Sir, - Your correspondent, Katherine Licken of the Department of the Marine, is long on generalities and short on specifics concerning the proposed fish farming legislation. The old procedures were found to be perfectly satisfactory for the fishermen of Kerry when they successfully utilised the High Court to stop their safe anchorages being taken over by fish farmers.
In Donegal and Clare, the Minister established, on appeal to the Supreme Court, that his attempts to licence fish farms there were unlawful. Certainly the existing procedures have been found to be unsatisfactory by the Department of Marine and the fish farmers. The proposed legislation intends to limit, except in the most limited circumstances of judicial review, any access to the courts. The legislation is blatantly removing public access to the High Court, hardly a model of openness and transparency.
There is much talk of controls and penalties for abuses of licence conditions, but nothing about the provision of an inspectorate. No mention of the areas of coastline designated as suitable for aquaculture being effectively dissolved, and no indication of where the freshwater sites are to be found to double or treble production of smolts for the intended expansion of this industry.
It would be helpful if the Minister now addressed the real issues. Perhaps the Department of Marine might also enlighten us as to why it is still considering fish farm licence applications under Section 15, 1959 Act, in defiance of the Supreme Court ruling in the Ballyvaughan case? - Yours, etc.,
Chairman,
Western Gamefishing
Association,
Pond House,
Burrin,
Co Clare.