West Donegal fishermen claim their local port has become a ‘haven’ for deregistered boats from Northern Ireland.
One fisherman who spoke to Donegal Daily claimed the scrap vessels are being moored there in order to avoid costly British breakup costs.
“The problem with this is the small commercial inshore fishing boats are being left in danger of these boats sinking or breaking away from the pier and damaging ours,” he said.
The spokesman added that these end-of-life vessels are owned by people from Donegal and that the Marine Section of Donegal County Council refuses to acknowledge the risks posed by them.
“It is only a matter of time before an inshore fisherman is put out of business due to this neglect on behalf of Donegal County Council,” he claimed.
“These boats are tied along the pier, some not watertight, some with parts of the deck removed and nobody pumping the water out of them.”
He said two local fishermen had to bring it upon themselves lately to pump water out of an ex-Northern fishing boat to save their own boat from danger.
“The inshore fleet always took shelter in a storm on the south side of the pier, but are now being forced to tie further up the pier where wind and tidal effects are greater during storms.”
“We are now being forced to go with our boats to small tidal harbours to try to shelter from storms.”
However, the spokesman praised the local Harbour Master for his efforts to resolve the matter.
During the redevelopment of Burtonport Harbour area, the spokesman added, local fishermen have been very helpful and accommodated the council.
We contacted Donegal County Council last week for a response , however, we have yet to receive a reply.