Minister told of challenges to aquaculture growth during salmon farm visit
Ireland’s recently appointed fisheries and marine minister Timmy Dooley met with Mowi Ireland’s operations director farming Catherine McManus during a visit to a Mowi salmon farm in Inver Bay, Donegal, last week
Dooley also met with representatives of Ocean Farm Ltd, a small salmon farming operation owned by Killybegs-based fish merchant Gallagher Bros. which also owns a fishing company.
McManus is also vice-chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association’s aquaculture committee, and discussions with the minister focused on licensing renewals, the potential opportunities for the Irish organic salmon farming sector and recent biological challenges in the sector.
Extended licences
Irish farmers are asking the government to extend aquaculture farming licences from 10 to 20 years in duration as part of an effort to drive output and bring new producers into the sector, which has struggled to grow.
Ten years ago the Irish government set a target to increase aquaculture output (including shellfish) to 87,000 tonnes by 2024, but in 2023 the output was less than half that, at just over 35,700 tonnes.
IFA aquaculture chair Finian O’Sullivan has attributed some of the stagnant growth to an inefficient licence-approval process accompanied by environmental assessments that have been putting off some investors.
The licensing and the renewal process for salmon farm licences is currently taking several years. Although farms are allowed to continue operating while the renewal process is ongoing, they can’t modernise to meet the demands of changing biological conditions.
