Aquaculture businesses will “no longer be profitable” without significant supports to cope with “spiralling input costs”, a Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture has heard.
The issues were highlighted by a delegation from IFA Aquaculture at this week’s committee hearing on Wednesday, September 21st.
Earlier this year, the European Commission activated a crisis mechanism within the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) to enable member states to grant financial compensation to aquaculture operators for income foregone and additional costs due to the current market disruption.
Funding to support fuel costs borne by the commercial fishing industry could also be drawn from this, according to the Commission, but so far the Government has failed to act on this.
IFA Aquaculture said it is “calling on the Government to consider these funding mechanisms made available by the European Commission to assist aquaculture operators affected by these severe cost increases... without delay”.
“It’s critical that a single piece of legislation is brought forward to implement and underpin appropriate aquaculture policy and bring together all the existing primary, secondary and amended legislation in one single provision,” Michael Mulloy of IFA Aquaculture said.
To achieve the objectives and specific actions outlined in the Seafood Development Programme 2021-2027, there must be “an immediate effort made to reform, modernise, and improve the aquaculture licensing system”, he added.
“Reducing the administrative burden and having an efficient, transparent aquaculture licensing system is of benefit to regulators, the industry and aquaculture stakeholders alike,” he said.
The Oireachtas committee hearing can be watched from 1.42 minutes here