Cllr Christy O'Sullivan
Salmon Ranching Project Proposed for Cape Clear
Cork South-West Fianna Fail Dail candidate, Christy O’Sullivan MCC, has called on Marine Minister Noel Dempsey to consider giving financial and technical support to fishermen in West Cork who want to set up a salmon ranching project that would help them recoup some of the revenue lost through the driftnetting ban.
Mr. O’Sullivan in support of the project, explained, “The idea to carry out salmon ranching is just the type of project that merits funding, because it focuses on sustaining salmon stocks and fishermen’s livelihoods. There's a fresh water spring in Cape Clear which would be ideal for the project.
“To ensure that the initial phase of the project is successful, we need a source of pristine fresh water for the smolt rearing. This means creating a hatchery, because ranching appears to be most successful if local wild smolts are used rather than farm smolts.
“The salmon will eventually climatise and return to this spot where the cycle will begin again.
“The system enhances the total population of wild salmon and, in days gone by, many rivers had their own hatcheries which ensured that larger numbers of juvenile fish, or ‘smolts’, would survive and return to the home river as adult salmon. But those rivers were much healthier than they are now.
“There’s huge demand for wild smoked Irish salmon and we should surely be able to target that market. Ireland must increase its exports and focus on supporting projects that will provide a top-quality product that is totally Irish and totally natural.
“We should also be supporting people who come up with pioneering ideas and who have the knowledge and resources to make these projects work.
“Wild salmon ranching is not new to Ireland. At one time, several projects were operating in Ireland.
“Many food products on supermarket shelves are labelled “Irish” when they in fact originated elsewhere.
“Here, we have an opportunity to produce a truly Irish product and I would urge Minister Dempsey to consider making financial support available here in West Cork.
“If the project was successful in West Cork, it could be adopted in other coastal communities in Ireland,’ said Councillor O’Sullivan.