Record breaking year for Small Boats Festival
IT was a record-breaking year for the Rosslare Small Boats Festival as more species were landed by anglers than at any time in the event’s 35 year history.
Worth approximately €300,000 to the local economy, this year’s festival attracted 34 boats, with 105 anglers, from across England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Wight. And, after a week of intense competition, the Welsh boat ‘Seawitch’ was declared the overall winner, landing 34 marine species, a record for the festival.
Crewed by Rob Shefford, Garerth Protheroe and Arthur Beechey, the boat took first place at the competition with 34 species for 13.67kg. Second place went to the boat ‘Shy Torque’ (Gavin Parker, Daniel Parker and Kevin Martland) from Merseyside in England with 33 species for 14.08kg.
In third place was Irish ‘Shamrock’ (Martin Kennedy, Pat Condon, Dan Lynch and Joe McPeske) with 32 species for 15.93kg.
Throughout the competition, favourable weather conditions and calm seas enabled the anglers to fish without restrictions. This resulted in 42 species being landed, including species rarely seen by the public, such as the black bream, red mullet, spotted ray and gurnards.
Arthur Beechey from the winning boat ‘Seawitch’ won best specimen of the week with a red mullet of 0.48kg. The heaviest fish was a bull huss of 5.8kg, caught by the boat ‘Safelyduzit’ from Scotland, for which the crew received a cash prize and a perpetual trophy, sponsored by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI).
The ‘Ken Evason’ Memorial trophy for the biggest cod was won by the boat ‘Uptide Girl’ whose crew caught a cod of 2.18kg. The Conningbeg Trophy for the longest bass of 56cm was won by John Meaning, aboard the boat ‘Joe 90’ from the Isle of Wight.
But the festival wasn’t solely about who could catch the biggest or longest fish.
This year conservation initiatives for marine species were introduced to the competition, with fish photographed on IFI measuring mats and released by anglers at sea after being caught.
The IFI officiated at the photographic identification of fish species, and also provided a marine fish tank for the purpose of displaying fish species that were caught during the competition.
And according to the IFI the educational benefits of the marine tank and practising catch and release for marine species are hugely beneficial in terms of conservation and creating public awareness of Ireland’s marine resource.
Marine fish such as bull huss, ballan wrasse and red mullet were displayed in the fish tank and released back into their marine habitat alive.
The event was supported by Kilmore Quay harbour master and staff at Wexford County Council.