Archive

Creel fishemen on the west coast of Scotland have joined forces with a marine conservation charity to try to reduce the numbers of whales, dolphins and basking sharks getting entangled in the ropes they currently use at sea. They’ve conducted trials of a ‘sinking rope’, which, they say can reduce the risk of entanglement by as much as 80 per cent. The trials were funded by...

The welfare organisation, the Fishermen’s Mission, recently closed its facilities in Mallaig, once a major fishing port on the west coast of Scotland. It's another sign of challenging times for the industry and the communities that grew up around it. Kathleen Carragher met Jacqueline McDonell, CEO of Mallaig Harbour Authority and Harbour Master, James McLean, down at the quayside to discuss the changes.   A report for...

A group of food producers in the Lochaber area of the West Highlands of Scotland, who work together to sell their produce online, say they are showing it is possible to grow an impressive variety of fruit and vegetables in the area, despite poor soil, hilly terrain and a wet and windy climate. Crofter, Marian Austin, says that nurturing and mulching the soil is vital and...

Kenny Lang and his partner Cheryl set up their veterinary practice in Fort William in the West Highlands several years ago.  Kenny is Scottish and Cheryl comes from California.   They love the area's outdoor activities. With two part-time colleagues, they're kept busy with pet clinics.   They're keen to take on more livestock work but, like many other practices across the UK, they're finding it difficult to...

A campaign group in Northern Ireland is helping to develop a major European walking trail – The Columban Way – which traces the pilgrim routes of the 6th century Irish monk, Saint Columbanus.   But they say that public sector bureaucracy is frustrating their progress by denying access to a short stretch of the river Quoile in County Down.  Kathleen Carragher met campaigners, Cadogan Enright and...

  When Kerry Glass got married eight years ago she never expected to become a full time farmer. Her husband, James worked alongside his father on the family farm and she was a hairdresser in the nearby town of Garvagh in Co Londonderry.  But the family's fortunes changed dramatically when James' father lost his eyesight in the space of just 12 months.  Kerry told Kathleen Carragher...

Ever since Syrian refugee Wejdan Ghazal and her son, Hussain, moved to Northern Ireland, she's dreamed of having some land of her own to grow fruit and vegetables.  She's from a rural background and misses working on a farm.  Recently she's come a bit closer towards fulfilling that ambition through the help of a charity which has established, Seedbed, a community vegetable project, near Strangford...

Helen Keys is a farmer of many parts. She and her husband, Charlie, are trying to revive NI's flax growing industry on their farm in County Tyrone.  She's Northern Ireland's vice chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network; she's an entrepreneurial adviser to agricultural students and she's also the creator of a website called Source Grow.  She told Karen Patterson how it works. A report for...

Debbie Gillies is on a mission to save Ireland's native wild seeds. She did a training course at Kew's Millenium Seed Bank, in 2016, to help establish True Harvest Seeds, a charity she runs with fellow experts and volunteers, near Strangford in Country Down. Sean McDermott and colleagues look after the gardens at L'Arche care community, in East Belfast. They've made several trips to Strangford to...

In recent years Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has introduced measures limiting the size of brown crabs which can be landed. Now it has gone further, banning fishermen from catching immature soft shelled crabs. Brian Chambers is a founder member of the Sea Source co-operative, based at Kilkeel Harbour, in County Down. He was involved in the negotiations over the new rules....