THE owners of a Co Galway fish farm said yesterday they had no doubt that nine of their salmon rearing cages were sabotaged over the weekend, leading to the wiping out of their entire stock scheduled to mature in 1997.
The loss of 250,000 salmon smolts from the cages moored in Mannin Bay, south of Clifden in Connemara - conservatively estimated to be worth £250,000 - could ultimately threaten the future of Mannin Bay Salmon Company, according to one of its managing directors, Mr Eugene Casey.
Gardai in Clifden confirmed they are initiating a criminal investigation after it was established that the nets of the nine sea cages were slashed late on Friday or early on Saturday. The cages containing the smolts were located 100 yards offshore.
Mr Casey said the actions of what he believed to be "a group of thugs" threatened 12 full time jobs and 12 part time jobs in his company, in an area where it is difficult to establish sustainable employment. "I spent 18 years building up that farm. I'm from the area from Clifden. To have it wiped our by thugs in on&night is very upsetting.
"The entire stock for 1997 is gone. So we are wiped out for that year and possibly out of business completely," he added.
Given the location, he believed the nets were sabotaged by a group of people with local knowledge. There had been objections, mainly from individuals, to their fish farm, Mr Casey confirmed. Some related to the demise of the sea trout in the region, others "did not like the look of the cages".
He stressed, however, that there had been no more objections than associated with other fish farms, and this type of incident was the first on their farms and in the general Clifden area, where a number of large fish farms are located.
Gardai in Galway, nevertheless, have confirmed that there have been isolated cases of criminal damage to fish farm operations in the region by people opposed to fish farms on environmental grounds. The latest incident in Clifden would rank among the most serious, a Garda spokesman said.