A look behind the making of Tarrac na Farraige, a four-part observational documentary series which will be broadcast weekly from May 8th on RTÉ 1 television
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By: Lorna Siggins
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Aran islander Enda Dirrane may have experienced many large seas and swells on the Porcupine Bank, but participating in a new documentary series on the fishing industry took another type of courage.
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“To be honest, I’d rather be behind the scenes,”Dirrane admits, but says that film-maker Maggie Breathnach “roped me into it”.
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Dirrane is one of a number of skippers of boats large and small who are profiled in Tarrac na Farraige, a four-part observational documentary series which will be broadcast weekly from May 8th on RTÉ 1 television.
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“Equal parts high drama and human-interest, the series promises to be an all-encompassing exploration of the industry today,”Breathnach’s company, Red Shoe Productions, says.
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“For the past year, fishermen up and down the coast of Ireland have allowed the crew of Red Shoe Productions to film them as they go about their daily lives, as workers grapple with a fragile industry on the cusp of seismic change,”it says.
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Representing fishing communities from Malin Head to Mizen Head, via Killybegs and Castletownbere, it worked with members of the O’Flaherty family, the Murphy family and fishermen including MacDara Breathnach,Enda Dirrane, John O’Donnell, Fionn Ó Curraoin and Paddy Kelly.
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Breathnach, who is a native of An Rinn, close to Helvick head on the south-east coast, says she was keen to depict the generational, vocational side of fishing and the challenges facing the industry now
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“In a time of great uncertainty, this series aims to humanise the headlines, localise the stories, verbalise the frustrations, and connect with communities to tell their untold tales,”she says.
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Breathnach was producer and director of the four-part series, much of it in the Irish language, which was commissioned by RTÉ.
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She says that local cinematographer Seamus Hayes, who was her director of photography, played a crucial role.
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He had fished himself from his late teens, and “knew his way around a deck”.
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Hayes filmed on board many boats including The Foyle Fisher, Menhaden, Little Jack, Cruach na Cara, Jenny M, Rose of Sharon and the Áine.
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“My father drove a fish truck, and I’ve seen the demise of fishing since I was a child,”Breathnach says.
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“Growing up here, I’m aware of the tragedies that have occurred with fishing vessels off the south-east, and the full spectrum of what it is like within the industry today,”she says.
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Hayes worked with her over a year on and off boats, and one of the biggest challenges, apart from weather, was working around quota restrictions which tie vessels to the quay.
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Episode one introduces the interviewees, including Aran islander Enda Dirrane who grew up and is still living on Inis Mór.
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In his mid forties, he has more than 30 years of fishing experience under his belt, having gone to sea for the first time with his father at the age of 13.
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His grandfather and father fished, and five of his six brothers are fishing – one being in north America where has been at sea off the east coast.
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He skippers the 24m trawler, St John Baptiste, which targets prawns and a mixture of whitefish in the Irish Sea, the Celtic Sea and off the west coast of Ireland. Much of his catch is landed into Kilmore Quay or Dunmore East.
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The sea, and its freedom – “is grá liom an bfharraige…saoirse air an bfharraige” – is why he does what he does, he says. Noting how many boats have disappeared from both the Aran islands and Ros-a-Mhíl, he says that he couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
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“I have to be on the sea and I have to be living by the sea,”he says.
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Dirrane identifies an unfair quota system which marginalises Irish fishing vessels within their own waters as the greatest challenge, along with “rules and regulations which are killing the job”.
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Like Dirrane, Ryan Murphy of Castletownbere, says he felt a bit like “a rabbit in headlights” when being filmed at the helm of the family vessel, the Menhaden.
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“Seamus did one trip of three days with us on the Porcupine, fishing for blue whiting,”Murphy recalls.
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Drone footage shows the Menhaden and Seaspray setting off for a pair trawling trip, and the use of drones was useful in showing what a “dramatic fishery” the blue whiting can be, he says.
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Murphy first went to sea in his mid teens when still at school, and then went to the BIM fisheries school in Greencastle, Co Donegal.
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He has been at sea since he was 21
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His father, Larry, who is also interviewed for the series, speaks candidly about the loss of his youngest son, Wayne, who died of natural causes at the age of 26 in 2007 when the Menhaden was fishing 25-miles west of Ullapool, Scotland.
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Ryan Murphy says he is “too far into it now” to think of any career other than fishing, in spite of the constraints.
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“The big problem is no young people are going fishing, and my own son is going into merchant marine,”he says, as is the case with a number of fishing families.
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Macdara Breathnach from Carna, Connemara, works as a skipper on a 24metre prawn trawer, the Rose of Sharon, with a Filipino, Portuguese, Eastern European/Latvian crew.
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When on his weeks off from the vessel, based out of Cork, he likes to go to sea on a small boat, Cruach na Cara, off Connemara, fishing for lobster. He often takes trips with his dad, Seamus, who has retired from BIM.
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Seamus Breathnach says that working with his namesake (no relation) from An Rinn was a “very positive experience”. The father and son could work ten hour days on the pots, as they both love to go to sea.
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Macdara had taken nautical studies in Cork after he left school, and worked on oil rigs but didn’t like being away from home for long periods.
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The planned offshore wind farm on the Sceirde rocks off the south Connemara coast was still in train when the Breathnachs were being interviewed.
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“We were in the middle of negotiations with the project backer, Corio Generation, at the time, and to be fair they were very good to deal with,”Seamus Breathnach recalls.
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That particular challenge for the inshore fleet in that area is now off the agenda since Corio confirmed that it was pulling out of the project.
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Donegal skipper Ciarán Doherty from Cruit Island, who is operations manager and skipper with the Áine Fishing Company, is another participant.
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As chair of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation, he was well able to explain the issues arising from Brexit, principally loss of quota.
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The Áine Fishing Company was initiated by his father, Joseph, who bought his first boat in 1970 at the age of 19, and the company currently employs 16 people.
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Doherty first went to sea at the age of four, and joined the family-owned business on a full-time basis while still in his teens in 1992. Three years later he got his skipper’s ticket.
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Other inshore fishermen interviewed include Fionn O’Curraoin from Baile na nGall on the Waterford coast, who says his grandfather and uncle fished but the family was mainly farming.
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Speaking to the film crew as he prepared and loaded lobster pots, he explains how he went to sea for several years after time in college in Cork but missed being back here.
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His late sister Caoilfhionn suggested he focus on sustainable inshore fishing, which he has pursued, and she is his continued inspiration.
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Breathnach recruited Helvick inshore man Paddy Kelly, who has been fishing since the 1970s and has witnessed many changes in the industry.
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Kelly was one of two jailed for six months on Spike Island, Co Cork for salmon fishing offences in May 1986.
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The jailing sparked a protest and blockade of Spike island by up to 30 boats over the sentences imposed on him and fellow Co Waterford fisherman Johnny Murray.
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As he told Breathnach and her team, he used to fish whiting, salmon, lobster and Shrimp. He noted that the value of lobster and shrimp per kilo had dropped from €20 down to approximately €16 (based on last year’s figures).
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Kelly believes that global warming is doing untold damage to the fishing industry. He says that the lobsters used to have a very hard shell and now they have a very thin and delicate shell and he thinks water temperature may be a factor.
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“What shocked me was that all we ever hear about the industry is headlines about quota, whereas these are individuals with families who are being denied a basic right to earn a living at sea,”Breathnach says, thinking back over the experience of filming.
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“In schools, even now, we are taught little or nothing about fish stocks in Irish waters and the impact of quotas, and I feel there is a growing disconnect with our coastal economy,”Breathnach says.
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“Fishermen themselves are being pushed into silos, and are scared of speaking out as they are understandably scared of losing what they may have,”she says.
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She pays tribute to all her participants, many of whom were being filmed for television for the first time.
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Tarrac na Farraige – a four-part series focusing on the fishing industry in Ireland,is broadcast weekly on RTÉ One television from Thursday May 8th at 19.00
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