Irish Times, 20 Jan 2014: Warning over proposed salmon-farm in the aftermath of storm damage on Galway Bay
By Derek Evans
GALWAY Bay Against Salmon Cages (Gbasc) pose an intriguing scenario following the recent storms as tsunami-like waves reached heights of 12m in Galway Bay causing severe damage to businesses, homes and amenities.
The group say that if the proposed giant salmon farm was in place during the storms, it would have been completely destroyed. This, in turn, would have resulted in an environmental disaster with millions of farmed salmon either washed up dead or escaping into the wild and destroying the wild salmon gene pool.
According to Gbasc, this begs the question: “As the Government would own the licence for the proposed salmon farm would it [the Government] also be the insurer of the proposed salmon farm?” If so, it would be the taxpayer who will have to foot the bill should the salmon farm be destroyed in future storms, they say.
Such storms are becoming more frequent, Gbasc says and calls on the Minister, Simon Coveney, not to grant a licence for the proposed salmon farm and stop an environmental disaster from happening in Galway Bay.
