Farms rearing perch, abalone, sea horse and urchin could become part of the Irish aquaculture landscape if enough interest is generated by a new report from Bord Iascaigh Mhara, the Irish Sea Fisheries Board. Perch and sea horse should be on the menu, according to a forthcoming report from BIM. Lorna Siggins reports.
The study, which is due to be published shortly, identifies these four, along with cod, as potential new species for Irish fish farmers. Perch is particularly attractive, the report says, as Ireland has some unique natural advantages that could give farmers a competitive edge.
Cod is being highlighted as the future of European aquaculture, given the shift in wild cod stocks further north and the decline in catches in these waters. The European Commission has drawn up a long-term recovery plan for wild cod stocks, including those in the Irish Sea already subject to recovery measures.
Renewing stocks could take between five and 10 years, which means there is a window of opportunity for rearing the species here - and the Marine Institute has funded research into hatchery rearing of the north Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua, at NUI Galway's marine station in Carna, Connemara.
Norway already has the edge, however: it has issued 280 cod-farming licences, with a target of producing at least 100,000 tonnes by 2010, and has its eye on the British market, according to the report, by Lucy Watson and Aoife Stokes of the board.
Their study analyses the economics of rearing cod. The yield is about 45 per cent for skin-on fillet, substantially less than the 60 per cent yield from salmon, it notes. This would make it more expensive than salmon to produce.
In contrast to Norway's attitude, the Scottish aquaculture industry is adopting a cautious approach, on the basis that volume production will not produce the required returns.
Enter the European perch, Perca fluviatilis, a freshwater fish found throughout Ireland, Britain and the Baltic states of northern Europe. Historically we have viewed it as a pest, given its predatory and cannibalistic nature and its harmful effect on salmonid fisheries.
There is effectively no commercial fishery for it here; a small number of licences issued during electrification on the Shannon are rarely used. Perch has long been exported from Lough Neagh to Switzerland, however, and it was also exported for a time from the Galway lakes.
Perch farming has been developed in Eastern Europe, and there have been trials on a pond-based farm in Co Cavan that was established with the support of Bord Iascaigh Mhara. Juvenile perch feed naturally on zooplankton in ponds, growing rapidly.
The report also examines the potential for sea horse farming, which has been pioneered here in Connemara by Eachuisce Éireann Teo, or Seahorse Ireland. Species for aquaria, and for use in Chinese medicines, are in enormous demand. Most sea horses are harvested from the wild, which has raised fears about overexploitation.
Although sea horses are difficult to rear, Eachuisce Éireann Teo has broken their growth cycle into stages, each with an independent recirculation system to maintain a healthy environment. Cultured sea horses have been identified as far superior to their wild counterparts in their ability to survive, and the report notes that a ban on the fishing of wild sea horses proposed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora will ultimately result in the trading only of reared animals.
Abalone, molluscs that graze on seaweed, are currently farmed in Japan and China; they also offer opportunities, according to Bord Iascaigh Mhara. Ireland has six abalone "ongrowing" units, three of which include hatchery facilities.
Sea urchin is also regarded as a delicacy; overfishing, pollution and poor management have led to a drop in worldwide landings, with unregulated scuba divers here contributing to the decline. Its potential as a farmed species has been researched in Ireland since the late 1980s; the first commercial hatchery was established in Dunmanus, Co Cork, in the early 1990s.
Seahorses To Sea Urchins: The Next Big Splash In Irish Aquaculture by Lucy Watson and Aoife Stokes will be published shortly by Bord Iascaigh Mhara
