Salmon Watch Ireland (SWI) has called for an overhaul of the licensing regime for fish farms in Ireland amid a dispute between two government departments on the issue.
SWI director John Murphy described the stand-off between Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan and Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue as “an astonishing difference of opinion between two government departments”.
The fallout is encapsulated in a dispute over how fish farming development was assessed in Kenmare Bay, Co Kerry, and a controversial proposal by Ireland’s largest salmon farm operator, MOWI Ireland, for a fish farm in Ballinakill Bay in Connemara near some of Ireland’s most important wild salmon fishing rivers. Anglers say the proposal brings with it a risk of “ecological catastrophe”.
There should be no question of allowing more “open-net pen” salmon farms near shorelines as it would compound the problem of decline in wild salmon and sea trout, when existing ones are proven to be contributing to their decline, Mr Murphy said, adding that a growing number of countries are banning pen farms because of their environmental impact.
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Sea trout
Green Party policy supports ending the licensing of offshore salmon farming “and a switch to closed-loop onshore salmon farming, in accordance with scientific research that points to the adverse environmental impacts of open pen farming”.
Mr Murphy said his organisation, which is campaigning for the restoration of salmon abundance in Ireland, “strongly supports Minister Ryan in his recent intervention underlining the negative impacts of salmon farming on wild salmon and sea trout.
“This industry has all but destroyed salmonid populations [salmon and sea trout] and large areas of unique coastal and freshwater ecosystems resulting in an economic and biodiversity crisis,” he added. “There is an alarming and perplexing willingness by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine along with the Marine Institute to support the salmon farming industry.”
It appeared that relatively “supportive science”, as authored by the Marine Institute, is the only “science” exclusively relied on by the department in the licensing of salmon farms, Mr Murphy said.
“Overwhelmingly opposing views in international studies and those carried out by Inland Fisheries Ireland are studiously ignored.”
IFI said salmon aquaculture projects must be environmentally sustainable “and cannot threaten the future of wild fish”, especially vulnerable species such as wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout.
Scientific evidence, both national and international, has documented that “sea lice from marine salmon farms are seriously impacting our wild fish. This evidence is overwhelming, stark and cannot, in the context of its statutory remit for the protection and conservation of the inland fisheries resource, be ignored by IFI,” it added.
Aquaculture lice
The vast majority of peer-reviewed scientific studies show that when wild Atlantic salmon are exposed to sea lice emanating from aquaculture, they are less likely to survive at sea, it noted. “IFI has continually expressed its serious concerns regarding the development or operation of marine salmon farms that are close to the migration paths of wild salmon and sea trout as they move from their natal catchments out to sea and along the coast,” a spokeswoman said.
She called on the Department of the Marine to pursue alternative approaches to salmon farming in line with commercial production in other jurisdictions. These involve use of closed-containment aquaculture facilities, both land-based and in the marine environment, “which substantially mitigate the proven impact of sea lice, escapes of farmed salmon and the release of waste in coastal inshore areas, thus reducing the threat to our native wild salmonids”.
Meanwhile, many fish farms continue to operate with licences that expired up to 14 years ago under special exemptions devised as a short-term fix to EU compliance issues. SWI has made a formal complaint to the European Commission, saying what was supposed to be a temporary solution “has gone on for far too long”.
The issue dates back to 2007 when the European Court of Justice ruled the then Department of Marine’s procedures for issuing licences breached the EU birds and habitats directives. It found the State was not carrying out appropriate assessments of the likely impact of aquaculture operations on marine life, notably wild salmon.
This has allowed intensive fish farming continue and, in the case of some farms to expand, without proper scrutiny, SWI submitted.
