A group representing Irish farmers is asking the Irish government to extend aquaculture farming licenses from 10 to 20 years in duration as part of an effort to drive output and bring new producers into the sector, which has recently struggled to grow.
Finian O’Sullivan, who is the aquaculture chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association and is also a mussel farmer, told SeafoodSource that the nation’s aquaculture output was just over 35,700 metric tons (MT) in 2023, the most recent year for which there are full figures. This figure, O’Sullivan said, was well off a government target set a decade ago to increase aquaculture output to 87,000 MT by 2024.
O’Sullivan attributed some of the stagnant growth to an inefficient license-approval process accompanied by environmental assessments that have been off-putting for some investors.
Ireland’s licensing process for aquaculture was overhauled after being found in 2007 to be in contravention of E.U. regulations on habitat protection. This subsequently led to long delays in issuing and renewing licenses, and O’Sullivan is worried a backlog of a similar nature could occur again, further damaging confidence among Irish aquaculture investors.
To alleviate some of the issues delaying license approvals, O’Sullivan said he believes better resourcing for staff implementing the licensing system at the Irish Department of Agriculture would help. Likewise, he said greater expertise and manpower is needed in the mapping and preparation of environmental assessments of aquaculture sites, which aquaculture stakeholders have been claiming for years need to be modernized.
“Many of the licenses are now 30 years old and don’t take into account modern-day practices and technology,” Teresa Morrissey, an aquaculture executive at the Irish Farmers’ Association, said in 2022.
To inspire more investor confidence, O’Sullivan said that he "presented the [lengthened licensing] proposal to the government minister who has the power to amend the duration of licenses."
Lengthier licensing periods would be a boost to firms like Mowi – a key player in Ireland’s finfish aquaculture sector – which has previously experienced delays in getting licenses for organic salmon farms.
“It took six years for the [Ireland’s Aquaculture Licenses Appeals Board] to handle the appeal of the license for Bantry Bay site, and this is not acceptable to either business or environmentalists,” Friends of the Irish Environment Director Tony Lowes said last summer regarding a license for a salmon farm Mowi has expressed desire to build in the south of Ireland for several years.
