Irish Examiner view: Salmon row spawned years ago

Ministries clash over aquaculture and danger to wild salmon posed by commercial farms 

Just before the pandemic struck Salmon Watch Ireland warned that salmon could become extinct in our lifetime.

The arguments over Irish policies on the establishment of salmon farms were spawned many years ago and, as we can see from new information about disputes between ministries, there remains a clash of cultures between environmentalists and those who support expansive commercial opportunity.

One side, led by Environment Minister Eamon Ryan and supported by campaigners such as Salmon Watch Ireland, maintains that Irish processes for issuing aquaculture licenses downplay risks to wild fish stocks posed by sea lice which are associated with commercial salmon farms.

Mr Ryan, the Green Party leader, has also raised issues over associated pollution, the impact of chemicals, waste in nearby seawater and genetic mixing following the escape of farmed fish into the general population. As a case study, he quotes investigations by his officials into an assessment in relation to Kenmare Bay, Co Kerry. The Blackwater River runs into a special area of conservation and there are four salmon farms nearby. Conclusions reached in the appropriate assessment “cannot ... be regarded as a robust scientific assessment based on available scientific data”, his department says.

This is a damning suggestion. But Minister for the Marine Charlie McConalogue, who already has enough on his plate dealing with emission targets for farmers and the potential impact for the national herd, says that the current licensing system is “fully compliant”. Sea lice monitoring in Ireland had been acknowledged by the European Commission as representing best practice, he adds.

This is, as Salmon Watch Ireland observed, an “astonishing difference of opinion” on the needs for a licensing overhaul, with differing views from Inland Fisheries Ireland, responsible for the protection and conservation of freshwater fish and their habitats, and the Marine Institute, which advises on all development applications. Both wild salmon and sea trout numbers are in sharp decline and there is, at the very least, a significant association with sea lice from fish farms.

The Irish Examiner has always disliked the growth of salmon farms in Irish waters, and elsewhere. In September 2019 we were commending the example of Denmark, which halted expansion because waters had become “overloaded” with nitrogen. Evidence was pointing, we said, to moving fish farms onshore for a more sustainable aquaculture industry.

Just before the pandemic struck the human population, we quoted Salmon Watch Ireland, ahead of a conference in Galway, warning that salmon could become extinct in our lifetime. The number of adult fish returning to our coast has dropped from 2m in the 1970s to 250,000. Catches are at an all-time low. This seems like a good moment for conflicting specialists to put aside their differences and agree a programme for action which places the environment first.