The world’s second-biggest fishing vessel has been fishing off the Kerry and Cork coast in recent days.
The FV Margiris is 142 metres in long and is the same size as 14 regular-sized trawlers.
The Lithuanian-registered Dutch owned vessel uses drag nets more than a kilometre in length.
Environmentalists and the local fishing industry claim it clears large amounts of marine life and Greenpeace has alleged pods of dolphins have been caught in its nets.
However, the company which operates the FV Margiris, Parlevliet & Van der Plas says the vessel doesn’t cause the amount of bycatch claimed and that it can actually cause less damage to the marine environment than traditional trawlers.
The company says it has an excellent reputation for sustainable fishing.
Environmental group Blue Planet Society announced the megatrawler’s presence off the south west two days ago on Twitter.
In response, Green MEP for Ireland South Grace O’Sullivan tweeted that they’re working in the European Parliament to make sure ships like this have increased monitoring, including CCTV onboard, and to make sure everything that is caught is recorded and controlled in order to reduce damage to endangered species.
