Aquaculture offers important development opportunities for those coastal regions with few, if any, alternative prospects for employment. It is still a relatively young industry in Irish terms but has grown quickly in the last 15 years to where it now accounts for 25 per cent of the value of our total fish production. Over one thousand people are employed full time in aquaculture with a further three thousand in part time jobs. Total output was valued at approximately £50 million in 1994. BIM and Údarás na Gaeltachta are the agencies charged with developing the sector.
Some 80 per cent of Irish aquaculture production is exported and has a high quality reputation. The strategic objective over the medium term is to build on our strengths and success to date, over-come competitive constraints and address the ongoing challenges of quality, scale and peripherality.