The quashing of a 2021 decision to award a license to Mowi for a salmon farm in Bantry Bay, in the south of Ireland, could have much larger consequences for the country’s aquaculture industry.
In 2021, a decade after it had first applied, Mowi received approval for Ireland’s first new marine salmon-farming permit. But, on 12 July, an Irish High Court judge shot down a decision by the country’s Aquaculture Licenses Appeals Board (ALAB) to grant the license to Mowi on the grounds that the farm’s impact on local wild Atlantic salmon had not been adequately explained in the application process.
Mowi has two farms already operating in Bantry Bay. It originally applied for the Bantry Bay license in 2011, meaning it took four years to secure the license before the appeals process began.
“The legal challenges taken against the decision of ALAB to grant Mowi an aquaculture license for Shot Head in Bantry Bay is still before the courts, with final orders not due until 30 July. Mowi will not comment on proceedings before conclusion,” Mowi said in a statement to SeafoodSource.
Local anglers and environmental groups had challenged the awarding of the permit, alongside the Inland Fisheries Ireland, a state agency overseeing freshwater fishing resources. Environmental non-governmental organization Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) was a notice party to the High Court case and was one of 14 entities to appeal the original license to the ALAB.
FIE Director Tony Lowes said the judge’s 540-page ruling “raises issues for all aquaculture sites” in Ireland. Lowes praised the judge’s declaration Mowi had not explained the possible impact of fish escapes and the potential for thick concentrations of salmon to be a vector of spreading sea lice and disease to wild populations.
However, the case underlines the time-consuming nature of Ireland’s license application process for finfish aquaculture, according to Lowes.
“It took six years for the ALAB to handle the appeal of the license for Bantry Bay site, and this is not acceptable to either business or environmentalists,” Lowes said.
Ireland’s aquaculture output has flatlined in recent years, with the sector complaining about Ireland’s cumbersome licensing system and a lack of new licenses.
Earlier this year, Irish Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue launched the National Strategic Plan for Sustainable Aquaculture Development 2030, with the goal of bolstering the growth of the country’s aquaculture sector.
“With the publication of the NSPSA, I am putting in place the necessary building blocks for the continued development of a sustainable, profitable, competitive, and market-focused aquaculture sector in Ireland, positioning it to make the maximum long-term economic and social contribution to our coastal communities and Ireland as a whole while optimizing environmental performance and supporting the natural capital upon which it depends,” McConalogue said in a press release. “This plan sets the path for the Irish aquaculture sector so that it is resilient, competitive, and is a global standard in sustainability and quality. With the implementation of this plan, I believe the aquaculture sector has the ability to build and maintain its competitive edge into the future.”
During his announcement, McConalogue said Ireland’s aquaculture sector produces around 40,000 tons of high-value finfish and shellfish annaully while directly employing around 1,800 people.
Mowi has said it is eager to expand in Ireland, where it exclusively raises E.U. Organic-certified salmon, and as of 2020, it had applications for four new licenses pending, which would increase its production from 9,000 to 15,000 MT annually.
Irish Farmers’ Association Aquaculture Head Teresa Morrisey told SeafoodSource in 2022 it may be easier for salmon-farming firms to modify, upgrade, and expand existing licenses than apply for new ones.
