'Atlantic' - New Documentary Charts Destruction Wrought by Super Trawlers

News from The Celtic League:

Irish documentary film maker Risteard Ó Domhnaill who became famous for his film ‘The Pipe’ which documented the struggle of the people of North Mayo against the decision to site a gas refinery onshore in the area has produced another groundbreaking film.

‘Atlantic’ charts the impact on fishing communities along Ireland’s west coast (and further afield) of the devastating fishing practices carried out by so called super-trawlers.

Celtic League have reported since last year the activities of these massive vessels which literally sweep vast areas of sea of all marine life taking not only fish but other species including small marine mammals. We have also lobbied national governments and the EU to no avail.

‘The Pipe’ had a huge impact when it was released charting as it did the struggle, ultimately unsuccessful, of a tiny community against multi-nationals like Shell Oil and the State.

It is to be hoped that Ó Domhnaill’s latest film is equally as influential however this time if the message is ignored it will not just be isolated coastal communities that suffer but the whole global marine eco-system which this planet depends on.

There is a link here to an article about the film which includes a video trailer:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/…/risteard-o-domhnaills-new-do…

Appropriately the film gets a showing in the fishing village of Burtonport in Donegal this evening. Local Donegal fishermen have borne the brunt of some of this industrial fishing in recent years as we outlined when we charted the activities of several super-trawlers relentlessly working the area some months ago:

http://www.donegaldaily.com/…/hard-hitting-documentary-atl…/

There is a link to a Greenpeace document about these vessels at this link;

http://www.greenpeace.org/…/o…/2014/Monster_Boats_Report.pdf

All our reports are on line at the main Celtic League web pages just type ‘trawler’ into search.

Finally, as the report outlines the film very nearly failed at the first hurdle funding when all doors were closed and it was only through crowdfunding that the initial cash to float the project was obtained.

BERNARD MOFFATT

Issued by: The Manx branch of the Celtic League

TEL: 01624 877918 or 07624 491609

06/05/16

THE CELTIC LEAGUE

The Celtic League established in 1961 has branches in the six Celtic Countries including our own Mannin branch. It promotes cooperation between the countries and campaigns on a range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, military activity and socio-economic issues

The link for the main web pages is below:

http://celticleague.net