Judge overturns fish farm's permission for taking fresh water from island lake

The fresh water was intended to bathe diseased salmon in four licensed sites operated by the company in Kilkieran Bay to rid them of sea lice and Amoebic Gill Disease.

Bradán Beo Teoranta, a licensed fish farm operator, got permission to take a maximum of 4,680 cubic metres of freshwater weekly from the privately owned non-tidal inland lake for up to 22 weeks annually from mid-May to September. File photo

The High Court has overturned a permission granted to a fish farm operator to pump fresh water from an island lake for use in bathing salmon in fish farms off the Co. Galway coast to rid them of disease.

Environmental activist Peter Sweetman took the challenge over An Bord Pleanála’s permission for taking fresh water from Loch an Mhuilinn, Gorumna Island, Co. Galway, and associated works, including a temporary pipe link to the lake.