Exploiting our marine resources: Bantry Bay kelp project questions unanswered
Commercial fishermen would complain about their tiny share of EU fish quotas. They may fret about Brexit and our capacity to protect fisheries from an emboldened, free-again British fleet. Inshore fishermen will say the 2006 ban on drift netting has not reversed the collapse in salmon populations but it has hit their incomes.
Oil and gas developers might outdo each other by comparing the years, if not decades, it took to get their projects up and running. They can, however, take comfort in the extremely favourable tax arrangements available to encourage investment. Promoters of aquaculture might be especially loud in their criticism of what they may see as a culture of obstruction and inordinate delay. Those opposed to the development of what they describe as “industrial scale” oyster farming in West Donegal are the latest community group fighting aquaculture projects. They say four new licences granted for their area means around 99 acres of shore will be covered by oyster cages and that that would destroy Braade strand.
