Press Releases

Archived Press Releases:

 May 12 ,2007
ELECTION 2007: How clean is Donegal’s water, and other pertinent political questions…?

 September 25 ,2006
OYSTER CRISIS EXPOSES "SHAMBLES" IN MANAGEMENT OF SWILLY

 July 11 ,2005
ATTEMPT TO DOUBLE SALMON-FARMING OUTPUT IN LOUGH SWILLY

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

 June 02 ,2004
COULTER CALLS FOR POLITICAL CHANGE IN DONEGAL

 December 15 ,2003
PORTSALON SALMON-FARMING LICENCE REFUSED BY ALAB

 November 05 ,2003
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY FEDERATION OF IRISH SALMON AND SEA TROUT ANGLERS, FRIENDS OF CLEW BAY AND SAVE THE SWILLY

 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"

 June 21 ,2003
ANOTHER DISASTER IN INVER BAY - INQUIRY ESSENTIAL

 February 08 ,2003
SAVE THE SWILLY MEETS INISHOWEN POLITICIANS

 February 03 ,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

 October 01 ,2002
Press Releases Save The Swilly 1 October 2002 PUBLIC MEETING TO DISCUSS INTEGRATED COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT

 September 25 ,2002
SAVE THE SWILLY WELCOMES EU STRATEGY ON COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT

 August 12 ,2002
'Lough Swilly ICZM Report'

 August 02 ,2002
QUESTIONS OVER DECOMPOSING SALMON IN INVER BAY

 June 03 ,2002
NO ROOM FOR TRADITION IN LOUGH SWILLY

 May 03 ,2002
Save The Swilly opts for "Swilly First"

 May 03 ,2002
Save The Swilly/Green Party candidate withdraws

 May 01 ,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 01 ,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 09 ,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
An open letter to the people on the shores of Lough Swilly:

 January 16 ,2001
Delegation meets Minister Hugh Byrne

 January 09 ,2001
Save The Swilly (from looking like Mulroy Bay)

SAVE THE SWILLY - November 05 ,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' - FISSTA

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".

FISSTA was one of several groups asked to appear before the Joint Committee following revelations in the Prime Time programme which focused on the problems of sea-lice and on breaches of regulations by a number of salmon farmers.

These were not isolated incidents, according to FISSTA chairman Mr Noel Carr. He said there are issues relating to sea-lice infestation and pollution from salmon farming that pose a real and increasing environmental threat to the Irish coastline. "We hope and trust that a wake-up call is heard and understood, " Mr Carr told the Oireachtas Committee. "It is not an exaggeration to state that the survival of Ireland's wild sea trout and salmon will depend on the actions taken by our legislators."

While the linkage between declines in wild salmon and sea trout stocks and infestation of sea-lice from salmon farms is accepted in countries such as Norway, Mr Carr said Ireland's regulatory agencies are in denial about this dire threat to our native species. He quoted the respected marine scientist Dr Paddy Gargan, that "there is no doubt that salmon farms producing sea-lice are the major contributing factor to the sea-trout collapse." Mr Michael Kennedy, of the Western Regional Fisheries Board, also was interviewed during the Prime Time programme, blaming salmon farms for the sea-trout collapse. Mr Kennedy said that the Western Board "had considered everything" in its efforts to establish a cause for the decline in wild-fish stocks. "Forestry, over-grazing, angling, but it all came down to one thing - sea-lice emanating from salmon farms."

FISSTA and various affiliated organisations, including Friends of Clew Bay and Save The Swilly, have called on the government to suspend all further licensing of salmon farms while Ireland conducts its own research into the relationship between sea-lice and declines in salmon and sea-trout stocks. "Why are we prepared to continue risking the very existence of the wild salmon as we have already brought our sea trout to the point of extinction?" the FISSTA submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee asked.

Norway has closed many bays and fjords to fish-farming in a determined bid to conserve its wild salmon and sea trout stocks. "In Ireland, we have not reached that level of honesty about the risks posed by salmon farming," FISSTA said. "We know of no fish farm in Ireland that has been reprimanded, much less fined, for exceeding maximum permitted sea-lice levels on their farms."

Mr Carr of FISSTA said it was common knowledge that many Irish fish farms consistently exceeded maximum permitted sea-lice levels. "In a recent report, the Northern Regional Fisheries Board (NRFB) said sea-lice levels in Inver Bay, Co. Donegal are five to six times the levels permitted under present regulations." The Chief Executive of the NRFB said the problem had existed for a number of years, and he had raised the matter with the Department of the Marine several times. "Yet, to our knowledge nothing has happened in response to these disclosures," said Mr Carr.

FISSTA said the "appropriate State agencies must be given the powers to regulate the [salmon-farming] industry in an objective way, and that they must be seen to be doing so."

Contact: Noel Carr, FISSTA, 087-2352001 http://www.fissta.com www.fissta.com
Harry Hughes, Friends of Clew Bay, 087-2531158

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