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12 May 2007 How clean is Donegal's water, and other pertinent political questions.?

25 September 2006 RECENT EVENTS IN LOUGH SWILLY'S SHELLFISH GROUNDS SUGGEST THE MINISTER AND HIS OFFICIALS ARE FAILING IN THEIR DUTY

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23 November 2005 DONEGAL COUNTY COUNCIL LAUNCHES FEASIBILITY STUDY ON ESTABLISHMENT OF COASTAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION CENTRE IN BUNCRANA

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29 August 2005 SUBMISSION RE: COUNTY DONEGAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2006-2010

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11 July 2005 ATTEMPT TO DOUBLE SALMON-FARMING OUTPUT IN LOUGH SWILLY Marine Harvest Ireland proposal to double salmon-farming output in Lough Swilly.

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24 September 2004 DONEGAL COUNTY DEVELOPMENT PLAN REVIEW
Also included as part of the submission documentation were:

University of Ulster's press release issued upon their publication of Scoping Study for an ICZM strategy for Lough Swilly (commissioned June 2002 by STS);
STS press releases;
comments by the Minister for the Marine on the need for "new models" of coastal zone management;
the STS submission lodged at the Milford public meeting on 15th September 2004; and
a copy of the Scoping Study report itself.

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14 September 2004 Save The Swilly has made a submission to the Donegal County Council in relation to the consultation process now under way to prepare for the Donegal Development Plan 2006-2010.

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23 August 2004 WHICH PART OF "NO" DON'T THEY UNDERSTAND? 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.

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02 June 2004 COULTER CALLS FOR POLITICAL CHANGE IN DONEGAL Phil Coulter, Save The Swilly's Ambassador-At-Large, has called on voters in Donegal and the North West to bring about a change of attitude in the region during the forthcoming council and European elections

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15 December 2003 PORTSALON SALMON-FARMING LICENCE REFUSED BY ALAB ALAB has upheld the appeals of six members of Save The Swilly against salmon-farming licence at Dooanmore, Portsalon.

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05 November 2003 PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY FEDERATION OF IRISH SALMON AND SEA TROUT ANGLERS, FRIENDS OF CLEW BAY AND SAVE THE SWILLY - SEA TROUT AND WILD SALMON HAVE BEEN VICTIMS OF 'ETHNIC CLEANSING' Ireland has experienced the equivalent of an ethnic cleansing of our wild fish stocks over the past 20 years. The Federation of Irish Salmon and Sea Trout Anglers (FISSTA), in a submission today to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, said the problems in the salmon-farming industry highlighted by the recent RTE Prime Time programme were not unique, or a case of "one or two bad apples".

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24 September 2003 PRIME TIME EXPOSES AQUACULTURE'S SHORTCOMINGS The time has come for a comprehensive review of the process whereby aquaculture in Ireland is licensed, monitored, regulated and policed. This conclusion was reinforced, says Save The Swilly, by the recent RTE Prime Time programme, which highlighted some serious shortcomings in the regulation of salmon farming in Ireland, including allegedly illegal dumping of dead salmon in a bog in Galway.

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24 July 2003 SAVE THE SWILLY CALLS FOR FARMED SALMON MORTALITY MONITOR Mystery still surrounds the sudden death of more than 400,000 farmed salmon in Inver Bay, the biggest fish kill in the history of salmon farming in the European Union, two weeks after the mortalities were first reported to the authorities. Save The Swilly has called on the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources to disclose in public details of all farmed salmon mortalities and escapes

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21 July 2003 ANOTHER DISASTER IN INVER BAY - INQUIRY ESSENTIAL Serious questions arise from the massive fish kill last week in Inver Bay, Co. Donegal, in which more than 500,000 farmed salmon are believed to have died. Save The Swilly has renewed its call for an independent inquiry into the Inver Bay disaster.

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17 July 2003 RURAL DEVELOPMENT TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY (Presentation given at Green Party public meeting, Buncrana, 17 July 2003, by John Mulcahy, Spokesperson, Save The Swilly.)

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08 February 2003 SAVE THE SWILLY MEETS INISHOWEN POLITICIANS

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03 February 2003 BLUE FLAG BEACH THREATENED BY 80-ACRE FISH FARM

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29 January 2003 SAVE THE SWILLY 10,000-SIGNATURE PETITION ACCEPTED BY EUROPE The Save The Swilly petition has been accepted by the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament.

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28 January 2003 LOUGH SWILLY INDIGENOUS FISHERMEN FORM ALLIANCE

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16 December 2002 "STOP RIPPING UP THE SWILLY" INDIGENOUS PEOPLE DEMAND
Monday, 16th December 2002 - The valuable resources of Lough Swilly must be preserved and not "ripped up" in the interests of a small number of people seeking short-term profits, indigenous Lough Swilly fishing people said at the weekend.

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13 December 2002 LOUGH SWILLY'S INDIGENOUS FISHERMEN SPEAK OUT
A media briefing will be held by three groups of indigenous fishermen in Lough Swilly who feel the long-term development of Lough Swilly is being decided without taking into account the legitimate concerns of people who have derived a living from the Swilly for generations.

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01 October 2002 PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS INTEGRATED COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT
Save The Swilly is inviting anyone interested in the development of Lough Swilly to attend a meeting at the Mount Errigal Hotel in Letterkenny at 8.00pm on Monday, 7th October. Dr Andrew Cooper, Head of the Coastal Studies Research Group at the University of Ulster in Coleraine, will explain the meaning and significance of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), and how it should be applied in Lough Swilly.

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25 September 2002 SAVE THE SWILLY WELCOMES EU STRATEGY ON COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT
Save The Swilly has welcomed the European Commission's (EC) recent recommendation that aquaculture must be integrated "in strategies based on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)". Last week's statement from the EC on fish-farming acknowledges that there is potential conflict in coastal areas: "potential development is already hindered by competition for space between various users of coastal waters: small-scale, fisheries, aquaculture, tourism.

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12 August 2002 INTEGRATED COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT PROPOSAL LAUNCHED
An unprecedented proposal for the development of Lough Swilly that will include all stakeholders has been introduced. The "Scoping Study for an Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) strategy for Lough Swilly", was conducted by Dr Andrew Cooper of the Coastal Studies Research Group at the University of Ulster in Coleraine.

ICZM Report - Microsoft Word Version
(PDF Documents - will open in Acrobat Reader)
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02 August 2002 QUESTIONS OVER DECOMPOSING SALMON IN INVER BAY
Save The Swilly is calling for an independent inquiry into the recent fish kill in Inver Bay, Co. Donegal, where at least 50,000 mature farmed salmon have been decomposing on the sea-bed for two months.

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03 June 2002 NO ROOM FOR TRADITION IN LOUGH SWILLY
The urgent need for a coherent integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) strategy for Lough Swilly has been highlighted by a series of issues affecting the livelihoods of traditional fishermen in the lough.

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03 May 2002 SAVE THE SWILLY OPTS FOR "SWILLY FIRST"
Following the withdrawal of the joint Save The Swilly/Green Party candidate for the Dail elections in Donegal North East the group has decided to give its full backing to Jackie McNair, the Labour Party candidate. This endorsement was conveyed to Jackie McNair and the Labour Party during a meeting in Buncrana today (Friday).

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03 May 2002 SAVE THE SWILLY/GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE WITHDRAWS
A statement issued earlier this week and carried in several media outlets announced that Save The Swilly and the Green Party were jointly fielding a candidate in the Donegal North East constituency.

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01 May 2002 SAVE THE SWILLY/GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE TO CONTEST DONEGAL NORTH-EAST
Save The Swilly, the environmental group concerned about aquaculture expansion in Lough Swilly, has come to an agreement with the Green Party to put up a candidate in the Donegal North-East constituency for the forthcoming Dail elections.

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18 April 2002 COULTER TO BE "AMBASSADOR AT LARGE" FOR SAVE THE SWILLY
Phil Coulter, the Derry-born composer/songwriter, has decided not to run as a candidate for the Dail in the forthcoming election.

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25 March 2002 SAVE THE SWILLY PRESENTS 10,000-SIGNATURE PETITION TO EU
Save The Swilly (STS) has presented a petition with close to 10,000 signatures to the European Parliament. The petition was handed to Green Party MEP Patricia McKenna in Dublin on Monday, 25th March, and she will present it to the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

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25 March 2002 PETITION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, DATED 25TH MARCH 2002
Save The Swilly, an umbrella organisation with 35 member groups (list attached) comprising more than 15,000 individual members, is seeking a moratorium on aquaculture licensing in Lough Swilly, County Donegal, Ireland, until a comprehensive, independent baseline study and an environmental impact assessment into the likely impact of proposed developments have been completed. Petition signatories were asked to indicate their support for this objective. Almost 10,000 did.

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12 March 2002 SCOPING STUDY OF LOUGH SWILLY LAUNCHED
Save The Swilly (STS) has commissioned a Scoping Study for an Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) strategy for Lough Swilly. The independent study will be conducted by the Coastal Studies Research Group at the University of Ulster's School of Environmental Studies in Coleraine.

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14 December 2001 MINISTER OF STATE RESPONDS TO STS LETTER REGARDING HIS COMMENTS IN THE SENATE

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30 November 2001 STS LETTER TO HUGH BYRNE, MINISTER FOR STATE FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE MARINE

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27 November 2001 ICZM AND OSPAR - NOT CLAMS - FOR SWILLY

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17 October 2001 SALMON FARM WANTS STILL MORE LICENCES INSHORE

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01 October 2001 SAVE THE SWILLY IS FEATURED IN THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OF EARTHWATCH:THE IRISH ENVIRONMENTAL MAGAZINE

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17 September 2001 SAVE THE SWILLY MEETS LABOUR PARTY