It’ s 17 hours a day but fishing is still a great life–Chris ty

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THE Late Christy O’Shea was a Valentia Island trawler fisherman during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The following is an extract in reference to him in an issue of The Kerryman from the mid-1960s:

‘A Valentia skipper who thinks nothing of working a 17-hour day gets a reward for hard work this Friday night when Bord Iascaigh Mhara presents him with a cheque for 750 pounds.

‘ The skipper is 41-year-old islander, Christy O’Shea, of the Ros Airgid and the cheque is an incentive bonus for paying off a debt of 9,000 pounds on the boat inside 10 years.

‘ The cheque is being presented by Mr Brendan O’Kelly, Chairman of Bord Iascaigh Mhara, at a function in The Royal Hotel.

‘Mr O’Shea bought the fifty footer in 1954 and from the first day he threw a net overboard he was determined to have the 9,000 debt paid back in ten years. “It wasn’t easy,’’ he said this week. “For the first few years, when it was difficult to dispose of the fish, I thought I’d never have the boat paid for. But then we began to market the fish directly and the noughts gradually began to disappear”.

‘Despite the fact that he sometimes works a 17-hour six day week, Mr O’Shea still says that fishing is a great life. “There is a good future in it for us and for the generations to come,” he forecast.

‘Mr O’Shea’s ambition is to get a bigger boat “We must have bigger boats on the south west coast,” he said. “There isn’t a great living in a 50 footer but we manage to get by.”

‘ The skipper, the only Valentia man with a 50 footer, said that the young men of Valentia were turning to other ways of life. “It’s a pity, but maybe when they see conditions improving in the industry,they will have second thoughts,” he added.

‘Mr O’Shea said that the depression in the industry started years ago when the fishermen depended largely for a living on mackerel.

‘“We were behind the times until the 50 footer was introduced,’’ he said. “But even now there are too few big boats. They are expensive but they are necessary and, as we have proved, they can be paid for in a reasonable length of time.”

‘Mr O’Shea said that the new slip proposed for Renard Point would be a big help to him and his crew. They would be able to put their fish directly into cold storage there. At the moment the fish are taken by road from Cahirsiveen to Renard.’’ If this pier is built things will begin to fly,’’ he said.’

Footnote: Christy’s interview took place prior to entry to the EU with all it’s fisheries implications.