AQUACULTURE EXTRA

 Appeals Board quashes Minister's Dunmanus Bay mussel lines licence

APPEALS BOARD QUASHES MINISTER'S DUNMANUS BAY MUSSEL LINES LICENCE

Director Caroline Lewis said the quashing of the license supported the legislation and its own organization's arguments 'word for word'. The ruling said that the development could "have a significant impact on other users including wild fisheries, natural habitat, and flora and fauna populations" while the "marine habitat could potentially be degraded".

FIE said that the organization believed the decision, which cited the 'poor flushing rate' and the 'large amount of organic and inorganic waste material' meant that 'the decision on the proposed Bantry Bay expansion of salmon farming by Marine Harvest must also now be refused on the same grounds as the flushing rate is even slower and the waste material exponentially greater'

The decision also noted the failure of the applicant to provide further information requested, highlighting the worrying change in policy whereby the onus of providing environmental baseline data is being passed from the Government agencies to individual applicants - and their consultants.

Read the Press Release   |   FIE's appeal   

GALWAY BAY EIS CIRCULATED

The EIS for the Galway Bay mega-salmon farm has been circulated to prescribed bodies until October 2 in advance of it being released to the general public for consultation.

The project has a total capital and current cost of €70m. 36 cages each with a circumference of 144 meters will be located in a site of 455 hectares. The feed bill alone will be €23m a year.

The 'organic' fish farm - the first of three planned - will in itself alone produce 15,000 tonnes of salmon, several thousand tonnes more than the current national production. The developers promise 459 direct and indirect jobs, with wages of €15m to the 350 full time direct employees.

The scale of the operation will multiply problems of disease and parasite control that have already been the cause of the industries' inability to expand over the last 10 years. The sheer numbers of fish involved will increase the likelihood of infections and parasites. It is difficult to conceive of a system that will allow the treatment of disease on this scale in all cages that will not allow reinfection from the cages first treated - already a problem on larger fish farms.

The Galway Bay salmon farm has as its applicant the Minister's own Agency, BIM, who have been given €2m to apply for the license. While this is not illegal, nor is it ideal. The developers claim that 'the aim of this approach is to ensure even further accountability to the public'; however the net result is that the only meaningful consideration of the application will be at appeal level. [See previous story: an appeal with request for oral hearing has a current fee of €228.55] 

In fact this approach recalls another problem area: the National Monuments Section of the Office of Public Works played a key role in deciding on the archaeological impacts of road developments under the aegis of a department that simultaneously had responsibility for the development for roads.

SALMON FARM BAD BOYS  INVITED TO VISIT IRELAND

Plans are being made for a November visit to Ireland by salmon farm 'bad boys', Don Staniford of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture and Kurt Oddekalv, the leader of the Green Warriors of Europe. The invitation has been extended by Save Bantry Bay, the local group opposing expansion of salmon farming by Norwegian Marine Harvest in Bantry Bay.

Don Staniford, who was deported from Canada last year for overstaying his visa while campaigning  against fish farming, has just successfully defeated a defamation prosecution by Canada's leading salmon farm company, Mainstream Canada, the subsidiary of Cemac, a 43% Norwegian Government owned company.

Court documents state a news release sent to media included four mock-cigarette packages, all modeled after the Marlboro brand, containing statements like, "Salmon Farming Kills", "Salmon Farming is Poison", "Salmon Farming is Toxic", and "Salmon Farming Seriously Damages Health".

While the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that Staniford's defense of fair comment should succeed, the judge had harsh words for the activist, accusing him of being a zealot, of defamation and malice, writing that his internet postings are filled with 'insulting and demeaning comments and cruel caricatures'. 

Justice Elaine Adair wrote in her judgement: "Although I have concluded that Mr. Staniford's statements are defamatory of Mainstream, I have concluded that he should succeed on his defence of fair comment... I have found that he had an honest belief in the statements he made, and injuring Mainstream because of spite or animosity was not his dominant purpose in publishing the words in issue."

Based on peer-reviewed science from the global salmon-farming industry, Staniford said the product "can contain cancer-causing chemicals and can carry an elevated cancer risk".

"This is a victory not just for Don Staniford against Mainstream Canada", he said after the victory, "this is a victory for environmental and social-justice campaigners across the world."

Read the Guardian about the 'Bad Boys'  |   Visit the Save Bantry Bay website