INTRODUCING the Fisheries Amendment Bill, the Minister of State for the Marine, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said it would provide a new and enhanced statutory basis or licensing and regulating the aquaculture industry.

The Government was committed to the continued sustainable development of the industry and to delivering on the potential for jobs and growth which it offered, especially in coastal communities. A doubling of aquaculture output to £103 million by the end of 1999 was envisaged, with the creation of an additional 1,300 jobs. A total investment of £36 million was planned in new projects and in modernising existing facilities.

The present legislative provisions did not command confidence. All sides agreed that the appeals mechanisms against licensing decisions were inadequate and that both applicants and objectors were poorly served by it.

The Bill would strengthen regulatory requirements by providing that all existing and future licensed aquaculture operations would be brought within a comprehensive licensing system. An independent appeals board would be provided but, as in planning law, ministerial power was reserved to issue general policy directives on aquaculture to which the board must have regard.

He wanted to lay to rest a number of myths about the Bill which had been the subject of an advertising campaign last week in the provincial press. "The allegation that the Bill could put fish-farms on every lake, river, estuary and bay in Ireland is a gross exaggeration and distortion of the facts."

The Bill would not abolish all rights to fishing, navigation and recreation. Public waters and the foreshore were a common resource and no one interest could dominate. Rights of appeal would be enhanced, not abolished.

The Fianna Fail spokesman on the marine, Mr Michael Smith, said that as consumers became more aware of the health benefits of fish demand would continue to increase. There had to be a balance between producer and conservation interests. The Bill set out to find that balance.