This article is from page 4 of the 2012-11-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
IRELAND’S two national fisheries organisations are at odds over plans to construct a large organic salmon farm off the Clare coast. Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) last week came out against the farm in its current form, saying that there has been a major lack of research into the impact that it would have on the local environment. The farm is being proposed by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), who claim that the farm could create as many as 500 jobs for the local economy. BIM have launched a pe- riod of public consultation into the proposed farm, with agencies such as An Taisce and the Galway City Salmon Angling Association also coming out against the proposal. The IFI was formed in 2010 after the amalgamation of the Central Fisheries Board and the seven former Regional Fisheries Boards. While the IFI and the BIM are State bodies, the IFI is responsible for river fisheries, while the BIM is tasked with promoting offshore, sea fishing activities. The IFI last week claimed that the fish farm could cause a major infestation of the salmon smolts that currently spawn in rivers in North Clare and South Galway, including large wild salmon stocks on the River Corrib. In an official submission to the BIM proposal, the IFI claim that there is a “considerable risk” that sea lice from the proposed sea fish farm will affect salmon migrating to rivers in the area. The group also questioned the methodology used by BIM, saying that recent research into the salmon migration in the Galway Bay area had been overlooked. According to BIM, the proposed fish farm has the potential to produce 15,000 tonnes of organic-certified salmon, create more than 500 jobs and inject more than € 14.5 million into the local economy.