Erris Fishermen protest against Shell plans

mayo | environment | news report Tuesday July 15, 2008 19:15 by Rudiger - S2S

Summary of yesterdays protest held by Erris Inshore Fishermen's Association (EIFA)

Yesterday a protest was held at Ballyglass pier close to Belmullet by the Erris Inshore Fishermen's Association (EIFA) in which about 30 boats and around 100 fishermen formed a flotilla and were met by a large group of supporters as they arrived into the pier.
The EIFA have engaged with Shell for the last 7 years but have found that as usual Shell is only interested in telling them how things will be done.
Mr Eddie Diver, Chairman of EIFA said in speech to the assembled crowd “All along we have been very reasonable in our approach but we haven’t got any support from the Government. We cannot accept the location of the outflow pipe with its toxic, heavy metals. We’ve been told by various government officials that they cannot move this piece of plastic pipe; surely with Shell’s huge profits and the increasing value of this field they can afford it”
The main issue for the fisher men is the damage that the waste outflow pipe from the refinery will do to the fishing areas around Broadhaven Bay.
Pat O Donnell said “We’ve been fishing these waters for generations and we all have licences to fish them. So let the Minister for Justice and the Government protect our rights now the way they brought in the Gardaí to protect the workers on the gas refinery,”
He added that if Shell wanted to remove his crab pots from the route of the pipeline, they would have to get a court order. “And I won’t heed the court order so they’ll have to send me and other fishermen to jail.”

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It has been a pretty bad week PR wise for Shell. At a recent press conference held John Egan, Shell’s chief propaganda officer initially said that he couldn’t talk about the security at glengad when challenged by a Midwest Radio journalist over why she was filmed herself. However he later changed his story to say that the security personnel “do not turn on the cameras until such time as they believe that an incident is either about to occur or is occurring” and he stated that while people are swimming “the cameras are not switched on”. However a journalist has stated in this weeks’ Mayo Echo that while their journalist was only about 10 feet away he saw a security man with a “camera to his face, and the video camera was clearly switched on. He [the security guard] was clearly seen to point it towards a person who was undressing on the beach, and the camera followed this man as he entered the water, and whilst he was swimming. The security staff also filmed others walking on the beach”.
Also in the Mayo Echo it quotes from the new Private Security Services Act 2004 states, “An individual ... shall, when providing a security service, wear an identity badge” and the badge should “clearly indicates the licence number of the licensee concerned”.
I’ve rarely seen Shell get as bad a tongue-lashing in the press and it can be view here in pdf: http://www.mayoecho.com/this%20weeks%20edition/pdfs/MAY...1.pdf http://www.mayoecho.com/this%20weeks%20edition/pdfs/MAY...2.pdf http://www.mayoecho.com/this%20weeks%20edition/pdfs/MAY...4.pdf

There has also been a radio program on Midwest Radio in the last week regarding the road that MCC are currently widening for Shell.