Salmon farms - Ireland

[davewallbridge]

I received this copy of a press release today.
An interesting and significant statement by John Fredriksen that, if confirmed, could well have resounding repercussions.

Dave.

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F.I.S.S.T.A.

Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers

Conaidhm na Slat Iascairi Bradan & Breac Geal

Press Statement - embargo Aug 9th 2007

“FISSTA CALL ON MINISTER EAMON RYAN TO EXTEND HIS CLEAN WATER PLAN TO SALMON BAYS AFTER MARINE HARVEST COMMENTS"



Anglers welcomes the very Good news for cleaner water! The clean up of many of Ireland's bays and estuaries is on the cards, if the comments of a major fish farmer are implemented in the coming season.



Ireland’s largest Salmon and Seatrout Angling body - FISSTA (Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers) have campaigned for over 17 years against unsustainable methods in the rearing of farmed salmon in Irish bays and estuaries.

The scientific evidence has left no doubt that the sealice from fish farms were severly damaging the populations of wild seatrout and Atlantic salmon. However, the fish farming lobby have always denied that fish farms were the cause of the pollution and the sealice despite the high sea mortality of our migrating smolts. Even though there was substantial sea survey data published to support this fact, the fish farm industry continued to deny the obvious until now. The denials by the finfish farmers at NASCO and the failure of successive Irish Governments to confront the issue, has led to the decline of our wild Atlantic salmon and indeed the decimation of our seatrout which was once the mainstay of our tourism industry in the west of Ireland.



FISSTA welcome this week's comments from Mr John Fredriksen, the owner of the Marine Harvest and one of the most influential producers of farmed salmon who operate in a many bays in Donegal and the west of Ireland. Fredriksen made the comments in an interview published in Norwegian newspaper Altaposten. They claim he said: “I am concerned about the future for wild salmon. Fish farming should not be allowed in fjords with salmon rivers...The fish farming industry should be allowed to operate in fjords, but not where wild salmon are present in local rivers".



Such a forthright acknowledgement, confirms for the first time from the industry, the fears of our founding Chairman Jim Maxwell RIP who correctly suspected and was first to warn of the sea mortality due to fish farming and sea lice infestation. This major admission by Marine Harvest clears the way for our own new Minister for Energy, Communications and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan TD to extend his clean water protection plan already announced for the shelfish industry last month at a cost of €530m. If this plan is to have any effect, it is clear that this protection must now be extended to the estuaries where wild salmon are present. If such joined up thinking is implemented by Minister Ryan, it will be welcomed by all stakeholders who share in the marine resource. The commitment of the new Minister to clean water and good finfish farm practice is long established since his very strong words at the Joint Oireachtas committee enquiry into the RTE Prime Time programme in November 2005. Following this Frederiksen statement it is now possible to implement this sealice protection plan with the full cooperation of the fin fish farming industry who had resisted all clean water initiatives to date. Ends – Aug 9th 2007



Further information from Secretary/P.R.O.: NOEL CARR, Teelin Road, Carrick, Co. Donegal. Tel/Fax [phone]. email: [e-mail]

[easky]

and I see there has been a Scottish response as well:

Startling comment, reminiscent of Gerald Ratner. Fredriksen is a 30% shareholder in Marine Harvest.

NEWS RELEASE 7 August 2007

Scotland’s wild salmon interests welcome unprecedented statement by a major shareholder of Marine Harvest acknowledging that many salmon farms could be inappropriately sited

Scotland’s wild salmon interests, including the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards, the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland, the Atlantic Salmon Trust and the Salmon and Trout Association (Scotland), have welcomed the recent ground-breaking declaration by a major shareholder of Marine Harvest that no salmon farms should be located within any sea lochs into which salmon rivers discharge.

In an interview in the July 19 edition of the Altaposten (The Alta Post) in Norway, John Fredriksen stated: “I am concerned about the future for wild salmon. Fish farming should not be allowed in fjords with salmon rivers…… The fish farming industry should be allowed to operate in fjords, but not where wild salmon are present in local rivers”. Mr Fredriksen entered the fish farming industry in 2005 with the purchase of Pan Fish. He then acquired Fjord Seafood, Marine Harvest and Stolt Seafood. These businesses were subsequently merged to become the current Marine Harvest. Mr Frederiksen holds 30 per cent of Marine Harvest’s shares.

Andrew Wallace, Director of the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards and Policy Director of the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland, commented: “This statement from one of the most influential players in the salmon farming industry confirms what many of us have been telling the industry and its regulators for so many years and which the evidence now supports – namely, that some salmon farming may be located in sites which are incompatible with the sustainable management of healthy populations of wild salmon and sea trout. The challenge now is to identify these sensitive sites and to get them moved”.

Roger Brook, chairman of the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland (RAFTS), added: “It is refreshing to hear such an unequivocal acknowledgment from one of the most important figures within salmon farming that the great majority of the marine farms are inappropriately located. We now eagerly await details of the industry’s plans to relocate the farms and indeed confirmation that the Executive is willing to support and facilitate such moves”.

Seymour Monro, Executive Director of the Atlantic Salmon Trust, noted: “It is a disaster that fish farms were ever sited on wild fish migration routes – as we now know to the cost of wild fish populations on the west coast. It is important that the Scottish Executive and the industry redouble their efforts to relocate badly sited farms and that the industry continues to work on reducing sea lice numbers and on minimising the numbers of escapes. Without these measures, all our efforts to restore fish to the west coast rivers are a waste of time. We will continue our efforts towards these goals within the forum of the Tripartite Working Group”.

Paul Knight, Director of the Salmon and Trout Association, said: “For the past 15 years we have been saying that salmon farms should not be sited in sea lochs with salmon rivers. Scotland’s salmon farming industry now needs to announce exactly when the mass relocation of farms will begin and when it will be completed. We look forward to Marine Harvest leading the way”.

The question however may be - is relocating the farms away from loughs etc which have salmon rivers just part of the issue? Salmon are migratory and often tend to follow the coastline. So while relocating farms away from the rivers mouths is progress it still will not prevent salmon and sea trout from coming into contact with the farms and the associated hazards. A better criteria for the new sites is away from loughs with salmon rivers and along migratory routes. Of course the best outcome would be the removal altogether