THE Minister of State for the Marine, Mr Eamon Gilmore, has pledged that there will be no commercial fish farming on wild brown trout fisheries, including the western lakes.

Addressing the Oireachtas Select Committee on Enterprise and Economic Strategy yesterday, the Minister said he gave this commitment as a policy decision. It would be taken under Section 62 of the new Fisheries Amendment Bill, 1996, which introduces a licensing system for fish farming.

Pressed by Opposition deputies to incorporate a blanket ban on fish farming on certain freshwater lakes into the legislation, which was debated by the committee yesterday, Mr Gilmore said he would prefer a directive. He did not wish to name particular waterways, but would prefer the exclusion to refer to particular types of fisheries such as wild brown trout.

Ireland has 12 of Europe's 13 remaining wild brown trout fisheries, and the western lakes represent the largest of these. "We have a responsibility to protect them, the Minister said. From a practical point of view, however, commercial rearing of salmon smolts for fish farms was shifting from freshwater to land based sites, he said.

Mr Robert Molloy (PD, Galway West) urged that Section 62 of the Bill be amended to ensure that all smolt rearing took place on land, for environmental reasons. A particular ban on the western lakes would eliminate the "tremendous fear out there" on the part of anglers and environmentalists in relation to the impact of finfish farming, he said.

The Minister of State reiterated that there was no need to legislate given the commercial trend. The criteria for licensing freshwater hatcheries or smolt rearing units were very stiff, he said.

The Fisheries Amendment Bill will not only control licences for both finfish and shellfish farming, but also includes an appeals mechanism similar to the existing planning appeals board. Separate planning permission is also required from the local authority for freshwater units, Mr Gilmore said. The permission of the owner is also necessary.

Referring to the licensing criteria, Mr Eamon O Cuiv (FF, Galway West) said he would be loath to take long term decisions on this in government, given that "what is regarded as safe today may not be safe tomorrow". Mr Seamus Hughes (FE, Mayo West) said that policy directives were very flexible and depended on the minister in office, whereas a total prohibition would give it the force of law.

The penalty system for defaulters was "quite draconian", Mr Hughes said, when he asked if the Minister intended to publicise the new measures. Mr Gilmore replied that he was anxious that the new regime be highlighted. Under it, the fine for unlicensed fish farms is £1,000 a day, and offenders will be prohibited from applying for a licence at all.