The Minister of State for the Marine, Mr Hugh Byrne, has initiated a £60 million (€76.2 million) public and private investment programme in aquaculture under the National Development Plan.
State and EU funding of £25 million towards the sector represents double the support given in the previous national plan, the Minister of State emphasised in Wexford yesterday. He expressed the Government's "clear confidence" in the industry.
Fish farming has the ability to deliver on ambitious strategic objectives and targets, the Minister of State said. A consultancy study presented last year to the Taoiseach envisaged that the sector could grow sustainably by over 300 per cent to a £450 million industry over the next 15 years. The industry is currently worth more than £67 million annually and has a total production output of 44,000 tonnes.
The new aquaculture measure draws on the Circa consultancy study's emphasis on a "window of opportunity" for fish farming here. The Minister of State said that one of its key challenges was to develop "world class levels of food safety and product quality", underpinned by independently verifiable safety and quality systems. Given the relatively unpolluted production conditions, there was no reason why Ireland could not become the "premier producer" in European and global markets, he said.
The Irish Salmon Growers' Association (ISGA) chairman, Mr James Ryan, welcomed the assistance given in the measure, and said that his industry's plan was to sell the best, most recognisable and highest-quality salmon in Europe. To this end, the industry needed to "de-couple" itself from the industrial production of Norway, Chile and Scotland, and to carve out a niche for Irish salmon at the highest end of the retail and catering scale.
Funding will be delivered through the two regional programmes for the Border, Midlands and Western (BMW) region and the Southern and Eastern region. Support programmes handled under the tranche by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) will be administered at local level through a network of regional development officers based in Cork, Kerry, Galway, Mayo and Wexford. This network will be supplemented by the Cross-Border Aquaculture Initiative Team, funded under the Peace and Reconciliation Programme, covering Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Monaghan, Cavan and Louth. Udaras na Gaeltachta will provide similar assistance in the Gaeltacht areas. Coordinated local area management systems, known as CLAMS, will be pursued as a "strategic policy pillar" of the National Development Plan.
Eligible applicants will include sole traders, partnerships, co-operatives and companies that comply with appropriate planning and licensing requirements. Assistance will be provided at a rate of up to 40 per cent (5 per cent Exchequer and 35 per cent EU) of eligible costs for development of the principal commercial species - salmon, trout, mussels and oysters. Up to 45 per cent (10 per cent Exchequer and 35 per cent EU) will be provided for commercial development of new species and new technology. Currently, turbot is farmed successfully in Connemara.
Volume and value of aquaculture output are projected to increase from 46,203 tonnes valued at €87.6 million or £68.9 million in 1999 to some 97,023 tonnes valued at €175.6 million or £138.3 million in 2008.
