying items by tag: Aoife Casey

#Rowing: Ireland's lightweight double of Aoife Casey and Denise Walsh took fifth in their C Final, 17th overall at the World Rowing Championships in Linz-Ottensheim this morning. China were strong winners. Ireland came from sixth to fifth in the second half of the race. They had the fastest final 500 metres but were held out of fourth by Germany - by .68 of a second.

World Rowing Championshiops, Linz-Ottensheim, Day Seven (Irish interest)

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls - C Final (Places 13 to 18) 1 China 7:00.82; 5 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:10.52.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Aoife Casey and Denise Walsh finished third in their C/D Semi-Final at the World Championships and qualified for the C Final. China, Germany and Ireland held that order through the great bulk of the race, but Ireland closed hard on Germany coming to the line, missing out on catching them by just .18 of a second.

World Rowing Championships, Linz-Ottensheim, Austria - Day Five (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Double Sculls - A/B Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (F McCarthy, P O'Donovan) 6:13.46, 2 Germany 6:13.59, 3 Norway 6:14.15.

Lightweight Single Sculls A/B Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 6 Ireland (G O'Donovan) 7:34.01.

Women

Four A/B Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Australia 6:25.34, 2 Denmark 6:28.58, 3 Romania 6:30.96; 4 Ireland (T Hanlon, E Lambe, A Keogh, E Hegarty) 6:32.37.

Pair - A/B Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 New Zealand 6:57.92, 2 United States 7:01.78, 3 Italy 7:01.80; 4 Ireland (A Crowley, M Dukarska) 7:03.05.

Lightweight Double Sculls - C/D Semi-Final One (First Three to C Final; rest to D Final): 3 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:01.68.

Lightweight Single Sculls A/B Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 6 Ireland (L Heaphy) 7:42.23.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Aoife Casey and Denise Walsh finished fourth in their heat and qualified for the quarter-finals of the lightweight double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Linz, Austria. The top three in the race will all have ambitions of taking a medal come next weekend: France won from South Africa and China. Walsh and Casey did enough to stay clear of Thailand and nab the final qualification spot.

World Rowing Championships, Linz, Austria, Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Pair – Heat One (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 6 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:50.51.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Three (First Three to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (F McCarthy, P O’Donovan) 6:28.02

Women

Pair – Heat Four (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 2 Ireland (A Crowley, M Dukarska) 7:13.30

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Four (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 4 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:25.62.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: The lightweight double of Aoife Casey and Cliodhna Nolan became the third Ireland boat to qualify for an A Final at the World Under-23 Championships today.

 They won their repechage. Two boats would go to the A Final, and Ireland took over the lead after 1,000 metres and refused to yield despite strong charges by Britain and the Netherlands. The Dutch landed the valuable second spot.

World Rowing Under-23 Championships (Irish interest)

Women

 Lightweight Double Sculls – Repechage (First Two to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (A Casey, C Nolan) 6:54.54, 2 Netherlands 6:54.76; 3 Britain (1 F Chestnutt) 6:55.86.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland’s lightweight double scull of Aoife Casey and Cliodhna Nolan finished fourth in their heat at the World Under-23 Championships in Florida today and must negotiate a repechage as they target a place in the A Final.

 The top two in this heat qualified for the final. Switzerland took first and Germany won a battle with the Netherlands to take second. Casey and Nolan came in ahead of Fiona Chestnutt and Chloe Knight, representing Britain.

 The programme was suspended because of thunderstorms. The revised schedule, if it goes ahead, has placed the remaining races for Ireland crews in late afternoon, local time. Florida is five hours ahead of Ireland. 

World Rowing Under-23 Championships, Sarasota Bradenton, United States (Irish interest)

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat One (First two to A Final; rest to Repechage) 1 Switzerland 6:59.78, 2 Germany 7:02.65; 4 Ireland (A Casey, C Nolan) 7:07.28, 5 Britain (1 F Chestnutt) 7:13.48.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland’s Aoife Casey and Denise Walsh showed the Skibbereen skill for sprinting to good effect as they worn their C Final of the women’s lightweight double sculls at the World Championships in Plovdiv. They were fourth at 500 metres, but they sped up the rankings through the middle 1,000 and led with 500 metres to go. They took it home from there, with Austria second and Germany third. Ireland placed 13th in the World because of this result.

Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan took fourth in their C Final, 16th overall, in the men’s pair. The race was won by Australia’s Andrew Judge and Joseph O’Brien, while O’Donovan and O’Driscoll produced a remarkable change of pace to challenge the leaders, but Poland and the United States had pushed in between them and the leaders on the line.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day Seven (Irish interest):

Men

Pair – C Final (places 13 to 18): 1 Australia 6:23.81; 4 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:29.19.

Lightweight Double Sculls – A Final: 1 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:06.81, 2 Italy 6:08.31, 3 Belgium 6:11.25.

Women

Pair – A Final: 1 Canada 6:50.67, 2 New Zealand 6:52.96, 3 Spain 7:04.60; 6 Ireland (A Keogh, E Hegarty) 7:15.70.

Lightweight Double Sculls – C Final (places 13 to 18): 1 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:05.77, 2 Austria 7:08.29, 3 Germany 7:09.12.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Aoife Casey and Denise Walsh won their C/D Semi-Final and qualfied for the C Final at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv today. The first two would go to the C Final, and it was clear early in the race that these would be Spain and Ireland. Thailand trailed this two. Spain led and looked set to win – but Casey and Walsh won the battle at the head of the field with Spain.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day Five (Irish interest)

Men

Pair – Quarter-Final Four (Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to C/D Semi-Finals): 1 Canada 6:26.04, 2 New Zealand 6:30.36, 3 Czech Republic 6:35.01; 5 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:44.28.

Double Sculls – Repechage Four (First Two to A/B Semi-Final):

Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:16.96, 2 Bulgaria 6:20.15.

Lightweight Double – Semi-Final Two (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Italy 6:21.94, 2 Belgium 6:22.83, 3 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:23.78.

Women

Pair – Semi-Final (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (A Keogh, E Hegarty) 7:14.67, 2 Italy 7:14.99, 3 Spain 7:15.30.

Lightweight Double Sculls – C/D Semi-Final (First Two to C Final; rest to D Final): 1 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:20.51, 2 Spain 7:24.08.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Denise Walsh and Aoife Casey took third in their repechage of the lightweight double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Bulgaria this morning. Switzerland, who won well, and Japan took the top two places and qualified for the A/B Semi-Finals. Walsh and Casey were fourth for much of the race, but passed Austria in the final sprint, though they were unable to get past Japan. Ireland is now set for the C/D Semi-Finals.  

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day Three (Irish interest)

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls – Repechage One (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to C/D Semi-Finals): 1 Switzerland 6:57.90, 2 Japan 7:00.67; 3 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:03.88.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Ireland’s Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan won their heat with a sparkling performance at the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv. Germany’s newly-formed lightweight double of Jonathan Rommelmann and Konstantin Steinhuebel seemed set to give the Ireland crew a test, leading through half way and 1500 metres. But the O’Donovans had much better base speed and left their rivals behind in the final quarter. Portugal and Argentina also qualified for the quarter-finals.

 Denise Walsh and Aoife Casey finished fourth in their heat of the lightweight double sculls. The first two positions were the valuable ones, as they secured a place in the semi-finals. New Zealand, Australia and Canada fought it out, with New Zealand’s Zoe McBride and Jackie Kiddle  securing a clear first, while Australia edged Canada out by .34 of a second. Walsh and Casey were over 10 seconds further back.

 The women’s pair of Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty qualified from their heat for the semi-finals, finishing second, while the men’s pair (fifth) and double (second) will have to compete in repechages.

World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day One (Irish interest)

Men

Pair – Heat Four (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Canada 6:20.46, 2 South Africa 6:21.85, 3 France 6:25.43, 4 Belarus 6:28.22; 5 Ireland (M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll) 6:29.10

Double Sculls – Heat One (Winner to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechages): 1 New Zealand 6:02.23; 2 Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:12.61

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Five (First Four to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (G O’Donovan, P O’Donovan) 6:15.79, 2 Germany 6:19.23, 3 Portugal 6:21.55, 4 Argentina 6:30.24.

Women

Pair – Heat One (First Three to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechage): 1 New Zealand 6:56.06, 2 Ireland (A Keogh, E Hegarty) 7:11.51, 3 United States 7:13.02.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Three (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechages):  1 New Zealand 6:50.04, 2 Australia 6:51.11; 4 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:02.25.

Published in Rowing

#Rowing: Denise Walsh and Aoife Casey gave Irish fans plenty to cheer about at the European Rowing Championships in Strathclyde Park in Scotland. The Ireland lightweight double fought it out with Germany in an exciting B Final. Germany’s Leonie Pless and Katrin Thoma led at halfway, but Walsh and Casey pushed into that lead for the remaining 1,000 metres. As they crews came to the line, cheered on by the crowd, Ireland upped the rate. The Germans held out and won by one-third of a length.

European Rowing Championships, Day Four (Irish interest)

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls – B Final (Places 7 to 11): 1 Germany 7:11.14, 2 Ireland (A Casey, D Walsh) 7:11.77, 3 Austria 7:15.63.

Published in Rowing
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Irish Fishing industry 

The Irish Commercial Fishing Industry employs around 11,000 people in fishing, processing and ancillary services such as sales and marketing. The industry is worth about €1.22 billion annually to the Irish economy. Irish fisheries products are exported all over the world as far as Africa, Japan and China.

FAQs

Over 16,000 people are employed directly or indirectly around the coast, working on over 2,000 registered fishing vessels, in over 160 seafood processing businesses and in 278 aquaculture production units, according to the State's sea fisheries development body Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM).

All activities that are concerned with growing, catching, processing or transporting fish are part of the commercial fishing industry, the development of which is overseen by BIM. Recreational fishing, as in angling at sea or inland, is the responsibility of Inland Fisheries Ireland.

The Irish fishing industry is valued at 1.22 billion euro in gross domestic product (GDP), according to 2019 figures issued by BIM. Only 179 of Ireland's 2,000 vessels are over 18 metres in length. Where does Irish commercially caught fish come from? Irish fish and shellfish is caught or cultivated within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), but Irish fishing grounds are part of the common EU "blue" pond. Commercial fishing is regulated under the terms of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), initiated in 1983 and with ten-yearly reviews.

The total value of seafood landed into Irish ports was 424 million euro in 2019, according to BIM. High value landings identified in 2019 were haddock, hake, monkfish and megrim. Irish vessels also land into foreign ports, while non-Irish vessels land into Irish ports, principally Castletownbere, Co Cork, and Killybegs, Co Donegal.

There are a number of different methods for catching fish, with technological advances meaning skippers have detailed real time information at their disposal. Fisheries are classified as inshore, midwater, pelagic or deep water. Inshore targets species close to shore and in depths of up to 200 metres, and may include trawling and gillnetting and long-lining. Trawling is regarded as "active", while "passive" or less environmentally harmful fishing methods include use of gill nets, long lines, traps and pots. Pelagic fisheries focus on species which swim close to the surface and up to depths of 200 metres, including migratory mackerel, and tuna, and methods for catching include pair trawling, purse seining, trolling and longlining. Midwater fisheries target species at depths of around 200 metres, using trawling, longlining and jigging. Deepwater fisheries mainly use trawling for species which are found at depths of over 600 metres.

There are several segments for different catching methods in the registered Irish fleet – the largest segment being polyvalent or multi-purpose vessels using several types of gear which may be active and passive. The polyvalent segment ranges from small inshore vessels engaged in netting and potting to medium and larger vessels targeting whitefish, pelagic (herring, mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting) species and bivalve molluscs. The refrigerated seawater (RSW) pelagic segment is engaged mainly in fishing for herring, mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting only. The beam trawling segment focuses on flatfish such as sole and plaice. The aquaculture segment is exclusively for managing, developing and servicing fish farming areas and can collect spat from wild mussel stocks.

The top 20 species landed by value in 2019 were mackerel (78 million euro); Dublin Bay prawn (59 million euro); horse mackerel (17 million euro); monkfish (17 million euro); brown crab (16 million euro); hake (11 million euro); blue whiting (10 million euro); megrim (10 million euro); haddock (9 million euro); tuna (7 million euro); scallop (6 million euro); whelk (5 million euro); whiting (4 million euro); sprat (3 million euro); herring (3 million euro); lobster (2 million euro); turbot (2 million euro); cod (2 million euro); boarfish (2 million euro).

Ireland has approximately 220 million acres of marine territory, rich in marine biodiversity. A marine biodiversity scheme under Ireland's operational programme, which is co-funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and the Government, aims to reduce the impact of fisheries and aquaculture on the marine environment, including avoidance and reduction of unwanted catch.

EU fisheries ministers hold an annual pre-Christmas council in Brussels to decide on total allowable catches and quotas for the following year. This is based on advice from scientific bodies such as the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. In Ireland's case, the State's Marine Institute publishes an annual "stock book" which provides the most up to date stock status and scientific advice on over 60 fish stocks exploited by the Irish fleet. Total allowable catches are supplemented by various technical measures to control effort, such as the size of net mesh for various species.

The west Cork harbour of Castletownbere is Ireland's biggest whitefish port. Killybegs, Co Donegal is the most important port for pelagic (herring, mackerel, blue whiting) landings. Fish are also landed into Dingle, Co Kerry, Rossaveal, Co Galway, Howth, Co Dublin and Dunmore East, Co Waterford, Union Hall, Co Cork, Greencastle, Co Donegal, and Clogherhead, Co Louth. The busiest Northern Irish ports are Portavogie, Ardglass and Kilkeel, Co Down.

Yes, EU quotas are allocated to other fleets within the Irish EEZ, and Ireland has long been a transhipment point for fish caught by the Spanish whitefish fleet in particular. Dingle, Co Kerry has seen an increase in foreign landings, as has Castletownbere. The west Cork port recorded foreign landings of 36 million euro or 48 per cent in 2019, and has long been nicknamed the "peseta" port, due to the presence of Spanish-owned transhipment plant, Eiranova, on Dinish island.

Most fish and shellfish caught or cultivated in Irish waters is for the export market, and this was hit hard from the early stages of this year's Covid-19 pandemic. The EU, Asia and Britain are the main export markets, while the middle Eastern market is also developing and the African market has seen a fall in value and volume, according to figures for 2019 issued by BIM.

Fish was once a penitential food, eaten for religious reasons every Friday. BIM has worked hard over several decades to develop its appeal. Ireland is not like Spain – our land is too good to transform us into a nation of fish eaters, but the obvious health benefits are seeing a growth in demand. Seafood retail sales rose by one per cent in 2019 to 300 million euro. Salmon and cod remain the most popular species, while BIM reports an increase in sales of haddock, trout and the pangasius or freshwater catfish which is cultivated primarily in Vietnam and Cambodia and imported by supermarkets here.

The EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), initiated in 1983, pooled marine resources – with Ireland having some of the richest grounds and one of the largest sea areas at the time, but only receiving four per cent of allocated catch by a quota system. A system known as the "Hague Preferences" did recognise the need to safeguard the particular needs of regions where local populations are especially dependent on fisheries and related activities. The State's Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, based in Clonakilty, Co Cork, works with the Naval Service on administering the EU CFP. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine and Department of Transport regulate licensing and training requirements, while the Marine Survey Office is responsible for the implementation of all national and international legislation in relation to safety of shipping and the prevention of pollution.

Yes, a range of certificates of competency are required for skippers and crew. Training is the remit of BIM, which runs two national fisheries colleges at Greencastle, Co Donegal and Castletownbere, Co Cork. There have been calls for the colleges to be incorporated into the third-level structure of education, with qualifications recognised as such.

Safety is always an issue, in spite of technological improvements, as fishing is a hazardous occupation and climate change is having its impact on the severity of storms at sea. Fishing skippers and crews are required to hold a number of certificates of competency, including safety and navigation, and wearing of personal flotation devices is a legal requirement. Accidents come under the remit of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, and the Health and Safety Authority. The MCIB does not find fault or blame, but will make recommendations to the Minister for Transport to avoid a recurrence of incidents.

Fish are part of a marine ecosystem and an integral part of the marine food web. Changing climate is having a negative impact on the health of the oceans, and there have been more frequent reports of warmer water species being caught further and further north in Irish waters.

Brexit, Covid 19, EU policies and safety – Britain is a key market for Irish seafood, and 38 per cent of the Irish catch is taken from the waters around its coast. Ireland's top two species – mackerel and prawns - are 60 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively, dependent on British waters. Also, there are serious fears within the Irish industry about the impact of EU vessels, should they be expelled from British waters, opting to focus even more efforts on Ireland's rich marine resource. Covid-19 has forced closure of international seafood markets, with high value fish sold to restaurants taking a large hit. A temporary tie-up support scheme for whitefish vessels introduced for the summer of 2020 was condemned by industry organisations as "designed to fail".

Sources: Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Marine Institute, Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, Department of Transport © Afloat 2020