#GALWAY BAY - Galway Bay FM reports that the National Parks and Wildlife Service is to work with the Marine Institute towards completing a management plan for Galway Bay.

It comes two weeks after a group of oyster fishermen met Minister for Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte at Leinster House to voice their concerns over a cap on oyster dredging licences.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, local fishermen in the inner Galway Bay-Clarinbridge area are concerned that their livelihoods are at risk after the European Union ruled that there is over-intensification of fishing at the oyster bed.

Only 13 dredging licences have been issued this year, and EU Directives prevent their further issue until a fisheries management plan is introduced.

Galway West Senator Fidelma Healy-Eames says steps are being made to get the management plan on track.

#FISHING - The licence application for a proposed new deep-sea fish farm in the Aran Islands is expected to be lodged in January.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Bord Iascaigh Mhara's (BIM) planned 15,000-tonne organic salmon farm off Inis Oírr would be the largest of its kind in Europe, and would create hundreds of jobs in the area.

Commenting on the plans, Galway West Senator Fidelma Healy Eames said it was "a major opportunity for Galway and would represent a very significant economic boost for our coastal communities."

She added: "Deep sea fish farming has proven to be very economically beneficial in countries such as Norway, Chile and Scotland. It is timely that Ireland would capitalise on our fantastic marine resources as these countries have."

According to Healy Eames, the project is expected to "meet all environmental standards and will be barely visible from 2km away and effectively not visible from land.

"It would take up a negligible amount of inshore fisheries ground in the bay (0.22%) and would not interfere with existing fishing routes or Galway Bay ferry routes."