#Fishing - The Marine Institute is encouraging the agreement of a new code of practice for oyster fishing at Ballinakill Bay in Co Galway, which is set to lose its disease-free status.

Galway Bay FM reports that a single oyster out of 900 tested at the bay, near Letterfrack on the north-west coast of Connemara, tested positive for the Ostreid herpes virus two years ago as part of an EU-supported programme.

Though accounting for just 0.11% of the entire sample, the positive test is enough to strip the area of its clean status.

Senator Trevor O'Clochartaigh raised the issue in the Seanad last week, which prompted the Department of the Marine to confirm that the Marine Institute recommends a code of practice that would see the area's status eventually reinstated.