Fish farmers welcome diet rule

IRISH and Scottish fish farmers have welcomed Norway's decision to impose a strict diet on its farmed salmon in a bid to control production.

The Norwegian initiative has all but "saved" the industries in Ireland and Scotland, Mr Richie Flynn of the Irish Salmon Growers' Association (ISGA) said.

He was commenting on the outcome of a meeting of Norwegian, Scottish and Irish industry representatives in Dublin Castle this week.

Norway is the world leader in Atlantic salmon production, with some 295,000 tonnes annually. Ireland produces 13,000 tonnes.

The feed quotas were imposed last March. Fines of up to £60,000 can be imposed in Norway for any breach of the rationing regime.

If quotas had not been introduced, Norway could have been producing an extra 100 000 tonnes this year, Mr Ulf Magne Nilsen of the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries said.

This week's trilateral meeting agreed that a "sense of stability" had been restored to the European salmon market, he said.

The Dublin Castle meeting is the third such gathering since last September, and involves the leading figures in the respective industries. The meeting agreed that marketing efforts should be sustained to boost farmed salmon production in Europe.