Vol. 496 No. 1
56 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the steps, if any, he has taken to ensure that Scottish farmed salmon is only imported in fillet form, thereby greatly reducing the risk of spreading the infectious anaemia disease to Ireland's farmed salmon industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21952/98]
Infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) is a viral disease affecting farmed Atlantic salmon. At the outset I should stress that there is absolutely no risk to human health from ISA. In spring 1998 an outbreak of ISA occurred in the Scottish salmon farming industry. The Scottish Office stringently applied the EU regulations on the placing on the market of aquaculture animals in the event of an outbreak of this kind. I have been informed that only gutted salmon from affected areas may be exported from Scotland in an effort to prevent the spread of the disease.
Because of my concerns on this issue I arranged for officials of the Department, BIM and the Irish salmon industry to visit Edinburgh to meet with Scottish Office officials and representatives of the Scottish industry, to learn at first hand the details of the outbreak in Scotland and the specific measures taken in Scotland to combat ISA.
Under EU law Ireland cannot unilaterally introduce controls on the importation of fish from other member states in circumstances of this kind. However, a number of important measures have been put in place to safeguard against the introduction of the disease. In particular, the Irish Farmers Association's fish farming section has introduced a code of practice on the subject of ISA for all of its members and for fishermen, veterinarians and fish processors. The code of practice sets out specific precautionary measures which are aimed at preventing the spread of ISA to this country.
