Ireland's Organic Scamon

Independent: "Irish Government Faces Fight"

Ireland's battle against a super-sized salmon farm in Galway Bay made a big splash in the Independent newspaper in the UK.    The Independent reported today (13 May):

Locals fear it could take away much of the island’s appeal, made famous by the opening sequence of the television comedy Father Ted filmed over Inis Oirr, the smallest of the three Aran Islands. “The image we have is one of an unspoilt landscape,” says Enda Conneely, who was born on Inis Oirr and has spent the last 20 years running a popular cafe, the Fisherman’s Cottage, “that will change with this salmon farm and I doubt we’ll be able to survive that change.”

Read online via "Irish government faces fight with residents of picturesque island Inis Oirr over new salmon farm"

 

Yesterday's Independent on Sunday (12 May) also featured concern over the "mega-farm":

"Environmentalists warn that BIM's proposals to build a fish farm off Ireland's Aran islands, capable of producing six million organic fish a year, risks playing havoc with the ecosystem by introducing a "huge quantity of biomass" into Atlantic waters," stated the article.  "If approved, the scheme will be five times larger than any existing salmon farm off the British Isles." 

"Campaigners fear it will devastate wild salmon and trout stocks by introducing parasites and polluting waters with waste from the fish. Ken Whelan, professor of biology and environment at University College Dublin, described it as a "giant experiment". "The concern is it is moving very fast from a greenfield site to something bigger than Ireland's current national production. If people are truly interested in being sustainable, you have do it on a staged basis to be certain of the impacts." BIM did not respond to requests for comment. Previously, it said its proposals amounted to safe, efficient and sustainable fish farming."

 

An Editorial - "Who Needs Mega-Farms?" - included:

Read more news from Ireland via:

Ireland's "North Korean Approach to Democracy"

"Feck Off": Notice From A Small Island!

Ireland's Organic Scamon - EXPOSED!

Ireland Says ‘Feck Off’ to Super-Size Salmon Feedlot in Galway Bay

Fightin' Irish Take On Super-Size Salmon!

 

Ireland's "North Korean Approach to Democracy"

Dr. Roderick O'Sullivan doesn't pull any punches in his latest column published in the Connacht Tribune (26 April):

Read article in full online here

 

Dr. O'Sullivan also wrote in the Connacht Tribune (1 March):

Read article in full online here

 

And read Dr. O'Sullivan's article published in the Connacht Tribune last year (7 December):

Read in full online here

 

Watch Dr. O'Sullivan speaking from Craggy Island - online here!

 

"Feck Off": Notice From A Small Island!

 

The residents of Inis Oírr, the smallest of the three Aran Islands in Galway Bay, refuse to back down in their fight against a proposal by the Irish Government for the the world's largest "organic" salmon farm.  Inis Oírr is the location of the fictional Craggy Island made famous by the TV series Father Ted - featuring foul-mouthed Father Jack.

 

Earth Island Journal reported (1 May) on the growing opposition on Craggy Island:

"We're really concerned about the process of this, where it's essentially being imposed on us by the minister and his agents," says Enda Conneely, one of Inis Oirr's 249 inhabitants.

"We have the same customers coming back for the last 20 years, and they don't want this," says Enda Conneely, who runs a guesthouse and restaurant on Inis Oírr. "You go out to the Aran Islands to go away from industrial scale farming."

Read more via "Plans for Massive Salmon Farm in Ireland’s Galway Bay Run Into Troubled Waters"

 

If 'Notes from a Small Island' author Bill Bryson paid the small island a visit he would find the whole island united in opposition against the super-sized salmon farm.

 

"I'm dead against a farm coming onto the coast of Inis Oírr," said local fisherman Ruairi O Cualain .  "We had a farm here about twenty years ago and we couldn't eat the mackerel that was swimming around the bay.  This one's going to be thirty times the size of it."

Watch video report via ““Feck off” to fish farms in Galway Bay” and read more background via Ireland Says ‘Feck Off’ to Super-Size Salmon Feedlot in Galway Bay

 

"If you take into consideration the last farm that was sited here, the Bradán Feasa - the biggest salmon farm in Ireland - and it was wrecked by the seas because the weather here is incredible," said Dr. Roderick O'Sullivan durign a visit to Inis Oírr.  "Look at this ship here - it's been driven up on these rocks.  What chance the farms have when the storms really break here is highly debatable."

 

 

Speaking on Inis Oírr, overlooking the proposed site and the world-famous Cliffs of Moher, Dr. Roderick O'Sullivan pointed to the dangers of the 15,000 tonne farm:

"One must remember that it's the biggest salmon farm certainly in Europe if not the world," said Dr. O'Sullivan.  "And it's going to be discharging a tremendous amount of waste, fish faeces and uneaten food.  It's going to have a very deleterious effect on water quality and the living organisms in this bay."

Watch video report online via “Dr. O’Sullivan on Salmon Farm Insanity in Galway Bay, Ireland”

 

"The more knowledge we get on this the more people we're getting against it," said another local resident.  "We're concerned at the way BIM are handling it and giving us a whole load of lies.  They're not being truthful and we don't trust them.  People should know about it.  We have to fight this and stand up for our cause and take the power back."

 

 

"I don't think it should be here," said another local resident.  "And I can tell you that half of Connemara is very much against a massive big sludge producing factory out in the middle of the feckin' bay.  It's not good.  It's not good for us.  I don't see 500 jobs.   And 500 jobs is not equal to 500,000 tourists who are not going to come."

Read more via "Gathering Ireland Against Salmon Farming" and "Ireland Says ‘Feck Off’ to Super-Size Salmon Feedlot in Galway Bay"

 

 

For more news on Ireland's fight against salmon farming read:

 “44 sea lice per salmon at Marine Harvest Ireland farm”

 “Boycott Irish Organic Farmed Salmon”

“Lice-Infested Irish Salmon (Continued)!”

“Sea lice levels high in local fish farms – reports show breaches of sea lice levels in Donegal”

“Fish farm proposals - Coveney has to listen to objections”

 

Watch video reports online here!

 

Watch “Message to Norwegian Embassy in Dublin: Fish Farms Out!”

Ireland's Organic Scamon - EXPOSED!

 

Consumers beware - don't swallow the marketing scam that is Irish "organic" salmon!  Over 60% of Ireland's salmon farms are now certified as "organic" yet over 60% of Irish salmon farming production is owned by the Norwegian multinational Marine Harvest. 

Read more via "Organic Scamon: The Greenwashing of Toxic Farmed Salmon"

 

Marine Harvest's Irish salmon farming operations are riddled with infectious diseases and sea lice.  Marine Harvest's 2012 Annual Report published last month (26 April) revealed the scale of the sea lice crisis - with rising sea lice infestation rates  in Ireland, Scotland and Chile:

 

Infectious diseases decimitating Irish salmon farms included the #1 killer Amoebic Gill Disease:

Marine Harvest is controlled by Norway's richest man - billionnaire John Fredriksen who is worth $11.5 billion and 87th on the Forbes Rich List!

Read more via "Mmm Mega-Marine Harvest: Super-Liced Salmon!"

 

A leaked Government report revealed in December 2012 that Irish farmed salmon - including so-called 'organic' salmon farms - are breaching sea lice levels by over three times.  Marine Harvest's salmon farm in Lough Swilly is so infested with parasitic sea lice that there are over 44 sea lice per farmed salmon whilst Mannin Bay's 'organic' salmon are infested with over 15 sea lice per farmed salmon!

The sea lice data (November 2012) compiled by the Marine Institute revealed that Marine Harvest breached the sea lice protocol level (set at 2 ovigerous - pregnant female - lice per farmed salmon) for the FIFTH month running.  

 

In October 2012 Marine Harvest’s feedlot in Lough Swilly was infested with 54 sea lice per fish – breaching the Irish Government’s protocol levels by almost five times along with Mannin Bay’s ‘organic’ salmon feedlot at Corhounagh.  In September 2012, Marine Harvest’s feedlot in Mulroy Bay was infested with 58 sea lice per farmed salmon with Lough Swilly infested with a staggering 71 sea lice per farmed salmon (both over five times the Government’s sea lice protocol level)!

Read more sea lice data via 'FishyLeaks'

 

Watch a video report from Marine Harvest’s operations in Mulroy Bay – online via “"Nature has struck back and said "No More!" - Noel Carr on Salmon Farms”  

 

 

Watch more via "Marine Harvest Ireland's "Organic" Scamon!"