The wildlife watching off the Cork coast is second to none - here a fin whale takes a mouthful of sprat in fact the entire marine food web hinges on small fish like these sprats, including the dolphins, whales and the seabirds...

Looking at these amazing scenes it's easy to believe that all is well at sea but sadly this isn't the case...

Take herring for instance, like sprat a fish that gathers in great shoals, which up to the 60s provided a bonanza for fishermen. The fishing collapsed abruptly last year and the scientific advice for this year is that *zero* herring be caught - management here has failed...

And not just herring... the advice for cod is also zero while plaice, whiting, sea bass, haddock and sole are not healthy and/or are being overfished...

These species are chosen because they're commercially valuable (or at least they used to be)... but of course they're only a tiny fraction of the biodiversity that exists beneath the waves... and which has been annihilated by bottom trawling and poorly-regulated fishing

The good news is that most trawling is now banned within 6nmiles of the coast and the free-for-all that has been sprat fishing is coming to an end (nod to @creedcnw ). But the area has no protection and there are no management measures in place to restore the former abundance..

The rug has been pulled from under this ecosystem but there's lots that can be done to get on the road to recovery: a marine protected area, ending destructive bottom trawling/dredging & ending all overfishing once and for all. Over to you @daracalleary @noonan_malcolm

We mustn't take these scenes for granted as generations before us did. @Irishwildlife is working with @SeasAtRisk and @coastwatch_ire as part of the @BiggerBetterMPA project.
See https://iwt.ie/what-we-do/campaigns/bigger-better/

We also want an end to overfishing, special protection for endangered species and proper regulation of *all* fishing activities, whether its supertrawlers or recreational angling. If you'd like to help please become a member on http://www.iwt.ie