Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 April 2004
41 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he has received the final report of the investigation into the massive fish kill at Inver Bay, County Donegal during July 2003; the findings of the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10224/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe report of the investigation carried out by the Marine Institute into the fish mortalities that occurred at salmon farms in Donegal Bay last year was published earlier this month. I understand that the Marine Institute has furnished copies to the operators of the fish farms concerned, and that the document has also been made available on the institute's website.
The report presents a comprehensive evaluation of possible causes of the fish mortalities, and rules out many of them. The factors excluded as possible causes as a result of the investigation include a primary fish pathogen, farm management, harmful algal bloom, a pollution incident, sediment disturbance and the dumping of dredge spoil material. The report concludes that, when the mortality incident is reviewed in detail, it appears most likely that the initial insult to the fish may have been caused by a biological event such as a siphonophore bloom, which may have occurred in both Inver and McSwyne's Bays and which probably coincided with an intrusion of offshore water such as occurred in early July.
The report points out that the initial insult to the fish occurred when water temperatures were very high in relation to the optimal temperature for the cultivation of salmonids and that, subsequent to the initial event, secondary bacterial and parasitic infections were noted. It indicates that these infections would have added considerably to the stress of the fish, which were already severely debilitated. The overall finding is that the cause of the mortalities was multi-factorial in nature, where the net cumulative result was much greater than it would have been should the initial event have occurred at lower water temperatures or in the absence of secondary infection of the gill tissue of the fish. The Marine Institute is also, at my request, looking at the overall position in relation to mortalities at fish farms along the western seaboard last year.
