Down among the granite boulders bordering Greatman's Bay in south Connemara, a series of circular tanks represents a quiet revolution in west coast husbandry. Here, Mr Joe McElwee and partner Mr Jimmy Reaney tend a most lucrative crop which is in demand in France, Italy, Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The "crop" is turbot, and Mr McElwee says he can't supply enough of them. The flatfish fetch over £7 a kilo when reared to maturity over 18 months. The farm is land-based, and sea-water is pumped through the tanks from the sheltered bay where average temperature is two degrees Celsius warmer than Cill Chiarain to the north.
Water is drawn through two 250-metre pipes from the sandy, shallow bay and the farm is equipped with a filter and a UV system that has a capacity for half a million gallons. Temperature ranges from eight to 18 degrees Celsius.
Oxygen helps to maintain conditions, and the farm's generator can sustain the supply even if there is a pump failure. The 85,000 fish are fed anchovies and pilchard. By the time they are ready for sale, they weight between a kilo and a kilo-and-a-half, and are sold whole for filleting. "We can dictate our market, because we can guarantee regularity, consistency and quality control," Mr McElwee said. He is originally from Galway, but worked abroad and in the former ESB-owned Salmara company in the south-west before returning to his native city.
Mr Reaney is a Galway county footballer who comes from Lettermore where the farm is based. The pair took delivery of the first juvenile fish from farms in the Isle of Man and France in 1997.
Currently, Turbard Iarthar Chonamara Teo or (TIC), as it is called, employs four full-time and six part-time staff. ┌darβs na Gaeltachta and Dbic in Dublin have provided financial backing, and the cost of the investment to date is £1 million. Further significant funding is expected shortly, which will allow the farm to expand.
It has become an integral part of the south Connemara economy in more ways than one. During the December storms of 1998 and 1999, when power lines fell and electricity supply was cut, there was a mini-traffic jam in Lettermore as people rushed down with turkeys and potatoes and baby bottles to use the generators at TIC. Mr McElwee remembers receiving up to 28 plum puddings in return. There are none of the challenges associated with sea farms - no sea lice, no risk of escapes, no predators, and no chemicals. The food conversion rate is excellent, at 1:1. The farm will produce 30 tonnes of turbot this year, and the aim is to expand to an annual 70 tonnes.
TIC flew live fish to Singapore and Hong Kong during the summer, and it can have fish in Los Angeles in just over 30 hours. McElwee has also introduced halibut, which take longer to reach market size - at two-and-a-half to three years.
Turbot was pioneered in this country on Cape Clear island in Co Cork, before disease problems forced its closure. TIC is now the only turbot farm in the State.
Mr McElwee was a speaker at a recent conference on farming cod in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, where overseas experts said Ireland could reasonably expect to produce up to 10,000 tonnes of farmed white fish, including cod, in the next seven years.
A working group was established by the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey, to examine this.
The group, to which Mr McElwee has been appointed, has been asked to report back by Christmas. The conference proceedings are now on the Bord ═ascaigh Mhara (BIM) website at www.bim.ie.