Let’s agree to salmon farms — but on land

SALMON farming is one of the most divisive enterprises in Ireland today. That division is reflected all across the Atlantic seaboard, where stocks of wild salmon and sea trout are falling at an alarming rate.

Its advocates argue it is a clean, sustainable way to produce food and create employment, often in remote areas. Its opponents say it is a dirty, destructive arm of the industrial food sector that damages any environment it is introduced to. They also say salmon farms pose a lethal threat to wild salmon and sea trout populations.

Some of these beliefs will be tested in Bantry next month when plans for a Marine Harvest salmon farm at a 106-acre site at Shot Head will be the subject of scrutiny under the auspices of the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board.

In many ways, this is like having a debate about the virtues of a steam engine as against the effectiveness of a team of draught horses to pull freight wagons. All around the world the salmon farming industry is beginning to accept its future lies in using enclosed cages, often on dry land, so waste generated is better contained and the parasite populations these sea farms support do not materialise. Aquaculture is essential but that does not mean we cannot insist on standards that do not violate the environment. By all means have salmon farms but let’s insist they are land-based. Let’s embrace the future while rejecting the standards of the past.