190 tonnes of marine litter, including nets, plastic and wood was taken from the sea by Irish fishermen last year.

Over eight out of 10 leading voices in Ireland’s marine industry are confident about the growth potential for Ireland’s marine economy.

There is a critical need to drive innovation within the seafood sector in Ireland, according to Bord Iascaigh Mhara chief executive Jim O’Toole.

The seafood development agency, Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), which has collected more than 600 tonnes of old or damaged fishing nets for recycling, exchanged ideas with the sector for reducing the impact of marine waste on the environment at a recent workshop in Cork.

GALWAY chef JP McMahon thinks it should be a national food. Food experts estimate it could create up to 200 jobs in coastal areas. And earlier this month, the Slow Food Festival in the Burren put it centre stage.

Former US Secretary of State John Kerry has been announced as a keynote speaker at Ireland’s flagship blue economy conference Our Ocean Wealth at City Hall Cork in June.

A fishermen’s health manual in six languages — English, Irish, Arabic, Malay, Russian, and Spanish — has been launched by Bord Iascaigh Mhara.

The Sustainable Seafood Garden hooked the top prize at Bloom yesterday.

Ireland is aiming to become a world leader in the seafood market with a new strategy for the sector including plans for a seafood innovation ‘Centre of Excellence’.

Algae and duckweed could clean up fish-farm pollution and be used to feed the stock at the same time under a project being undertaken by scientists at UCC.

A GOVERNMENT scientific agency, Inland Fisheries Ireland, has just published the result of 25 years of research involving more than 20,000 sea trout taken from 94 river systems in Ireland or Scotland at varying distances from salmon farms.

The State agency with responsibility for the fishing industry has spent over €216,000 on an application for a proposed salmon farm off the coast of Co Mayo.

Tara McCarthy is to be appointed as the new chief executive of Bord Bia, it was announced today.

A casual walk on a beach anywhere will tell you the ocean has become a massive dumping ground.

Ireland is looking to be a global leader in high-quality, sustainably produced seafood in order to take a greater share of the international market and expand its €1bn annual contribution to the economy.

There was a strong recovery in fish and shellfish farming production in Ireland last year, according to the latest Bord Iascaigh Mhara figures.

Bord Iascaigh Mhara and Nofima in Norway are to form a partnership that will see the two agencies share knowledge on adding value to their national seafood products.

Aquaculture sales rose by €34m in value and by 25% in volume during 2015, according to new statistics from Bord Iascaigh Mhara.

Taste the Atlantic is a seafood journey that stretches south from Erris in Co Mayo to Connemara and on to Galway Bay.

THE decision by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) to withdraw its licence application for a 15,000-tonne salmon farm in Galway Bay — it would have been the biggest in Europe — is to be welcomed. That those who opposed the mega project and those who supported it welcomed the decision, though for very different reasons, raises questions even at the very moment the project has been shelved.

A strategic review of the infrastructure governing the equine sector is to be undertaken, with the Department of Agriculture issuing a tender shortly.

Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) confirmed full ice production had resumed yesterday at three of its plants in Kilmore Quay, Howth and Dunmore East.

Government chief whip Paul Kehoe has criticised Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) for a lack of communication with fishermen on the suspension of production at three ice plants.

For this week’s Q & A Kehlan talks with Irene Queally from Pip And Pear. The company has just launched nationwide and produces organic baby food. Irene talks about how it grew from home cooking to national sales.    

APrix d’Elite award from the global Seafood Expo — the world’s largest seafood event — is expected to prove a significant catch for Cork company Irish Atlantic Seafood Company (Iasc), writes Trish Dromey.

SMOKED salmon is the easy part of Christmas. Throw it on brown bread, with lemon and black pepper, and the innocents will think it’s posh and that you’ve spent a lot. 

A billion euro was taken in fish from Irish waters last year, according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, with 88% of catches taken by foreign vessels. 

A prominent environmental group has criticised the EU’s decision to close two longstanding investigations into Irish salmon farming. 

It was with great interest I read your article ‘Concern at Proposed Aran Island Fish Farm’ (Irish Examiner, September 20).

Inland Fisheries Ireland, a statutory body under the aegis of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, published a report this week that challenges the advisability of Bord Iascaigh Mhara’s plans for Europe’s largest salmon farms at two sites off Galway.