[Mis-]managing Fisheries on the West Coast of Ireland in the Nineteenth Century

Bibliographic Data

ID20249191
AuthorsJohn B Roney (0000-0003-3200-5116, Sacred Heart University, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume8
Issue1
Pages4
Publication date2019-01-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHumanities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2076-0787 • E-ISSN: 2076-0787
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/h8010004
OpenAlexW2908475107
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited11

This study focuses on the cultural heritage of artisan coastal fishing in the west of Ireland in the 19th century. The town and port of Dingle, County Kerry, offers an important case study on the progress of local development and changing British policies. While there was clearly an abundance of fish, the poverty and the lack of capital for improvements in ports, vessels, gear, education, and transportation, left the fishing industry underdeveloped until well after the 1890s. In addition, a growing rift developed between the traditional farmer-fishermen and the new middle-class capitalist companies. After several royal commissions examined the fishing industry, the leading ichthyologists of the day concluded that an abundance of fish could be taken without fear of overfishing. The utilitarian economic principle became dominant, changing the previous non-interventionist policies. In the end, there was little concern for sustainability. The mismanagement of commercial fishing in the west of Ireland stemmed from a series of factors, including the increasing need for protein in Britain, technological developments that allowed greater fish catch, and the Conservative government’s political policy of ‘constructive unionism’ that attempted to develop the Irish economy to preserve the kingdom

Archaeology · Commercial fishing · Commodity · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Fishery · Fishing · Fishing industry · Geography · Irish · Market economy · Overfishing · Political science · Politics · Poverty · Sustainability · Engineering · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Irish and British Studies

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