Ireland Minister for the Marine Michael Creed has discontinued a license for a fish farm in County Kerry held by Norway’s Mowi, according to local media reports.
The farm is licensed to harvest up to 500 metric tons (MT) of salmon per year, but harvested just over 1,100 MT in 2016, some 121 percent more than permitted.
A breach of license conditions at a smolt factory again run by Mowi Ireland was also identified by the Department of Agriculture, Food, and Marine, while a third investigation into one of the company’s salmon and trout farms near Inishfarnard in Coulagh Bay, County Cork, found no provable breach of license conditions.
Creed’s decision to discontinue a fish farm license for the first time was taken under the Fisheries (Amendment) Act, 1997, which permits him to revoke or amend a license if he considers it in the public interest, or if he is satisfied of a breach of conditions.
With regards to the smolt facility, annual production should not have exceeded 2.5 million smolt. However, the department opted not to revoke the license, but to amend it, due to the serious commercial consequences for the company. It also decided to amend the Inishfarnard farm license.
Mowi will be seeking legal advice on this matter, according to media reports.
