Salmon farm of 1m fish will

devastate Bantry
Tuesday, 21st February, 2017
By BRIAN MOORE

Marine Harvest representatives at the Bantry Bay oral hearing in

the Westlodge Hotel this week were, from left: Dr Neil Bass,
environmental consultant, Catherine McManus and Jan Feenstra.
(Photo: Tony McElhinney)
THE oral hearing into an application for a salmon farm containing 1
million fish, at Shot Head in Bantry Bay, was adjourned last week
when a 102-page document emerged, that had not been seen by
all the interested parties.

A document commissioned by Marine Harvest Ireland outlining sea

lice distribution in Bantry Bay, which was submitted to the
Aquaculture Licences Appeal Board (ALAB), was not circulated to
all the appellants and therefore the chair of the oral hearing, Dr
Owen McIntyre, adjourned the meeting for four to five weeks.

The decision came after two days of evidence in Bantry.

Nobody wants this salmon farm here, Breda OSullivan,

representing her community of Roosk, told the board. Not one
resident of our community was approached by Marine Harvest in
connection with this salmon farm. We have a very important tourist
industry in our area, most of our community depends on the
income that holiday rentals provide, and having such a salmon
farm just out there in the bay, not far from our shore, would have a
devastating effect on our community, she said.

The Beara Peninsula Residents Group was just one of 14

appellants who made presentations to ALAB in Bantry this week.

In its application, first lodged five years ago, Marine Harvest

Ireland outlined its plans to develop an additional 18 salmon cages
off Shot Head. The new salmon farm and the 18 cages, which will
each contain up to 60,000 fish, is expected to produce up to 3,500
tonnes of salmon every two years.

Local fishermen were represented at the oral hearing by Kieran

OShea, whose family have fished the waters around Shot Head
for three generations.

He outlined what a disastrous effect he believed a salmon farm

would have, not only his livelihood, but on the many other boats
and families who have always relied on the crab, prawn and
lobster fishing off Shot Head.

This will affect the inshore fishing industry in Bantry Bay, Mr

OShea said. For too long inshore fisherman have been ignored,
at no time were the fishermen consulted by either the Department
of the Marine, nor by the company planning to put the site here.
We will be denied access to fishing grounds that we have fished
for generations. From an economic, social and environmental
standpoint, it makes little sense. There are four other families
working the area and while were not in the area, all year round,
the salmon farm will create unnecessary pressure in the area.

Speaking on behalf of the Save Bantry Bay group, Peter

Sweetman said that a licence for the farm would have a
devastating effect on Bantry Bay, both in terms of local jobs,
fishing stocks and other wildlife across the area. This whole
process is fundamentally flawed under European legislation. We
should never have had to request all the relevant documents be
sent to us in the first place, and now we learn there is a 102-page
submission that we and all the other appellants know nothing
about.
Until we have had a chance to examine these documents, we
cannot continue with this appeals hearing, Mr Sweetman said.
http://www.southernstar.ie/news/roundup/articles/2017/02/21/4135139-salmon-farm-of-1m-fish-will-
devastate-bantry/

Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board

Technical Advisors Interim Report

Description: An assessment of aquaculture licence appeals in respect of an application to

establish a salmon farm at Shot Head, Bantry Bay

http://www.alab.ie/media/alab/content/technicalreports/TechnicalAdvisorRe
portBantryBayInterim120117.pdf

APPEAL AGAINST LICENSE T5/555 GRANTED FOR THE

CULTIVATION OF ATLANTIC SALMON; SALMO SALAR ON A SITE ON THE
FORESHORE AT SHOT HEAD, BANTRY BAY, CO. CORK

https://www.friendsoftheirishenvironment.org/images/pdf/shot_head_appeal_
15_10_15.pdf
OWN OUR OIL THE FIGHT FOR IRISH ECONOMIC FREEDOM
Norwegians , changing them from a fishing economy with one oil .....
From 1970 to 1978, when the Kinsale Head gas ..... Bord Pleanla,
who, after a long oral hearing, overturned the ...... owner of the Bantry
Bay terminal and tank farm.
http://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/handle/2262/68363/Own%20Our%20Oil,%
20The%20Fight%20for%20Irish%20Economic%20Freedom.pdf;sequence=1
NI and Cross-Border]) in the Irish Aquaculture Industry. 182 ..... Irish Quality
Salmon ..... development as promoted by the EU into 'key legal and policy
frameworks'. ...... all of which have strong rural applications in NI and the
Republic.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Seamus_Grimes/publication/262486574
_AshgateALivingCountrysideAug2009eBook-
ELOHiM/links/00b7d537cf5fdb7e11000000.pdf?inViewer=0&pdfJsDownload=0
&origin=publication_detail
CETA FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT please share.
As a member of a minority group in politics, fighting to see that the
interests of the people are served before the interests of the powerful
vested interests who carry so much influence with the bigger groups,
you expect to face an uphill battle. It came as no great shock to me then
that last week in the European Parliament, the vote on CETA was lost.
CETA stands for Comprehensive Economic & Trade Agreement, a
proposed deal between Canada and the EU with the emphasis very much
on Comprehensive. It is the brainchild of global corporations, has been
driven by them from first to last, was negotiated entirely behind closed
doors where of course their interests are always best served, and was
presented to us as a fait accompli, signed, sealed and translated before
most MEPs (never mind the EU public) had even the sketchiest idea of
what it contained.
PIE IN THE SKY PROMISES
Its proponents use arguments like:
If we cant agree a trade deal with Canada, the country closest in
values to Europe, sure who CAN we agree a deal with?;
This is the most progressive trade deal ever negotiated;
EU standards and values food production and quality, labour rights,
environmental protection, etc etc are all cast-iron guaranteed in this
deal;
This will create massive jobs and growth in economies all across the
EU;
This will be of major benefit to EU consumers.
HOME TRUTHS
Shallow and spurious, every one of those arguments.
This wasnt the people of the EU agreeing a deal with the people of
Canada, this was global corporations using their money and muscle to
force through a deal that is first and foremost in THEIR interests;
Stating this is the most progressive trade deal ever is like saying that
lethal injection is the most humane method of delivering a death
sentence it is lethal nevertheless;
If EU standards (and Canadian standards for that matter, when theyre
higher) are cast-iron guaranteed, why not insert a clause right at the
beginning of the text stating starkly and simply Wherever there is a
difference in standards, now or in the future, the higher standard will
ALWAYS prevail? And its important to note, this deal also takes care of
the future, with a special task force inherent in the deal to agree any and
all elements not currently included, all of which will be equally binding
and NONE of which can ever then be reversed. In fact the only cast-iron
guarantee is to the so-called investors who have ensured in this deal
that they get their own special court above and beyond even the
European Court of Justice in the EU or the Supreme Court in Canada, a
court to which only they can resort, to sue governments local and
national, and boy, do they resort, with EU corporations the most eager of
all;
The European Parliaments own Employment Committee did a
comprehensive study which suggest that far from creating jobs, this will
COST the EU; studies and projections are one thing however all those
same great promises were made in the USA, Mexico and Canada in 1994
when NAFTA came into force but instead, it brought devastation to
communities right across North America, and could be argued that it also
brought us Donald Trump;
Lower prices for consumers this is one of the biggest selling points
of all but I think its time we all began to join a few dots here. Yes were
all consumers, but directly or indirectly were also producers and
whether working in farm or factory, when prices are driven down so are
wages; meanwhile retail profit goes up and up and the one group who
DONT suffer are the controllers of all this, the global corporations.
STAND UP AND FIGHT UNTIL YOU HEAR THE BELL
Though we managed to get over 200 votes in the European Parliament
against the deal, with the four Fine Gael MEPs joining the EPP group we
lost this battle.
The war now moves to the home front. For CETA to come fully into effect
it must also be voted on and agreed in EVERY EU Member State. Right
across Europe people are mobilising against this mega-mistake; I'm now
calling on people do the same in Ireland.
Do your own research and please, stay away from the propaganda, the
Irish government propaganda especially. If you dont have the time or the
resources to do that research, ask yourself just this one question:
currently, and operating under EU and Canadian law (the same law under
which all of us operate), you have every type of investor imaginable;
what kind of additional investor then are we going to get that will operate
here ONLY if they have this special court?
The time to put the pressure on your local TDs is now do it please, for
the sake of future generations.