Shane McIntyre never really leaves his boat or the waters around Cork, Ireland where his crab and lobster pots rest on the seabed. By Spring, he is waking at 5am to head down to the harbour and finishes in the afternoon. 

But once back home, he often examines navigational charts on his phone alongside his father-in-law who fished in the same waters through the late 20th century and shares historical data. Shane has a book where he notes dated details of temperatures, weather conditions and where to shoot his pots in different areas over the years. At weddings and parties, he will pass the hours discussing insurance and rising operation costs with fellow fishers and when he goes on holiday, he will use the time to organise maintenance on their boat. 

Wherever he goes, Shane cannot afford to leave his boat behind. 

His wife and fellow fisherman – Trudy considers herself a fisherman “because the title is hard earned and I could do the same as the rest of them” – is a founding member and board director for the National Inshore Fisheries Association (NIFA). She shares that members across the country are questioning whether they should continue working or not as operation costs “are doubling, if not more”. Some are forced to continue fishing into their late seventies as high costs and the absence of a decommissioning scheme for small-scale fishers leave them with no other option.

“My concern for fishermen’s mental health is rising because of rising costs. There is no mechanism in existence here in Ireland that could or would support our Indigenous industry. People are being backed into corners; men with big marine mortgages, men who have invested everything. With little help or opportunities, it’s easy to see why some might be pushed over the edge,” Trudy shared. 

She and Shane owned two larger fishing boats previously but Shane was unable to work on them while he recovered from cancer and both were rendered inoperable after accidents. It took the family a long time to recover from the combined loss and illness, eventually purchasing the Sea Rose to fish for crab and lobster. “After Shane’s illness and everything we had invested in [our previous boat], we were gutted, shocked and just couldn’t do it again. After everything was paid to creditors, we decided to buy a small fishing boat big enough for the two of us to work on,” Trudy explained.