Kerry councillor calls for public to appeal ‘terrible’ fish farm licence decision

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

A Kerry councillor has slammed the Agriculture Department’s ‘terrible’ decision to grant an expanded harvest licence to a fish farm in south Kerry, exhorting those in the region to fight for their economic livelihood.

Councillor Norma Moriarty warned that the appeal process for the application closes on Friday, September 25, and urged those with concerns to submit their objections.

The expansion site at Deenish Island near Waterville was granted last month as part of a new licence, with the Agriculture Minister determining that the site would have ‘no significant’ impact on wild fisheries or the marine environment.

At a recent Kerry County Council meeting, Cllr Moriarty claimed the new licence effectively quadrupled the capacity of the farm, increasing exposure of wild fish stocks to sea lice generated from the operation.

Figures from a fish counter in Waterville, a once renowned angling destination, shows sea trout stocks have decreased by 95.6pc and wild salmon stocks 85pc, since 2002.

While a farm has existed at Deenish Island for decades, during periods of dormancy, Cllr Moriarty said wild stocks did recover.

“This is empirical evidence as far as we’re concerned that the farm is having an adverse and negative impact on salmonoid stocks and sea trout,” said Cllr Morarity.

“We talk about sustainability…what we are doing here is we’re allowing the trade-off of really good sustainable angling for low end employment that’s poorly paid.

“They are quite clearly having a negative impact on salmon stocks. That’s the antithesis of sustainability, its basically a race to the bottom and we’re going to destroy our natural habitat.

“We have to fight for our own communities. We have to fight for our own economic livelihood.”

Councillor Sam Locke supported Cllr Moriarty’s motion and said he felt the Minister and the Department of Agriculture had ‘ignored’ previous motions from elected members on aquaculture.

He highlighted that one salmon caught by a ‘sustainable’ angler was worth €1,000 to the local economy, with hotels, restaurants and other tourism businesses benefiting.

Councillor Tommy Cahill raised the fish farm’s previous breaches of their licence, arguing that this should prevent them from operating.

The multi-national aquacutlure operator, Mowi, had its licence revoked at the site after it emerged the farm had harvested over double its fish quota in 2016.

However, files show the farm continued to operate, restocking 800 tonnes of salmon last year, despite its licence having been suspended at that time.

“When a driver makes a series of offences, he’s put off the road,” said Cllr Cahill.

Cllr Moriarty said she would be lodging an appeal over the decision and that would encourage others to do so.

She said she would be objecting on the basis that the farm was close to salmon migration corridors and on the scale and expansion granted to the facility.