Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 19 Apr 1994

Vol. 441 No. 5

Written Answers. - Fish Farming.

Trevor Sargent

Question:

130 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Marine the reason it is necessary to permit the stocking of new salmon farm sites for following on a trial basis; and whether fallowing is now an internationally accepted strategy with demonstrable benefits for fish husbandry, health regimes and control of sea lice.

Trevor Sargent

Question:

131 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Marine the reason it is necessary to hold public inquiries under section 8 subsection (1) of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, 1959 and under section 3 subsection (9) of the Foreshore Act, 1993, for applications for fish culture licences and foreshore licences by companies at locations (details supplied).

Trevor Sargent

Question:

132 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Marine the reason he has not caused notice to be published of the application for foreshore licences by companies at locations (details supplied).

Trevor Sargent

Question:

133 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Marine the reason he has granted fish culture licences to companies at locations (details supplied) without first requiring a full environmental impact statement under European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulation 1989 (S.I. 349/1989) and the Fisheries (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 1990 (S.I. 40 and 41/1990).

Trevor Sargent

Question:

134 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Marine the number of smolts for which he has given licences at the sites recently licensed to companies at locations (details supplied).

Minister for the Marine (Mr. Andrews)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 130 to 134, inclusive, together.

Fallowing or rotation of sites in marine fish culture is now an internationally accepted fish farm management strategy with demonstrable benefits for fish husbandry, fish health and the control of sea lice levels. The practical implementation of fallowing strategies is now being given high priority under established technical and licensing parameters.

Technical guidelines for the fallowing of sites have been formulated by the Advisory Group on Fallowing which I convened last year. Marine fish farmers are being actively encouraged to develop fallowing strategies for approval and licensing, in accordance with these guidelines. The full and effective implementation of fallowing regimes has been recommended by the Sea Trout Task Force in its final report as an effective long term means of controlling sea lice and other pathogens. The task force has urged the expeditious consideration of fallowing licence applications, guided by scientific principles.

The fallowing proposals to which the Deputy refers were duly assessed by regional fallowing advisory groups representing fisheries boards, the Salmon Research Agency, the Department, salmon farmers and fisheries interests. The proposals were also assessed, from technical and all other perspectives, by the Department's Aquaculture Licence Vetting Committee and were the subject of consultation with local authorities, the Office of Public Works, Bord Fáilte and the Commissioners of Irish Lights.

My statutory powers in relation to the licensing of fish farming derive from section 15 of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, 1959, and section 54 of the Fisheries Act, 1980. The holding of public inquiries into individual aquaculture proposals is not required. The siting of fish farm structures is regulated under the Foreshore Act, 1933, which does provide for the discretionary holding of public inquiries into all manner of permanent foreshore development, should this be necessary in the public interest. The public notification of applications for foreshore licences while also discretionary, is the standard for aquaculture applications which are permanent and long term and involve significant production levels.

Following a comprehensive assessment procedure and an appropriate level of consultation commensurate with the nature and scale of the proposals, I have decided to permit, under the Fisheries and Foreshore Acts, for a trial period this year only and under strict conditions, the salmon farms in question to operate additional sites at which the 1994 intake of smolts will be stocked for a number of months. This will enable existing sites to be fallowed, or rested and is in line with the widely accepted objective of progressing fallowing strategies on a practical plane as early as possible.

The maximum intake of smolts which will be licensed for each of the operations is as follows:

Operator	Location	Smolt Numbers
Fanad Fisheries	Mulroy Bay	250,000
Fanad Fisheries	Lough Swilly	200,000
Salmara Fisheries	Doonbeg	400,000
Salmara Fisheries	Travarra	400,000
Salmara Fisheries	Inver Bay	400,000
Enay Fisheries	Inver Bay	90,000
Killary Salmon	Killary Harbour	300,000
Eisc Ui Flatharta	Ardmore Bay	100,000

The permissions are subject to stringent conditions including environmental fish health and sea lice monitoring and control arrangements. The decisions are therefore stringently circumscribed and conditional in nature. Implementation will be closely monitored. None of the proposals involve an overall increase in licensed fish production for the operations concerned. All smolts will be transferred back to existing licensed sites in due course.

The implementation of these fallowing trials which are of strictly limited duration, will provide a basis for future evaluation and environmental impact assessment of the sites as components of overall fallowing strategies for the fish farms in question. The companies have also been instructed that, if it is their intention subsequently to seek longer term permissions for the sites, environmental impact statements in line with the parameters laid down in the relevant environmental impact assessment regulations, should be finalised and published — in some cases this work is already well advanced.

Longer term decisions will be informed by the performance of the sites, the results of ongoing environmental fish health and sea lice monitoring, environmental impact assessment, further consultation with all relevant interests and all other appropriate considerations. The practical experience gained through these fallowing trials in 1994 will contribute significantly to the agreed objective of better management strategies for fish farms commensurate with the needs of other users of the marine resource.