This article is from page 8 of the 2013-05-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
A PUBLIC meeting concerning the construction of a controversial fish farm off the Clare coast will take place in Ballyvaughan this week.
The meeting, which has been organised by local fishermen and others in the local community, is the first formal opposition meeting to take place against the fish farm on Clare soil.
The meeting follows on from a general meeting, organised by Clare Labour TD, Michael McNamara last month.
At that meeting, which was held at the Russell Centre in Doolin, a pro- posed talk about ways of improving the local fishing trade was overtaken by a large number of complaints about the proposed fish farm.
The project is the brainchild of Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) and will be the largest fish farm of its kind in Europe if they are given the go ahead. The Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG), will decide on whether to licence the development later this year.
The twin fish farms will be located around six miles off the coast of Doolin and Fanore and locals are worried that the farm will have a negative impact on the existing local fish trade and have a negative impact on the Burren’s tourism industry.
A number of different studies have been presented by BIM and other group including Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) about the possible impact of the farm.
The chairman of the World Register of Marine Species last week sent a letter to Minister Coveney warning him about what the described as “incorrect data” released about the potential effect of sea lice from the farm on local wildfish.
“Salmon lice from aquaculture farms have proven difficult to control on farms, especially large farms and have been linked to mass fatal parasite infestations on wild salmon and trout in Ireland, Scotland, Norway and Canada,” said Mark Costello, who is also a Marine Ecology Professor at the University of Auckland.
“If there are a million fish on the farm with one egg-bearing louse each, the farm may release 500 million lice larvae. A key consequence of this is that on large farms, it is possible to keep the number of lice below what is harmful to the farm fish but they may still be producing a lot of lice larvae.”
The meeting will take place from 8pm at St John’s Hall in Ballyvaughan this Friday, May 17. Local politicians as well as a representative from BIM have been invited to attend.