Campaigners opposing plans to expand a Bantry Bay salmon farm have warned that it would ruin aquatic life.

BY MARTIN STEINMETZ

Local firm Murphy’s Irish Seafood has applied for an aquaculture licence for 12 salmon cages on the foreshore of the bay near Gearhies. If given the go ahead, another six cages for a total of up to 1,125 tonnes of salmon would be added to the existing farm.

The Environmental Impact Assessment submitted as part of the application mentions that ‘MIS will be operating these sites in association with MOWI Ireland (formerly Marine Harvest Ireland).’

Gearhies resident Finnbarr Lynch said: ‘I’ve shared the planning documents with a number of my neighbours and feelings are running high about this. In most parts of the world this kind of farming in cages is now frowned upon because there are huge environmental concerns.

‘There will be no economic benefit for the area with no jobs created, but we’ll be left with a lot of salmon poo, fish heads and the smell from the farm. This facility would also ruin aquatic life and the beauty of Bantry Bay. It will be an eyesore and one of the first things that tourists will see as they arrive in Bantry on cruise ships.’

In 2014, the current Gearhies site was destroyed by a storm and some 230,000 farmed salmon escaped. Environmentalists say the new plans would increase the farm’s exposure to heavy weather.

One concern is that farmed salmon would pose a threat to wild salmon stocks, carrying diseases not found in the area. Another major concern is over chemicals used in the day-to-day running of the facility that would have a negative impact on marine life, potentially even threatening rare species in Bantry Bay.

Dolf D’Hondt, an expert in sea conservation and director of Bantry-based Streamscapes, said: ‘Sprat is being caught, almost exclusively, to feed salmon farms. Sprat are a forage fish which are vital for our marine ecosystem. Sprat feed on plankton and in turn get eaten by a vast number of species, including sea birds, cetaceans, and commercially caught fish species. The idea that sprat can be used in organic salmon production seems ludicrous.’

Another contentious issue is the existence of a protected red algae underneath the proposed site. According to Streamscapes, the maerl algae is an Annex V specie protected under the Habitats Directive. Dolf D’Hondt said the salmon farm would diminish maerl in the bay because the algae needed light to survive.

He added: ‘It is clear that with this intensity that any maerl close to the salmon farm will become covered in waste material from above.’

Bantry Bay has a long history of salmon farming and opposition to it, dating back to the 1980s. Last year, following a longstanding campaign, a salmon farm licence for Shot Head on the Beara peninsula which had been granted to MOWI Ireland was quashed by the High Court due to insufficient environmental assessments.

MOWI Ireland is also operating a salmon farm at Roancarrig, Ahabeg, in Bantry Bay under the brand of The Irish Organic Salmon Company with headquarters in Donegal.

John Murphy, managing director of Murphy’s Irish Seafood, said: ‘I wish to state that this application is for the renewal of the existing licence, with the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, which has been operational in Gerahies, producing organic salmon, for over the past 30 years.’

MOWI Ireland was approached for comment. The company said it did not want to comment while public consultation was ongoing.

Members of the public can submit their views on the Gearhies salmon farming application via email until December 17th to [email protected]