#FISHING - Bord Iascaigh Mhára (BIM) has moved to allay fears that the proposed new fish farm in the Aran Islands would have a detrimental effect on wild salmon numbers, according to the Galway Independent.
BIM was reacting to concerns raised at a meeting of the Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers (FISTA) held last Sunday, ahead of which the federation's secretary Noel Carr described the fish farm plans as its 'Alamo'.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, BIM launched the consultation process last December for its proposed deep-sea salmon farm in Galway Bay on a 500-hectare site north of Inis Óirr.
Approval of the project, which would be one of the largest of its kind in Europe, could see the creation of 350 direct and 150 indirect jobs.
Among his group's concerns, Noel Carr told the Galway Independent that salmon farms such as that proposed for Galway bay were finding wild fish out in the North Atlantic and “hoovering it up to make fish meal”.
But Donal Maguire, aquaculture development manager for BIM, said that argument was "not true", adding that "the world catch for fishmeal has been sustainable for about the last 35 years".
The Galway Independent has more on the story HERE.
