Tomorrow's protest against salmon farming expansion in Ireland is not
the kind of gathering the Irish Government had in mind when they
launched their 'Gathering Ireland' marketing campaign to boost the global image of Ireland. 
"The Gathering Ireland 2013 will be a spectacular, year-long celebration of all things Irish," proclaims the PR initiative promoted by Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland. "Irish individuals and community groups – both at home and abroad – are at the heart of the Gathering."
'Gathering Ireland' is officially launched on New Year's Eve in Dublin with a smorgasbord of 'I Love Ireland' events during 2013. However, people across Ireland and abroad are not feeling the love for Irish farmed salmon (including the consumer scam that is Irish 'organic' salmon). Visitors to Ireland surely do not want to see a 15,000 tonne salmon farm blighting the view from the famous Cliffs of Moher in Galway Bay.
"Tourism will
gradually decline in the west of Ireland, and especially in Clare and Galway,
because of the unsightly pen markers and the gradual awareness in the minds of
the public that Galway Bay has become an "industrial" asset of big
business rather than the natural asset it is now perceived as," wrote US resident Thomas Marshall in a letter published in The Irish Examiner (5 December). "Moreover, the
cumulative effect of the effluent and detritus from the caged salmon, along
with the inevitable escapes, will adversely affect wild salmon as well as
lobsters, crabs and crustaceans in a wide area."
"This proposal
constitutes one of the most egregious environmental threats Ireland has ever
faced," continued Mr. Marshall who clearly loves Ireland but hates salmon farms. "The economic and cultural dangers are very significant and if not
defeated, will permanently harm the economy, tourism, sporting and the
reputation of Ireland for unspoiled natural beauty."
Concerned citizens from across Ireland will be gathering tomorrow in County Cork outside the office of Simon Coveney, the Irish Fisheries Minister. "Minister Coveney has been a strong supporter of the aquaculture industry and we intend to let him know that his support is misguided and will result in catastrophe not only for our stocks of wild atlantic salmon and sea trout, but also for the communities and local businesses that depend on their very existence," reported No Salmon Farms At Sea (NSFAS). "An extensive social media and networking campaign has been conducted and large numbers of anglers, conservationists and concerned resisidents from all over the country have indicated that they will be present to voice their opposition to this proposed blight on our coastline."
"A
number of anti-fish farm groups will march to Minister Simon Coveney’s
Carrigaline constituency office as part of the demonstration," reported today's Cork News. They include No
Salmon Farms At Sea (NSFAS), the Federation of Irish Salmon & Sea Trout
Anglers (FISSTA), Save Bantry Bay, Save Galway Bay and Friends of the Irish
Environment. The protest comes as the
organisations object to fish farming operations across the country, including
the €3.5m plan by Marine Harvest to expand its salmon farming operations off
Bantry Bay.
The NSFAS stated that the wild
Atlantic salmon is “now under serious threat” and in recent years, stocks have
become critically low. “To the extent that many rivers in Ireland have been
closed to angling,” said the group. “Now, one of the greatest threats to this
species is the government backed proposal to dramatically develop the salmon
farming industry around our coastline.”
"Ian Powell of Blackwater Lodge salmon fishery, a tourist facility in
Waterford, said he will be taking part in the march on Mr Coveney’s office on
Saturday," reported today's Irish Examiner. "He claimed far more jobs and livelihoods would be lost than created by allowing
salmon farms along the coast. Wild salmon, he said, were only beginning to
recover from the drift nets which had been banned in 2006. "Salmon farming has been a total disaster in other countries. This talk
about it creating a lot of jobs is a complete load of rubbish. Very few people
will be employed in the farms."
World champion salmon fly tyer Declan Tuffy from Galway, told The Irish Times
(10 December) that the Irish Government's plans to increase salmon
farming production by a staggering 100 per cent will be nothing short of
an environmental disaster. “We have a duty as Irish citizens to protect
our rare natural resource,” he said. “BIM gave us a ‘golden egg story’
of how salmon farms will provide hundreds of jobs to coastal
communities. The impact of fish farms on local economies is far more
damaging to communities, the environment and businesses dependant on
angling tourism with job losses way out-stripping job creation,” Tuffy
said.
If 'Gathering Ireland Against Salmon Farming' has their way the events – including the Dingle Food Festival – will not have Irish farmed salmon blighting their menu. Earlier this week, a new campaign calling for a boycott of farmed salmon this Christmas was launched across Ireland.
According to the Wild Fish web-site:
Gathering Ireland Against Salmon Farming is gathering momentum fast. Community, environmental and fishing groups across Ireland are rising up against the Irish Government's shameful promotion of foreign-owned sea lice infested salmon farms (over 60% of Ireland's salmon farming production is now controlled one Norwegian-owned company: Marine Harvest).
The Irish Examiner reported yesterday: "Earlier this year,
the Save Bantry Bay group was set up to fight Marine Harvest’s plans to develop
a 100-acre organic salmon fish farm at Shot Head. Local fishermen, tourism
interests, and anglers in the Aran Island are drawing up submissions to object
to Bord Iascaigh Mh-ara’s planned 500-hectare deep-sea salmon farm 6km off Inis
Oirr. Kerry anglers also oppose BIM’s tentative proposals to develop another salmon
fish farm at Ballydavid."
Watch video report via ““Feck off” to fish farms in
Galway Bay”
Galway Against Fish Farms (GAFF) is campaigning against plans for a 15,000 tonne 'organic' salmon farm in Galway Bay.
GAFF condemned the way in which
this project is being promoted by BIM. The State agency is trying to push
through this application which could double the country’s production of farmed
salmon. This would then be franchised to a private operator and the profits
diverted abroad, Gaff said.
"I'm dead against a farm coming onto the coast of Inis Oírr," said local fisherman Ruairi
O Cualain . "We had a farm here about twenty years ago
and we couldn't eat the mackerel that was swimming around the bay. This
one's going to be thirty times the size of it."
"I'm concerned about the waters around the beach," continued Ruairi
O Cualain. "I'm sure it's going to be polluted. The last time we had a
farm here we had sea urchins growing off the coast of Inis Oírr – they
all disappeared afterwards. I do some lobster fishing and I'm concerned
that would be wiped out. This could be the worst thing that ever
happened to Inis Oírr. I've an awful fear that this could ruin the
waters around Inis Oírr for generations."
"If you take into consideration the last farm that was sited here, the
Bradán Feasa – the biggest salmon farm in Ireland – and it was wrecked
by the seas because the weather here is incredible," said Dr.
Roderick O'Sullivan durign a visit to Inis Oírr in November. "Look at this ship here – it's been driven up on these
rocks. What chance the farms have when the storms really break here is
highly debatable."
Watch video report online via “Dr.
O’Sullivan on Salmon Farm Insanity in Galway Bay, Ireland”
In Northern Ireland, fishermen are also fighting to move filthy feedlots off migration routes for wild salmon – watch online here
In Donegal, the Federation of Irish Salmon & Sea Trout Anglers is leading the fight against Marine Harvest's disease-ridden operations in Lough Swilly and Mulroy Bay – watch a video report featuring FISSTA Chairman Noel Carr online here
Protestors gathered last month outside the Norwegian Embassy in Dublin to raise awareness of the disease-ridden Irish operations of the Norwegian company Marine Harvest.
Watch video report via “Message to Norwegian Embassy
in Dublin: Fish Farms Out!”
The message to Norway and Ireland is loud and clear – stop the expansion of salmon farming off the Irish coast. The message to tourists coming to the Emerald Isle for Gathering Ireland 2013 is equally clear – go green and don't eat disease-ridden Irish farmed salmon!
