A Turning Tide in the Life of Man
Just stand at the rail Colm, right.
We could have left it a little longer...
Maybe you want us to stay out until morning...
It's a wee small one...
Keep its head raised or it'll get away.
Get me the knife.
It's over in there.
We've landed salmon here on this pier for generations.
I took my first steps here,
and so did my wife.
We're both from the island
and everyone here speaks Gaelic.
We've six children
and the oldest boys go out fishing with me.
Inishboffin Island Donegal, Ireland
I was 11 when I first started fishing with my father and my brothers.
We followed the seasons.
In spring we fished for mackerel.
In June it was herring season;
salmon during the summer
then mostly crab and lobster through autumn and winter,
as long as the weather lasted.
We respected each species of fish.
Giving them time to grow and to reproduce.
When we weren't out at sea,
we had work to do on land,
building curraghs...
making lobster pots...
or fixing nets.
All the men were out on the boats.
Fishing is the only source of income we have here.
There are some good pots there, MuirAls...
Oh yes, they're great pots.
Indeed, it's mostly weeds. They're called lustan.
We're soaked wet. That'll do for today.
We were protected from the famine here on the island.
We would out turf on the mainland
to keep us warm through winter.
We didn't depend a lot on the mainland.
And we could easily row across if there was anything we badly needed.
Come here.
Are you a good girl?
Come and Dad will fix your hair.
Daddy's good wee girl.
In the 1980's.
A few years after Ireland joined the European Union
we still didn't have running water or electricity on the Island.
Then out of nowhere. huge modern boats appeared
and they started taking our herring and mackerel quotas...
After that...
regulations got heavier every year...
and we were slowly suffocating.
Now we totally depend on wild salmon fishing
even if we can't catch many.
The salmon is woven into our tales and our songs.
The salmon represents knowledge.
The salmon is the king of all fish.
He knows his way back from the sea
right to the river where he was born.
The methods we use to catch him at sea are very special.
They've been handed down through the generations.
November 2006.
For years salmon fishing in Irish rivers
is attracting tourist anglers from all around the world
and is worth millions to the Irish economy.
Now, with the decline of salmon
they blame fishermen like us
that not enough salmon are going up the rivers.
I'm nervous.
Today is the last meeting of the Salmon Commission
where myself and a colleague represent driftnet fishermen.
We are powerless against the huge campaign
of the international angler's organisations
and the tourism lobby
who are threatening our government to go to the European court of justice
if we are not banned from salmon fishing.
So up to the last minute
I try to reason with the representatives of the Anglers' organisation.
There are salmon out there all year round.
Consider if we had 30 days of salmon fishing
while salmon are out there 365 days,
The time we spend out there isn't doing much damage to the salmon stocks.
It's not a personal thing. It's a business thing.
This is to protect and conserve
the environment and the salmon.
Look at the figures. There is nothing else left.
Who is more crucial to an area?
The tourists or the people who live there?
So, we have to leave it at that.
Inishboffin Island
June 2007.
Today, it's official...
The Anglers and Tourism lobby have won.
Our own government is banning us from fishing salmon.
They ask that an exception should be made
with regards to island fishing.
Would you agree? What's your personal opinion?
Island fishing has to be developed.
But as far as drift nets are concerned, the Government has decided to end it.
Will they change their minds, do you think?
Will they make an exception for islands?
Salmon fishing with drift nets is over.
The Government has made that decision, they will not change it.
Minister, I'm sure you understand their difficulties
and these problems do exist at the moment.
There is no doubt that they exist.
But the people who succeed in life, generally
are those who can turn those difficulties to their advantage.
On the island we've learned to accept things and to keep quiet.
We've learned to give in again and again.
Before now, we followed the laws of nature
and adapted to the seas and the storms.
Whereas today.
We're forced to live by the laws of others...
and all the time.
You're supposed to keep silent.
RTAE Radio Gweedore, County Donegal
You say you'll go fishing. even though you know it's illegal.
But aren't there dangers involved, John?
As regards breaking the law. I don't think I'm breaking it.
I believe you should be able
to earn your livelihood in the way you always did.
I don't think it would happen in any other situation.
If I'm caught out there
and the nets are confiscated on the first day.
And there is a fine and I don't pay it, I'll be sent to prison.
Apart from leaving my wife and children, prison doesn't bother me.
I would prefer to go to prison
rather then accept how things are now.
Do you think it will come to that. and that it might happen?
There is a chance that it will happen.
Dublin
It's not money we want. All we want is to fish salmon,
like our fathers and our grandfathers before us.
Have things become so bad...
that we now have no choice but to fish salmon illegally?
I must now decide, for the sake of my family and my sons.
The government has offered me 80,000 euros
as compensation for my salmon license.
But if I gave away my license...
I would never again be allowed to fish for salmon.
And the survival of our island communities
depends on our fishing...
It's the only way you can survive here.
Almighty God, I ask you to bless this salt.
As you did the salt the Prophet Isaiah threw on the water.
Bless the fishermen when they go out
may they be under Saint Bridget's mantle as they sail the seas.
And Lord, stay beside them, until they reach dry land again.
July 200s.
For two years now...
I haven't fished for salmon
and I have flatly refused to sell my license.
The only compromise I could make.
Was to go intensively into crab and lobster fishing.
30 other small fishermen have also refused compensation.
All islanders.
That's no coincidence.
We've all decided to meet on Arranmore Island
and we are determined to struggle for our case.
Anne-Marie from Tory Island
has invited lain MacKinnon. a Scottish scientist.
He has fought for the rights of coastal communities in Scotland
and he may be able to help us.
Is that Patrick's boat?
No, that's our boat: Silver Rose.
That's the mast for lifting the fish
and there's a rope for setting anchor.
It is full of cracks?
Maybe it's under 'International Court of Justice'.
That's SAeamus...
AEamon AO CuAiv, the Minister for Gaelic speaking regions
is coming to his Donegal office for a meeting about our pier.
After so many years of neglect,
I'm surprised that our government finally wants to help us.
Minister's Office for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Gweedore, Co. Donegal
I'm very excited
to get the opportunity to tell him about our new idea
to make a special case for the island communities.
An exception should be made for Islanders in terms of the whole fishing industry.
Not just salmon fishing,
but herring, mackerel and all fish.
People often have opinions
that I don't necessarily agree with.
What I often have to do is...
make a judgement about what chance people have.
It's a political decision now.
Yes, the State was permitted to take that decision.
And that decision was made.
But the State is permitted to open the case again.
What I'm saying is that the decision was made and it will never be opened again.
But we'll wait and see what Pat The Cope is saying.
We'll put forward your case, strongly
but I don't want people to depend on a change of policy.
Do you think we would have any chance in Europe?
Not a chance. Because the pressure to stop drift nets is coming from Europe.
No, Europe wants the EU Habitat Directive to manage things...
No, they want to stop drift net fishing, too.
They say that it's not proper management.
We'll leave it at that.
We won't give up. whether we fight as indigenous people or whatever..
The state invests millions of euros modernizing our piers.
Hoping to attract more tourists to our islands...
and at the same time...
they take away our fishing.
And finally, the EU recommendations regarding fishing white fish
will greatly affect the port of Killybegs
according to the fishermens organisation.
It has been recommended to stop white fish fishing
off the North West Coast of the country.
Our Islands are now stuck in a Cod Recovery Area.
At first it was the salmon
and now, we've lost the right to fish any type offish.
We can't even catch the fish we need as bait for our crab and lobster pots.
First, Europe paid to build massive trawlers.
And now...
realizing the extent of the damage...
they try to stop the overfishing. as fast as they can.
Arranmore Island
lnishboffin Island
I've felt that Hugh was thinking of our island
when he talked about the birds and the seals.
Our island is better known today for its wildlife than for its island life.
We have long been struggling to cling to this little rock, lnishboffin.
But successive governments have failed to help us become modernised
and seemed to forget about our existence.
They left us with candles and gaslight,
when electric lights were everywhere on the mainland.
One after the other, people left for the mainland
and the community was torn apart.
When we finally got electricity and running water in 2002.
It was too late.
The school had already been closed for 20 years.
Since then, we're going back and forth between two lands and two houses.
The island comes alive during the school holidays and big occasions.
But from day to day, few boats come and go from the pier.
Tory Island
We admired the fight put up by the people of Tory.
After years of struggle,
they managed to get basic facilities to keep their people here.
It was like a miracle to us.
Nowadays, musicians come from all over.
To learn the songs and tunes of Tory.
Tory is at the heart of our mythology
and it's been a sacred place for centuries.
We still get the sacred clay from here to protect our boats.
On all these islands.
Families have always lived off the sea.
I remember 30 years ago when there were up to 100 fishing boats in Tory.
But now there is only one boat that fishes all year round.
Often, the only option for those who want to stay on the island...
is to go on the dole.
Arranmore Island
Arranmore island is the most populated of the Donegal islands.
It's a good feeling to be here...
because the community is alive
and keeps resisting as much as it can.
Father John Joe is one of our own.
His fathers and ancestors were all fishermen.
But the island he comes from, lnis Free,
is deserted for a long while.
He had just arrived on Arranmore, in 2006
when the salmon ban was first imposed.
He was immediately fighting on our side.
We are surrounded by the richest fishing grounds in Europe.
But as bait for our crab pots,
we now have to buy frozen fish
caught by foreign trawlers.
Like a bird that can't fly...
we are now islanders
who cannot fish.
To survive with all these bans...
we had to buy a special crab boat
to catch crab all year round.
Many of us had to do this.
The European markets are now flooded with Irish crabs.
And the French fishermen are unhappy
and are blocking the roads.
So we now export our crabs to China.
Now, I'm asking my sons to do what we were brought up not to do:
to fish only one species
until it disappears.
My grandfather would be turning in his grave.
After contacting several experts,
Jean-Didier Hache, a European expert on islands,
offered to come to help us find possible solutions.
Jean Didier Hache tells us that the European Commission
is starting public consultations with the stakeholders
on the new reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.
There is no doubt but we'll have to take part in this reform.
But if we want to be heard in Brussels,
all European island communities
have to speak with one voice.
Talking to islanders all over Europe.
I was very surprised to discover how many are in similar situations.
Since my eldest son, SeAan.
Can replace me in the cabin.
And my second son, SAeamus. is back from college to work on deck...
I'll in a better position to take time
to meet other island communities.
I hope to meet someone who can speak for all of us.
Isle of Yeu Brittany, France
It's my daughter Aoibhinn's birthday.
She is four today.
She'll have her first Birthday party on the island
with friends and cousins.
I hope I can call her tonight.
Is it this one?
Isle of Houat Brittany, France
When the big boats are fishing...
tons and tons of sole far out,
when the weather is bad,
the small boats from Houat can't go out.
Then the quota is complete and they say...
"There is no sole left for fishing!"
Yes!
Ajaccio. Corsica, France
and also I'd like to ask the people of Ajaccio to thank John O'Brien.
An Irish fisherman who is traveling around Europe,
to insure that his profession can continue in Ireland.
So please, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome John!
The Mediterranean sea is dying from pollution
and by the overfishing of the big trawlers.
Here, the small fishermen survive on the few kilos offish
that their wives sell for high prices at the market.
Everybody encourages me to speak for them.
But I really don't know if I'm ready for that.
I'm just a fisherman.
In Corsica.
I was surprised to see how proud they are as islanders and fishermen.
In Ireland we have a bad image of ourselves.
At school. I remember being called 'the islanders.
Kids from Tory were called 'Fish' or Herring'.
I would love for my children to stand up for what they are.
Brussels
Up to the last minute I hoped someone else would do it.
But, now it looks like I'll have to to go up to Brussels.
At first, I'm meeting Brian O'Riordan...
...who works for an NGO that helps small fishermen all around the world.
He has also invited Michael Earle,
an advisor on fisheries in the European Parliament.
Today, some members of the European Commission
will listen to small fishermen
and other representatives from all over Europe.
It's the first time here in Brussels,
that they'll hear our side of the story.
European Commission
Hello Neily? John O'Brien here.
This is John...
How are you, John?
- Are you out on your boat? - What?
Are you out fishing?
No, no... The engine packed in.
The oil pump seized up.
So, you're broken down?
I'm at the pier, and oil is going everywhere.
There is always something. It's hard to keep things going.
I'm out here in Brussels.
It looks like things are going to change.
They want to look at the small boats
and see how they can help...
local communities.
It looks like...
they want to make a deal to group all the islands together.
Dad, what's your boat doing there?
Dad, what is your boat doing there?
Many of those I met in Brussels
know well the damage being made by European regulations
and they are trying to find solutions.
But they say it'll take 4 or 5 years.
I wonder how our communities will be able to survive.
I like to see our sons getting more involved in the fishing...
But Mary is worried about it.
With the rough seas here,
we risk our lives every time we go out.
I heard some great news last night.
They've awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Economics
to Elinor Ostrom
for her theory on how local communities
m an age natural resources.
According to Ostrom,
these communities manage natural resources
by preserving them far better than the private companies or the state.
December 2010.
We are deeply touched that the experts we've met so far have accepted
to come for three days to Arranmore to help us...
and all this on a voluntary basis.
For them, our case symbolizes the problems of small communities
all over Europe
and all over the world.
The MEP, Pat the Cope Gallagher, and other local politicians
have just arrived by ferry...
to join the debate.
Pat the Cope was in government when we were banned from fishing salmon.
He always said it was against his will.
Now that he is in the European Parliament,
he seems to be in a position to help us.
We've decided now to fight on 2 fronts:
On a European level
we have to go to Brussels
to help Pat the Cope with his amendment.
And, at the same time. on a national level.
We'll work here with international experts
on a scientific report
that will re-open negotiations with our own government.
We better go now. Can you hear the bird calling for its fledglings?
Are we going over here?
Yes. Their nest must be around here. Can you hear it calling?
We have a special meeting on Arranmore today.
While the country is slowly sinking deep into debt
the Taoiseach, our prime minister himself,
is coming to support his party; campaigning for the local elections.
The MEP, Pat the Cope, has also joined him.
Well, John.
Well, Davie. It's a fine day for it.
Hello, John.
Hello, Pat.
He's from lnishboffin.
Hello, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister).
I immediately called Brian in Brussels.
He explained to me that the MEP took the first step.
But if we want the amendment to go through in the new fisheries policy.
We have to start a campaign
and do some serious lobbying.
The best way to do that seems to be to join a big, powerful coalition.
European Commission
Fishermen usually avoid environmentalists.
We never appreciated each other much.
Fishermen were all together blamed for the decline offish stocks.
But now, environmentalists are making all the difference.
OCEAN 2012 is an alliance of organizations
dedicated to transforming European fisheries policies.
Their campaign focuses on putting an end to overfishing
as well as supporting sustainable fishing communities.
I'm the first fisherman to ever join this coalition.
And in the beginning. I was reluctant.
But we need them and they need us.
They have the means and the influence in Brussels
and we represent the only alternative to the big fishing industry.
I was talking to my son, SeAan, this morning.
The Navy caught one of our friends...
himself and his 2 sons.
They were out fishing for bait for their lobster pots.
Overnight they've lost everything.
SeAan is out fishing without me.
He had to find someone to replace SAeamus who went back to college.
My biggest fear is that something could happen to my sons and the crew
while I'm away.
It's very difficult to find a qualified person to help out.
They are all leaving the country.
Especially in a debate of such importance as this one.
You have the floor, Mrs. Daman-ki.
I'm uneasy.
I want to be as prepared as I can.
Tomorrow I'm meeting the most important person
in the new European fishing reform,
the Commissioner MarAia DamanAaki.
Mike, from Ocean 2012
told me that in Brussels they usually
only see representatives from the big boats.
They can fish in bad weather
and in deep waters.
They are in the hands of the big food industry
and are blamed
for overfishing our oceans.
They survive despite all the regulations,
because their representatives speak the language of politicians
and can afford to travel to conferences and meetings all year round.
I suddenly understand why the big Irish fishermen's organizations,
that represent big trawlers,
can get everything they want...
We small fishermen have to find a way to fit into this game...
and time is short.
European Commission
In this closed door meeting
with some members of Ocean 2012.
I present our problems as small fishermen to the Commissioner MarAia DamanAaki.
It gave me some hope to see that she was carefully listening to us.
But the Commissioner explained
that the pressure is coming from the ministers
and that each member state protects its own economic interests first.
Markus and Mike from Ocean 2012
insisted that I have to be around as much as I can.
Now I have to play the same game as the "big" ones...
Suddenly, I see a face that I know well from home:
LorcAan 150 CinnAeide.
He represents the second largest organization of big boats in Ireland.
The reform won't be positive for fishermen...
far from it.
I'm very worried about it.
It seems the reform is going in the wrong direction altogether.
I thought when they talked about the green paper,
that it was going to favour the smaller boats
which might mean less big boats and more small ones.
Do you see that happening?
I don't see that happening.
I think that there will be less for everyone
and it will be stricter.
I was at meetings in Ireland with Coast Watch, Bird Watch, etc.
And I could see that up until now. we were working separately...
Personally. I'd be careful, John.
What they are trying to do is to divide the industry...
between small and big.
The big boats are the baddies, the small are the goodies.
That's the story that goes around here.
Fishermen always stood together...
big or small.
But today I realize...
that small fishermen have almost become as fragile
as the fish stocks themselves.
European Parliament
Mike Walker from Ocean 2012
is helping me as much as he can.
He has organized a meeting with Pat the Cope Gallagher.
It's only now I realize how important our Irish MEP can be for us.
He is a key figure in the fishing committee
and has a lot of influence.
June 2011.
We're now four years into the salmon ban...
four long years of battling.
It's St. Johns Eve
and our community is coming together for the occasion.
It's a celebration of growth and abundance
and the bonfires were lit to keep away evil spirits,
and we follow with that tradition.
Friends from Tory Island have joined us.
Fishermen from both islands used to fish together.
Many families married together
and our communities are still very close.
Finally, I get an email with the first draft of the new reform.
It's a very vague document
and it's not very specific.
I can't see how it could help our communities.
They are proposing new regulations...
to change the old regulations that they had before.
Like a dog chasing its tail.
It looks like they can't change the course they're on.
The ecologists are afraid that fish stocks won't recover
on this basis.
Again human and social concerns
aren't present in the Commission's proposal as it is...
Therefore, Father John Joe is trying to remind our MEP
how much we count on him.
In Brussels, everybody I've met so far.
Seems to want to help us.
But I feel there's something they're not talking about.
Does it mean that maybe nothing will change?
That it's too late?
Who is actually pulling the strings behind the scenes?
We feel like salmon swimming against tides and currents.
And we know that many don't survive.
Brussels
Pat the Cope wants one of us to speak at the EU Parliament,
in front of all the members of the Fisheries Committee.
It's a crucial meeting
as the small fishermen have never spoken in front of such an audience.
I'm going to miss Aoibhinn's birthday again.
She turns 7 this year.
European Parliament
Thank you for having respected your allocated time.
I now hand the floor over for 10 minutes...
to Mr. O'Brien from Ireland.
Mr. O'Brien, you have the floor.
Alyne has just arrived from Denmark.
She has come to lnishboffin to gather more information
for the "Island Survival Plan".
Alyne Delaney is an anthropologist...
and also the first and only social science expert...
working for a scientific committee who advices the European Commission.
We are very fortunate to have her working with us.
And all of this work is being done voluntarily.
Alyne seemed very concerned when she saw our island almost deserted
at this time of the year.
During the school term...
our families have to stay on the mainland
and the older ones follow the move.
They can't live here without the community or school
or a doctor nearby.
But three of my brothers live here most of the year.
Fishing lobster and crab.
Once again I'm walking through the high corridors of Europe.
We need a majority vote to get the amendment through.
Mike advices me to talk to as many Key MEPs as possible...
so that they can influence the other MEPs
so we can go from strength to strength.
- Yeah, I've read this. - Right.
All the time Alyne is gathering data
for use by the Commission and the Parliament.
The scientific report she prepares
will be a another means to make our government change their approach.
December 2012.
I become anxious.
Tomorrow is the big day.
The first of the two important votes.
The Fisheries Committee in the European Parliament
will decide on 2,300 amendments
in one day...
and ours is number 14 A.
European Parliament
The vote is closed.
Approved,
2022.
The vote is open.
The vote is closed.
Approved,
483.
The vote is open.
1700... No...1785
The vote is open.
The vote is closed.
With an oral amendment, if nobody is opposed to it.
Nobody is opposed to it. so with an oral amendment.
The vote is closed.
Approved,
Second pan: the vote is open...
Now that the Fisheries Committee has put the amendments through,
all 754 MEPs in Strasbourg are about to approve
the new reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.
It's hard to believe it's the first time the parliament is co-deciding on a policy.
Before, it was the Commission and the Ministers who decided from the top down...
far from the people on the ground.
No wonder our oceans are so messed-up.
But even if the small islands have the support of Europe now...
our government still ignores us.
I discover that it's up to the member states themselves
to implement amendments of the European Commission or not.
Which means: nothing is won yet.
Now we see how important it was to have worked on a second front.
Alyne has finalized the scientific report
called the "Island survival plan",
which has been sent to different Irish Government Departments.
None of the ministers replied.
But three Irish parliamentarians were so impressed by this document...
that they decided to push our case forward...
and invited us to speak before the Irish Parliament.
Houses of the Oireachtas. Irish Parliament, Dublin
After almost 8 years of struggle,
members of the Irish parliament acknowledged...
that the Irish government at the time, made major mistakes.
As a result, they've written 22 recommendations
to convince the government to ring-fence the islands
and give the islands and the coastal communities
the chance to manage their own natural resources.
At the demand of the Irish Government.
The European Commission has lifted the fishing ban
inside the Cod Recovery Area, for small boats.
Therefore, we can at least fish again for bait for our crab pots
and for most of the other Whitefish.
But this doesn't give us back our salmon yet.
But then last morning...
I read that an old threat is raising it's head from another quarter.
On recommendation by former Irish governments...
lnishboffin
and Tory have been selected as potential zones
to be protected under Natura 2000.
If this is implemented.
It will mean that its fauna and birdlife will be protected...
but that the building of houses
and fishing will be prohibited.
It's hard to believe that something that was planned over 18 years ago
could wipe out everything we've achieved so far.
I wish this was all just a bad dream.
I really don't know if this time...
I'll have the strength to stand up and fight again.
June 2014.
This morning, all the men went down to the pier to watch the sea.
Something special is happening...
The sea is showing good signs offish.
Some of us feel it in our bones.
The salmon are running...
They are right there.
Just below the surface of the waves.
Directed by LoEic Jourdain
produced by Loic Jourdain, Carole Mangold, Tina Moran
written by Loic Jourdain and Mirjam Strugalla
edited by Mirjam Strugalla
cinematography by Tristan Clamorgan, Loic Jourdain
music composed by Guillaume Beauron
narrated by A Eoghan Mac Giolla BhrAide