Today was another travel day, full of bus rides and photoshopped amounts of green scenery. We took three total buses over a total of 6 hours to finally reach our destination of Dingle. This town is the only one in the Dingle Peninsula, there are a few villages, and is a small harbor town situated on the southwestern portion of Ireland in County Kerry. It initially started out as a little port area for goods to pass through on their way to their intended destination. However, over the centuries it gained popularity and trading became more and more common here. Soon it became a very popular trading post, becoming the most frequented one in Ireland. It was also used as a base for European fishing fleets. The area is also supported by the agriculture and lifestock there, as the soil is wet and nutrient rich.
I was curious as to how the fishing in Dingle (and Ireland in general) has been effected since the country joined the EU in 1973. Local fishers say that the catching of salmon makes up 70% of their income, and if the decline in their fishing availability continues, their livelihood will be lost. The Common Fisheries Policy was put in place by the EU commission in order to try to manage the overfishing of common spots that would be accessible to all of Europe otherwise. Fish as a stock is renewable, however if all countries were left to their own devices, many fishing grounds would be vacant in a few decades at most. Now on an overall level this seems fine and dandy, but local fishers think otherwise. The limited space that they are able to fish leaves them with little bounty at the end of the day. The EU argues that the fishing industry was on a decline to begin with, and that the demand for fresh fish is slowly shifting towards fish exports. So on this argument I'm going to have to side with the EU. While personal fisheries will go down the tube, the fishing industry as a whole will become more efficient and will preserve a limited livestock.
Aside from fishing and agriculture, Dingle has also become quite the tourist spot. Due to the beautiful landscape and quality of fresh fish based dishes, it has become quite popular among the tourist destinations in Ireland. It also has a small aquarium and has recently opened its own distillery in 2012. Also there is apparently a bottlenosed dolphin that frequents the Dingle harbor that has become a bit of an attraction. The locals have named him Fungie and by bottlenose dolphin years he is quite old.
A little history is nice before we start exploring the town more in depth. We went about town to get a bite to eat, some dinner and ice cream (which tasted like butter), and hung around the harbor admiring the sea. Tomorrow we go to view documentaries and spend time with their director drinking tea and discussing. Stay tuned.
I was curious as to how the fishing in Dingle (and Ireland in general) has been effected since the country joined the EU in 1973. Local fishers say that the catching of salmon makes up 70% of their income, and if the decline in their fishing availability continues, their livelihood will be lost. The Common Fisheries Policy was put in place by the EU commission in order to try to manage the overfishing of common spots that would be accessible to all of Europe otherwise. Fish as a stock is renewable, however if all countries were left to their own devices, many fishing grounds would be vacant in a few decades at most. Now on an overall level this seems fine and dandy, but local fishers think otherwise. The limited space that they are able to fish leaves them with little bounty at the end of the day. The EU argues that the fishing industry was on a decline to begin with, and that the demand for fresh fish is slowly shifting towards fish exports. So on this argument I'm going to have to side with the EU. While personal fisheries will go down the tube, the fishing industry as a whole will become more efficient and will preserve a limited livestock.
Aside from fishing and agriculture, Dingle has also become quite the tourist spot. Due to the beautiful landscape and quality of fresh fish based dishes, it has become quite popular among the tourist destinations in Ireland. It also has a small aquarium and has recently opened its own distillery in 2012. Also there is apparently a bottlenosed dolphin that frequents the Dingle harbor that has become a bit of an attraction. The locals have named him Fungie and by bottlenose dolphin years he is quite old.
A little history is nice before we start exploring the town more in depth. We went about town to get a bite to eat, some dinner and ice cream (which tasted like butter), and hung around the harbor admiring the sea. Tomorrow we go to view documentaries and spend time with their director drinking tea and discussing. Stay tuned.