Save The Swilly August 24, 2004

WHICH PART OF "NO" DON'T THEY UNDERSTAND?


Dear STS Members and Supporters,

For those who are not aware of the most recent developments in Lough Swilly, the company that had been refused a salmon-farming licence for a 90-acre site next to Portsalon's Blue Flag beach by the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board (ALAB) in December 2003 has decided that this answer was not the correct one, and they are planning a re-match.

According to a circular letter sent to 112 individuals and groups, the applicant, Marine Harvest Ireland, "still urgently requires a licence for a second operable site for its Lough Swilly operation. Having carried out lengthy investigations in the lough over many years, we have now concluded that the only suitable locations remain in the general vicinity of Dooanmore."

Anyone who feels they should be consulted on this further attempt to establish a massive salmon farm in the Portsalon area should contact Mr Joseph Gibbons, Marine Sites Manager, Marine Harvest Ireland, Kindrum, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, Ireland, Tel. (074) 91 59071, Fax (074) 91 59077, and ask to be sent a "scoping letter". This is a letter setting out the company's intentions, and inviting comments. The company has set an arbitrary deadline of Friday, 24th September 2004 for comments, so the request to be included in the process should be made immediately.

For those unfamiliar with the area, Dooanmore is also known as Greenfort Island, which is the area sought by Marine Harvest in its last bid - for a 90-acre salmon farm - which was duly overturned by ALAB in December 2003. Dooanmore is adjacent to the Blue Flag beach at Ballymastocker Bay, Portsalon.

Marine Harvest rejects ALAB's reasons for its decision, which were:
"It is considered that the deterioration in water quality arising from the proposed activity would have a negative impact on the recreational use of the adjacent Portsalon Blue Flag Beach.

"It is considered that the proposed activity constitutes an unacceptable risk to navigation.

"It is considered that the location of the proposed activity would give rise to injury to visual amenity in an area visible from a designated scenic and tourist route and within the views and prospects of special amenity as designated in the Donegal County Development Plan 2000."
It is not surprising that Marine Harvest disagrees with ALAB, given the fact that they did not get what they were seeking, but the company evidently did not feel strongly enough about the validity of the ALAB decision to seek a Judicial Review, an option available to them at the time. The fact that a Judicial Review was not sought indicates that Marine Harvest did not believe it could succeed in overturning the ALAB decision in the High Court.

Instead, it is re-launching the application for a site in the same location, probably with the view that the composition of ALAB has changed radically since the December decision, and their position may be more sympathetically heard.

Save The Swilly has been told repeatedly by officials from the Department of the Marine, and indeed by Ministers in that Department, that we should rely on the appeals process, which is part of the statutory mechanism by which the aquaculture licensing process is handled. While we have generally felt that the Department of the Marine is not sympathetic to anyone opposed to aquaculture development in unsuitable areas, we have accepted that an appeals mechanism exists, and participated in the process in good faith. It is now apparent that ALAB's decisions are good only if they suit the aquaculture industry, and this raises serious questions about the industry's own commitment to the process.

It will be a travesty of the democratic process if this new application is even allowed to move to the next stage, and we strongly recommend that anyone who believes the ALAB decision last December was fair and reasonable, and that it should be allowed to stand, should make their voices heard.

The message from the industry and from the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources may be that they alone will decide on the use of public resources, but all citizens have a right to express their opinion, and it should be clear to anyone familiar with Portsalon that this is not an appropriate location for salmon farming. The argument that the site will occupy a small fraction of Lough Swilly is irrelevant. The fact is that these intensive farming operations have a huge footprint, many times larger than the physical location of the cages; they do create navigational obstacles; and they are proposing to locate the operation within fishing ground that is important to our inshore fishermen. Unlike all other marine activities, they are not occupied and then vacated; fish-farms stay in place for decades, carving out large areas of the lough as no-go areas, even to other legitimate stake-holders.

We can make a difference, but action is needed now! Lough Swilly needs YOU!

SAVE THE SWILLY contacts:

Email: info@loughswilly.com
Phone: Tony Morrison (353) 07493-63733
Phone: John Mulcahy (353) 07491-59113; (353) 086-2808636
Address: c/o Buncrana Anglers Association,
Castle Lane, Buncrana, Co. Donegal
Website: www.loughswilly.com

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Archived Press Releases:

August 24, 2004
Which part of "No" don't they understand?

June 2, 2004
Coulter calls for political change in Donegal

December 15, 2003
Postsalon salmon-farming licence refused by ALAB

November 05, 2003
Sea Trout and Wild Salmon have been Victims of 'Ethnic Cleansing' - FISSTA

September 24, 2003
Prime Time Exposes Aquaculture's Shortcomings

July 24, 2003
Save the Swilly Calls for Farmed Salmon Mortality Monitor

July 21, 2003
Another Disaster in Inver Bay - Inquiry Essential

July 17, 2003
Rural Development Towards Sustainability

February 8, 2003
Save the Swilly Meets Inishowen Politicians

February 3, 2003
Blue Flag Beach Threatened by 80-Acre Fish Farm

January 29, 2003
Save the Swilly 10,000-Signature Petition Accepted by Europe

January 28, 2003
New Alliance Formed in Swilly

December 16, 2002
"Stop Ripping Up the Swilly" Indigenous People Demand

December 13, 2002
Lough Swilly's Indigenous Fishermen Speak Out

October1, 2002
Public Meeting to Discuss Integrated Coastal Zone Management

September 25, 2002
Save the Swilly Welcomes the Strategy on Coastal Zone Mangement

August 12, 2002
Integrated Coastal Zone Management Proposal Launched

August 2, 2002
Questions over decomposing salmon in Inver Bay

June 3, 2002
No Room for Tradition in Lough Swilly

May 3, 2002
Save the Swilly opts for "Swilly First"

May 3, 2002
Save the Swilly/Green Party candidate withdraws

May 1, 2002
Save the Swilly/Green Party candidate to contest Donegal North-East

April 18, 2002
Coulter to be "Ambassador at Large" for Save the Swilly

March 25, 2002
Save The Swilly presents 10,000-signature petition to EU

March 12, 2002
Study of Lough Swilly launched

November 30, 2001 STS letter to Hugh Byrne, Minister for State for the Department of the Marine

November 27, 2001 ICZM and OSPAR - not Clams - for Swilly

October 17, 2001 Salmon farm wants still more licences inshore

September 17, 2001 Save the Swilly meets Labour Party

September 13, 2001 Save the Swilly meets Minister of State Byrne

September 1, 2001 Save the Swilly begins fundraising drive

August 28, 2001 Save the Swilly welcomes I.F.A. initiative

May 15, 2001 Expansion of salmon farming tragic for Swilly

April 9, 2001 Mussel barrels adrift in Lough Swilly

March 22, 2001 Save the Swilly presents petition

March 13, 2001 Save the Swilly questions Minister Byrne

March 11, 2001 Save the Swilly reaffirms call for moratorium

February 20, 2001 Launch of Save the Swilly website

January 24, 2001

January 16, 2001 Delegation meets Minister Hugh Byrne

January 9, 2001 Save The Swilly
(from looking like Mulroy Bay)