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Locals gathered in Kinsale on Friday evening (13 June) to voice their opposition to the granting of planning permission for a mussel farm in Kinsale Harbour.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Friday racing was cancelled for Kinsale Yacht Club members to attend an on-the-water protest on the heels of the green light to Woodstown Bay Shellfish for 23-hectare bottom-culture mussel farm.

Waterford-based Woodstown Bay first applied for planning permission for a mussel farm off Castlepark Beach in late 2018. The proposed development, which was subject to public consultations in 2019 and 2021, has since galvanised the local community.

Speaking to Afloat, KYC Commodore Anthony Scannell said: “The proposed location, right in the heart of Kinsale, is where my daughter learned to sail and to handle a boat as a young child and as a consequence where I as an adult learned to sail a boat.

“This area has been used by Kinsale Yacht Club to pass on the seafaring tradition of Kinsale to generation after generation for over 70 years.”

Scannell added: “Those on the water and those on the beach are worried that the lifestyle that they have enjoyed for years will be changed dramatically with the introduction of truckloads of mussels to the seabed in an area where few mussels currently live.”

It’s feared that the existing recreational areas for sailing and swimming would be “permanently damaged” by the project.

One immediate danger posed by the proposed mussel farm is “that immature mussel spat will clog the cooling water intakes of all craft operating in Kinsale Harbour whether they are pleasure boats, fishing boats, trawlers, ships or even the lifeboats”, Scannell said.

RTÉ News reports that more than 3,000 people have signed a petition objecting to the mussel farm and “to respect the seafaring tradition, the environment and the public opinion of those living in the area and for future generations to come”, which Scannell urged should be taken into account by decision makers.

Kinsale Mussel Farm Protest Photo Gallery by Bob Bateman