‘We started back fishing and got just two days...’
WITH the weather at its best these past few weeks, oyster fisherman Denis Williams from Fenit speaks about the ‘sadness’ he feels looking out across a calm Tralee Bay every morning and not being able to fish. “It’s depressing,” he says.
“We started back fishing for the Easter market, we got two days and that was the end of it, a complete wipe-out. There was about 30 boats in Fenit at the start but we only got two days out of it. There was provision made for around 40 tonne of oysters, but that has just collapsed,” he explains.
Denis says that in a normal year they would fish from March until the autumn. This would keep them going financially through the winter months.
“Usually you would make enough that you wouldn’t have to go on social welfare for the three or fourth months you’d be off, you would be happy enough with that. It’s different this time around.”
Even though France and Spain are the main markets Denis sells his oysters to, he is adamant that the work stoppage will have a knock-on effect in smaller businesses in coastal areas. Denis has four fishermen working with him and they, too, are feeling the effects of having no work.
“We’re getting €350 a week from the COVID payment, but you can only buy food with that. We all have overheads, including stores of bait in freezers down in the pier that we got ready for the start of the year; I don’t know what is going to pay that,” he says.
The past few weeks have been testing for fishermen to say the least and with nothing but uncertainty on the horizon for the time being, mental well-being is key. Denis said the sight of boats tied up from Fenit all the way up along the north Kerry coast feels unfamiliar for the time of year.
“It’s been tough for all of us. Normally, I’d be up at 5am to go fishing but it’s very hard to get out of the bed these mornings, to be quite honest. You would be in a state of depression over the whole thing. I can see the bay from my house and the mountains and calm waters. It’s just devastating,” Denis concludes.
YOU’D BE IN A STATE OF DEPRESSION OVER IT. I CAN SEE THE BAY FROM MY HOUSE AND IT’S DEVASTATING