An interview with Risteard O Domhnaill: Fishing In Action

While making the 2010 documentary The Pipe, Risteard O Domhnaill spent a lot of time with local Mayo fishermen such as Pat "The Chief" O Donnell, who confided in O Domhnaill about the difficulties facing small fishermen, and how restrictive government legislation hindered their ability to make a living.
They felt like the State had given away their resources. They felt squeezed and criminalised. It struck me that there's a pattern here. We don't realise we're an island. As a people and a State, we look down our noses at fishing and fishing communities. It's ingrained in our culture, we always associate the sea with emigration or tragedy or dependence. It's always been negative things with the sea, and I think that's percolated up through politics. When we deal with Europe, fishing is just used as a bargaining chip; people's livelihoods have been traded for farming subsidies and other goodies. There's no respect or recognition given to the livelihood or industry or social fabric of fishing industries. That's been very tragic.
While The Pipe was a local story featuring incredible characters,Atlantic tackles an international story, showing the past, present and future of fishing communities that are railroaded by governments refusing to acknowledge their rights and importance. O Domhnaill admits that the documentary was gruelling to make. Having initially conceived it as a half-hour piece focused on Ireland, he also visited Norway and Newfoundland to see whether the experiences are shared.
"As I explored these other communities to put the Irish situation into a broader context, it just grew bigger and bigger and I lost control of it a little bit. All of a sudden instead of one story you have six different stories, 2,000 miles apart."
O Domhnaill struggled to get financial support for the film here, and so raised 56,000 through crowdfunding - a figure later matched by the Irish Film Board.
"Well, I've made two documentary films in 10 years. It's not a sustainable model! says O Domhnaill. "It's very difficult and makes me really assess where I go from here. I've been drawn to stories that aren't really covered by the media in a very meaningful way, which are difficult to get support for. They're the stories that need to be told."
However, despite O Domhnaill's socially conscious attitude and perseverance, he resists the label of "activist", asserting that his role isn't to push his personal views, merely present the untold stories of our country.
"It's kind of dangerous to be labelled an activist. It seems I've an agenda. I stumble across stories in some ways - I stumbled across the story of The Pipe. It's not an anti-capitalist film in any way. It has a good deal of balance. If someone comes out badly from the film - in this case, Ireland! - it's because we're making bad decisions when it comes to how we treat our fishing communities and how we approach natural resources. These questions need to be asked."