Shellfish industry worth €60m but must not stagnate

THE shellfish industry employs 1,500 people and is worth more than €60 million a year to coastal communities, a conference was told in Westport, Co Mayo, yesterday.

However, the Irish Shellfish Association (ISA) chairman, Flor Harrington, said expecting the industry to accept that the development programme for fisheries won’t begin until next year is not on.

He told the national shellfish conference that to gain the industry’s trust and respect, the two new ministers responsible for the fisheries brief would have to move quickly to deal with outstanding issues.