Up to 30 jobs being lost every month

The Aquaculture section of the IFA have claimed that as many 30 jobs per month are being lost out in the salmon and shellfish sectors of the fish farming business – and all because of an administrative logjam, the newspaper Galway News reported.Last week, the IFA outlined to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, some of the ‘cost neutral’ measures which could give a major boost to the whole fish farming sector.IFA Aquaculture Executive Secretary, Richie Flynn, said that the Government needed to tune in more to the growing importance of aquaculture: “No extra funding is required to provide much needed employment and economic activity in peripheral communities, but simply action by the Minister for Agriculture to implement Government policy on aquaculture licensing and capital funding,” said Richie Flynn.According to Flynn, the sector will need to rapidly develop to meet the massively growing demand for fish worldwide as wild fisheries continue to decline, the newspaper wrote.