Technical standards deemed key

‘Prevent Escape’, which was funded by the European Commission and involved eleven partners from Norway, Greece, Spain, Malta, Scotland and Ireland, began in 2009. It was led by the Norwegian institute for Fisheries and Aquaculture and revealed that the introduction of standards for fish farms in Norway in 2006 halved the number of escapes over the next four years in spite of production increasing by 50%.

Save Bantry Bay and Friends of the Irish Environment have welcomed the report and called on Fisheries Minister Simon Coveney to bring in standards and inspections in Ireland.

The Minister recently told the Oireachtas in a written Parliamentary Reply to Clare Daly, TD, that while he was “satisfied that the current inspection regime is satisfactory”, his department was “alert to ongoing technological changes which enhance the security of all structures on licensed sites and in this regard my Department is currently preparing a draft protocol for the structural design of marine finfish farms”.

The Prevent Escape report concluded: “To prevent escapes of juvenile and adult fish as sea cage aquaculture industries develop, the Prevent Escape Project recommends that policy makers introduce a technical standard for sea-cage aquaculture equipment, coupled with independent mechanisms to enforce the standard.”