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Ms McKenna is the most vocal and
vociferous critic of new developments in Ireland's fisheries and
aquaculture industries. While marine ministers Frank Fahey and Hugh
Byrne claim that Ireland has the best regulated fish farming
industry in Europe, she holds the opposite view. "Fish farming is
very poorly regulated in Ireland," she said recently. "It is
seriously threatening our coastal habitats and will also affect fish
stocks, yet minister Fahey seems completely oblivious to these very
significant negative side-effects and keeps championing fish
farming. "Minister Fahey must
heed calls by the EU and ensure that a proper legal framework is in
place so that fish farming is not allowed to despoil our coasts and
threaten our entire fishing industry."
The
Department of the Marine and Natural Resources has been
considering a detailed response to Ms McKenna's accusations for
nearly a month but nothing has yet emerged, although a press
spokesman did tell FIS.com his department did not accept
her claims. Calls to the Irish Salmon Growers Association went
unreturned.
Ms McKenna has also been keen to
publicise the fact that the
European Commission is taking legal action against Ireland for
failing to comply with EU environmental legislation in two areas. In
the first warning letter it complained about the lack of compulsory
environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for fish farmers who are
seeking trial licences, as well as the way that arbitrary thresholds
are set to gauge the impact of fish farms in sensitive areas.
The MEP said the second legal warning
related to a failure to comply with the Wild Birds and Habitats
Directive. A Birdwatch survey showed that 26 per cent of aquaculture
operations are located in designated special protected areas (SPAs)
and that 84 per cent of SPAs already have shellfish farms located
within them. |
