Sir, - One wonders how much longer the Minister for the Marine. Mr Fahey, and the Marine Institute can continue to deny the proven link between sea lice from salmon farms and the collapse of wild sea trout and salmon populations. After all, the Norwegian government, which oversees the biggest fish-farming operation in the world (not to mention its offshoots in Ireland), accepts it and likewise, the Scottish, and our own Environmental Protection Agency.
Where is the scientific advice from the Marine Institute which we pay to research and advise on such matters? Now we hear the Minister has set up a new committee on sea trout which will no doubt tell him (long after the next election) what he has heard a dozen times before. One could be forgiven for thinking that this is just another delaying tactic to allow the Minister to continue to licence salmon farm expansion with impunity? An unbridled Irish salmon farming industry is projecting a more than five-fold expansion within the next few years. At this rate, the damage will soon be too great to repair no matter what money is spent by future governments, because the wild sea trout and salmon in Ireland will have become extinct.
Our federation has campaigned for the relocation of these fish cages away from estuaries as technology has proven that these new cages can not only withstand the west coast weather, but give a better quality farmed fish. Indeed, if this decision to relocate was combined with the buy-out of net licenses we are convinced that the wild sea trout and Atlantic salmon could recover just in time for future generations to enjoy. Such a powerful decision on the species is now in the hands of our Minister for the Marine. - Yours, etc.,
Noel Carr, Chairman, Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers, Carrick, Co Donegal.