Fishing in Irish Waters: A Blow-in's Tale by Trevor Simpson

– the third volume in the Cornish Fisherman’s Diaries series –

Fishing in Irish Waters: A Blow-in’s Tale by Trevor Simpson is the third volume in the author’s highly popular Cornish Fisherman’s Diaries series of memoirs.

When Trevor Simpson arrived in Ireland in 1967, Dunmore East in Co. Waterford was home to just a few trawlers and some lobster boats. All that was about to change, however. More boats, most of them big trawlers, were arriving in Dunmore. The growth in the sea fishing industry increased and within the next few years, a great number of boats were purchased and added to the local fleet. Great enthusiasm was shown by fishermen from all around the coast. During this period, Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) was most helpful. Their loan-and-grant scheme made things possible.

Everyone connected with the fishing was so upbeat and confident in the industry’s future. All of these boats joined the growing fleet at Dunmore East, and they were skippered and crewed mostly by local lads. Now, everything has changed. There are no young men down our harbour now.

In this book, Trevor Simpson offers a candid assessment of what has happened and why, charting both the highs and the lows, the rise and decline in Ireland’s sea fishing industry. Even though the picture that he paints of the present state of affairs comes across as bleak, it could also serve as a call to action – a question of what could have been or what has yet to come?

We do have our memories though. Despite the hardships and the dangers, fishing the way that we did it was the best job in the world.

Fishing in Irish Waters: A Blow-in’s Tale by Trevor Simpson is published under the imprint of The Manuscript Publisher. It is available to buy online, in print and e-book editions, along with other books in the Cornish Fisherman’s Diaries series.

Trevor Simpson is a retired sea fisherman who continues to reside in Co. Waterford, close to where he fished for many years. Prior to that, he fished out of Newquay in Cornwall. Fishing in Irish Waters: A Blow-in’s Tale is his third volume of memoir in the Cornish Fisherman’s Diaries series. He is also the author of Diary of a Cornish Fisherman: Newquay, 1962-1967, published in 2014 and A Cornish Fisherman’s Irish Diary, published in 2017.