Bantry Bay is recognised as the capital of our mariculture industry in Ireland. Though the promoters of this industry applied for licences to the Minister for the Marine as early as 1983, to date no designated licences have been issued by his Department. The mariculture industry in Bantry Bay has an output of 2,500 tonnes of mussels annually, with a capital investment of £5 million, providing employment to 85 people in a full-time capacity and 44 people in a part-time capacity. Almost all, 99 per cent, of the product produced in Bantry Bay is exported to France, Italy and other continental countries. However, no licences have been issued by the Department of the Marine despite the fact that the Mussel Growers' Association in Bantry applied as far back as 1983.
It is of paramount importance that the Minister for the Marine gives immediate consideration to the issue of those licences because the industry in the south west Cork region needs to be properly managed. Mussel farming is a new industry to Ireland and will be of enormous benefit to our economy. As I said, the finished product is exported widely, to France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Malta, Sweden and Portugal. The production of mussels here has escalated from 1,950 tonnes in 1990 to 5,050 tonnes in 1993 with an unlimited capacity for expansion. The value of the product has now escalated to a figure of £4.5 million and provides employment to a vast number of people.
Bantry mussel farmers first applied for licences to grow mussels in 1983, but although they advertised their application and complied with the requisite procedures, not a single mussel line has been licensed by the Minister's Department. This discourages investment, threatens capital grant assistance from the European Union and casts an air of illegality over the entire industry.
Naturally recurring toxins in certain plankton eaten by mussels caused shellfish in the south-west to become mildly toxic during the summer months. The Fishery Research Centre of the Department of the Marine has been responsible for such testing. However, over the years the crude rat biopsy used by the Department of the Marine to determine toxin levels has proved highly inaccurate, resulting in the Fisheries Research Centre having to recommend closure for longer periods than would have been required if a more accurate test had been undertaken by the Minister's Department.
The mussel industry urgently needs the replacement of this test with a more accurate one used in other European countries, the mouse biopsy and chemical analysis, which comprise the official tests in the countries to which our mussels are exported, principally France and Spain.
It is of the utmost importance to our mussel industry that the Minister takes immediate steps to regularise this industry by issuing licences to those who applied for official mariculture licences around our coastline. The Department has dragged its feet for far too long on this important issue. After all, if the Minister for the Marine cannot get it right how can a major industry here get off the ground?
