AN IRISHWOMAN'S DIARY

PITY poor Martin Howley, skipper of Atlantic Challenge - the latest super-trawler to steam into Killybegs. There they were in thousands, combing his £10 million investment last weekend. Yet the sauna was all that many could talk about afterwards the pub.

Forget about fiendish fishfinders, 500-tonne net hauls, plotters and sonars and such like. That the 70-metre vessel is fitted with its own sewage treatment plant did not impress half as much. The real "find" was this simple little Scandinavian comfort. Just down the corridor from the skipper's leather-furnished "bunk".

With the flag flying over the port's auction haul and the Norwegian coastguard in Donegal Bay, it was yet another little bit of Norway to reach Killybegs, at a time when the east coast seemed to be seized by the Stars and Stripes.

"Blue Europe" in town

Captain Gerald Hoewing, skipper of the US warship . . . whatsitsname . . . would have been justifiably envious of Mr Howley. His bridge doesn't have a deep-pile carpet, or an ergonomic, two-tone seat. Built in the Hellesoy shipyard in Lofallstrand, the ship had arrived in just in time - well, almost - for Fish Ireland 96.

Some 14,000 people attended the three-day fisheries exhibition in south Donegal, and that number again streamed down to the quay to see the new craft. There was music, air/sea rescue, the Norwegian coastguard, moon dancing. Spanish accents mingled with south Down, as "blue Europe" came to town.

Five metres longer than its similarly named predecessor, the Atlantic Challenge is the third Irish steel order for the Hellesoy yard. Hellesoy built Kevin Me Hugh's Veronica models one and two. The yard's first Irish order, the Joan Patricia, was 65 foot and built of wood. That was back in 1969.

The new vessel is said to have a 30 per cent reduced carrying capacity over its predecessor. It can make 17 knots, and could put the local ESB generator out of a job. Like its sister ship. the vessel has also made a commitment. Most deep-sea vessels opt to land at the nearest market. The owners, Sean McGuinness, Martin Hawley and Seamus Tally have made a point, whenever possible of supplying the fish factories at home.

The vessel has been fully equipped by local firms. Barry Sharkey, son of the late electronics wizard, Paddy, helped to fit out the bridge. Two former skippers, Albert Swan and James McLeod, have provided the nets for most of the Killybegs mackerel fleet. Such is the port's reputation for mid-water trawling that Martin Howley travelled to Chile last year to assist there with trials.

Yet the little migratory fish with no air sac is not the main quarry for this ship. Pitted against rapidly developing new technology, mackerel stocks are declining, and the big boats must diversify. The European Commission's plans for fewer. larger, vessels will do little for the renewable resource. That great protector. bad weather. poses no obstacle to such supercraft.

Conserving fish supplies

Tied up just beyond the new vessel on the crowded quay, small white-fish vessels look the worst for wear. Squeezed by EU regulations which will not permit certain safety improvements without adding to tonnage, their future is less secure.

Ironically, while the EU tries to turn these skippers into criminals. or force them ashore, weather prevents them from filling their quota in certain stocks. The conventional wisdom is that lucrative Irish grounds will be fished out by cousins in the European fleet.

"Conserving fish for others to take" was how the former Castletownbere skipper. Donal O DiscoIl, described it at a late-night debate on fishery policy last week during the Glandore Classicoats summer school. Cuan dOr, the golden harbour, lies 320 miles south of Killybegs, and directly opposite the thriving west Cork fishing harbour of Union Hall. Surrounded by rolling, rich agricultural land2 and residents like former British prime minister, Jim Callaghan, it is a picture postcard, and owes much of its wealth to the sea.

Village in decline

Property prices have rocketed. Hardly a sparrow falls to the ground without another resident, AJF O'Reilly, having first option. But there are only three farming families left in the area. Its one permanent shop has closed. Without an economic focus, the "village" seems set to die.

But not quite. Thanks to Donal Lynch, Maeve Murphy, Cyril Kilgrew, Antoinette O'Donoghue, Kieran O'Donoghue and the ubiquitous Bendons of Glandore Harbour Yacht Club, the village is firmly on the international map. Initiated only four years ago, its classic boats regatta has gained a reputation. Small wonder that the firmer Taoiseach, Mr Charles J. Haughey, declined an invitation to the "Fourth" on the USS JFK and took his ketch, Celtic Mist, in by the "Dangers" and Adam and Eve islets to Cuan dOr instead.

And I think we can do without it". he said, with reference to the US visitor, when he welcomed visiting craft like Stormy Weather and paid tribute to the intrepid Don Street, with his engine-less Iolaire and the French couple, Bernard and Michelle Cadoret. Publishers of the French magazine, Le Chasse Maree, the couple have done much to encourage the classic boats summer school. They have also promised to publish a major book on the traditional boats of Ireland, on which work is in progress.

Speakers like Darina Tully. Hal Sisk, Michael McCaughan of the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Criostoir Mac Carthaigh of the National Muscum of Ireland, Donal McPolin, and currach-maker, Padraig O Duinnin, reported on latest findings at the school. To date. there has been no substantial offer of funding. Reflecting he general attitude to the sea. cots and cobbles and nickies and nobbys are not officially regarded as "heritage". Just yet.