Irish Islands
Marine Resource
Organisation
Representing Irish island communities across the marine sector
About Us
IIMRO has its origins in the long struggle by Donegal island fishermen for recognition of their rights following the offshore ban on salmon fishing in 2006. This was followed by a ban on all net fishing in Area VIa in 2008 which added further pressure to fragile island communities.Membership
Low Impact Fishers of Europe
Northwestern Waters Advisory Council
Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireannSince then the fishermen have met with their counterparts on all of the Irish islands in order to organise as a national organisation. They have taken their campaign to Europe and back home to Dublin in order to highlight the effects of one size fits all legislation has had across the islands of Ireland.IIMRO collaborates with groups from across Europe and Ireland and are working to implement recognition of small offshore islands in the new EU Common Fisheries Policy which came about largely as a result of our work in Europe:“Small offshore islands which are dependent on fishing should where appropriate, be especially recognised and supported in order to enable them to survive and prosper in the future.”The Regions
IIMRO represents islanders from Counties Donegal, Mayo, Galway and Cork.
Our Work
Support Our Work
Support the work of IIMRO in helping our island communities create sustainable fisheries and a future for our offshore island populations. If you would like to make a donation to support IIMRO's work please click on our secure Donate button or scan the code above.Donations are used as match funding to deliver meaningful projects that benefit our island communities.
IIMRO continues to organise and mobilise those involved in the marine sector across the offshore islands of Ireland. This will ensure they play a central role in the sustainable management of their marine resources.Dáil Éireann
The Oireachtas, its committees and state agencies have a key role in developing policies which govern the maritime sector around our islands. IIMRO works with all of these to ensure that island communities have a sustainable future.EU Parliament
IIMRO works with our partner organisations such as the European Small Island Network (ESIN) and Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) to influence policy at a European level. IIMRO are members of the EU Northwestern Waters Advisory Council where we represent our members on a wide range of issues.Current Priorities
Joint Oireachtas Report on Promoting Sustainable Rural Coastal and Island Communities
IIMRO are working hard in asking our elected members to implement the recommendations of this Dáil report and have prioritised three key recommendations for immediate action:Heritage License Bill
Fishery Co-managed Areas
Social welfare reform for share fishermenCommon Fisheries Policy (CFP)
The special recognition for island communities dependant on fishing in the CFP remains a top priority for IIMRO. The challenge is getting it adopted by the Irish government and agencies so that it can be resourced by the EU to deliver on the ground for island communities.Islanders
IIMRO continues to work with island communities and friends of the islands to ensure their views are represented at all levels across the marine sector.
Noteworthy Investigates; Future of island fishers on a knife edge
COSUSTAIN Project with Dr. Ruth Brennan, Trinity College Dublin
"Marcanna na Talamh", Intangible Cultural Heritage
Contact Us
Contact your nearest regional representative to raise an issue or for more info on the work of IIMRODonegal
Chairman: Jerry Early, Árainn Mhór.
Secretary: Séamus Bonner
John O Brien, Inis Bó Finne.County Mayo
James O Toole, Clare Island.
Eddie O Malley, Clare IslandCo. Galway
Mary Lavelle, Inishbofin
Enda Conneely, Inis OírrCo. Cork
Aisling Moran, Sherkin Island
IIMRO-Abalobi Fisheries App PilotIIMRO are delighted to announce an innovative partnership with Abalobi supported by Rethink Ireland's Innovate Together Fund.Markets which usually take fish and shellfish from offshore island fisheries have collapsed over the last number of years and worsened dramatically due to COVID-19.
As a result, most island based fishers cannot sell their catch and are completely dependent on emergency COVID payments. The lack of income or alternative support for fishers will have a disproportionate impact on fishery-dependent island communities.The project consists of the development of an innovative and integrated online and phone app system that will facilitate small scale fishers to log their catch and direct sales to consumers, of traceable fish and shellfish from the islands.The programme aims to promote traceable, storied seafood by empowering small-scale fishers from catch to customer, in a manner that is not only ecologically responsible, but also socially fair. This will ensure access to market and income generation for fishers in the area. The IIMRO-Abalobi app partnership will see the first rollout of the system in Europe and promises to make major changes to the way catches are documented and sold.The Abalobi app was first developed in South Africa and this will be the first time it is partnered with in Europe.The funding will be used to adapt the app suite to the Irish requirements for species, sales notes and reporting. The investment will also cover costs associated with marketing, recruiting and enrolling fishers and customers onto the system.For further information on the pilot email: [email protected]
Thank You
Thank you for getting in touch. We will respond as soon as possible.
Join the collective voice from the offshore islands on all matters fisheries and the marine and help strengthen our island communities.IIMRO was recognised as an EU producer organisation in May 2021 and our PO production and marketing plan approved in December 2021. Work is underway to deliver the measures in the plan to improve prices for members catches, develop onshore infrastructure and many other priorities.Annual membership is €100 per crew member. Select the correct number of crew from the payments checkout page.Payments managed by Stripe.
Purchase an IIMRO PO Co-Operative Membership Fee.
Please select the correct number of crew from the menu on the payments page.
BREXIT and the Irish Islands“Island fishermen have had a terrible year and need a package of supports to keep them afloat. IIMRO are very concerned that island fishers were not represented at recent Brexit industry meetings with the Government. Bad deals and fishing seem to go hand in hand when decisions are being made and we need to make sure this time that the island and other small scale fleets are not pushed out.” Jerry EarlyIIMRO welcomes the recent commitment by Taoiseach Micheál Martin that a “comprehensive plan would be developed in consultation with the representative bodies” in response to the negative impact of Brexit on the sector.Much of the focus of the Brexit negotiations have been on quota and fair access to the fishery resource.Quota in Ireland is a public resource. Nevertheless just 0.85% of Irish quota uptake in 2018 was taken by the under 12 meter fleet segment. That is less than 1% of Ireland’s national resource for 1,307 small boats, which make up ~84% of the Irish fleet.It is vital that any supports developed in the wake of Brexit proactively prioritise the small-scale, low impact island and inshore fleets that make up the majority of the vessels and the bulk of the jobs across the Irish seaboard.This new Brexit plan must address the glaring inequity of putting access to quota for high-value sought after species beyond the reach of small boats, leaving them overly dependent on non-quota species such as crab and lobster.The last year has shown that events beyond the control of fishers such as Brexit, COVID-19 and the removal of EU-US lobster tariffs have, and will, inflict huge damage on coastal communities and revealed major failings in our current fisheries value chain.IIMRO look forward to engaging constructively with Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister Charlie McConalogue to ensure that island small scale fishers are included in the plan and that meaningful support measures reach those that need it most.Video stills are taken from an animation by Dr Ruth Brennan from her research work on the Irish Islands; Ruth Brennan and Michael (Mysh) Rozanov, Managing for Diversity: Keeping Everyone Afloat in Irish Fisheries (2020)Findings and publications from the COSUSTAIN project can be found at:
https://www.belongingtothesea.com/findings/Contact:
Irish Islands Marine Resource Organisation (IIMRO).
www.iimro.orgJerry Early, Chairperson.
[email protected]
As part of our work plan IIMRO are setting out on an ambitious project to collect and conserve our island maritime heritage by setting up an innovative national digital archive for the islands.This will help preserve marine heritage from across our offshore islands in the form of photos, film, audio, recipes, songs, documents and other material. The aim is to create an archive which will be accessible to future generations of islanders and the wider national community.This has not been attempted before on a national scale and once established it will be a rich resource for all with an interest in our islands, islanders and their connections to the sea. IIMRO would like to acknowledge the help and support of Oral History Network of Ireland and the Irish Community Archive Network in developing this community resource.To contribute material to the archive just use the simple form below to submit material and add it to the IIMRO Digital Community Archive for cataloging. We look forward to receiving contributions from across the country and the globe.Click the "Contribute" button to access the archive form.
To visit some of IIMRO's other work in conserving our island's cultural heritage visit the links below.
Go Raibh Maith Agat! - Thank You!
Thank you for sincerely for your donation!It is much appreciated and will be put to good use in our projects on the Irish offshore islands.
IIMRO is taking a lead on marine spatial planning in Ireland. IIMRO members are fearful that blue economy activities such as offshore renewable energy, which is being prioritised and fast tracked by the government, could potentially displace vulnerable fishing communities and irreversibly damage sensitive marine habitats. At official level there is an awareness that information on small fishing boats is nowhere near where it needs to be, but also a lack of urgency to address this very serious problem.For historical reasons small boats in Europe are not required to use AIS or VMS vessel trackers and boats under 10 metres do not currently log catches. As a result, the social, economic and environmental importance of the inshore and small-scale fleet segment has been vastly underestimated. Due to the way fleet activity data is currently measured, where small boat activity is excluded, there is no overall national picture of where and when this fleet segment operates. This knowledge gap is despite the fact that under 12 metre vessels currently make up 88% of the Irish fleet.IIMRO has been working to address data gaps through a number of partnerships. We have worked with CLS in France since March 2022 to field test their Nemo inshore VMS units in an Irish environment. These small, self-contained units collect fishing activity data that is owned by the fishermen and can be used for a wide variety of purposes. In recent weeks IIMRO has joined an EU Horizon research project consortium called Fish-X (https://fish-x.eu/) where we will be working with other project partners to expand the testing of Nemo iVMS to other IIMRO members across the country, joining fishermen and women in Portugal and Croatia.The experience gained during this research will inform EU policy and help ensure that any new regulations are workable for those fishing from small boats. For IIMRO members the data generated will be available as an anonymised footprint which will show the scale and scope of small scale fishing around our offshore islands. This information will be essential for fisheries co-management in marine protected areas, avoiding areas important for fisheries for the government and the offshore renewable industry, improving fisheries science and for documenting the traditional ecological knowledge of our island fishing communities.