The European Commissions has requested documents from the Irish Government which were not made available during the recent Commission ‘Pilot’ investigation into sea lice on Irish salmon farms.
The request follows an objection lodged against the Department of Agriculture by the environmental lobby group Friends of the Irish Environment [FIE] for their handling of the EU investigation into complaints from Irish NGOs on salmon farms and sea lice.
FIE has examined internal Irish Government files which they claim show that the Report requested by the EU during the investigation from Inland Fisheries Ireland [IFI] was concealed by the Department of Agriculture from the investigators.
Janez Potocnik, the European Environmental Commissioner, has told Nessa Childers, MEP, that ‘all the information and material referred to by FIE will be sought from the Irish Authorities and duly examined’ to see if it ‘justifies reopening the investigation.’
The IFI Report entirely contradicted the Department of Agriculture’s claims during the Pilot investigation which were based on a Marine Institute study (Jackson et al., 2011; Jackson et al., 2011). The Institute said the 10 year study proved that infestation of outwardly migrating salmon smolts with sea lice was only a ‘minor component of the overall marine mortality in the stocks studied’. The same Marine Institute study formed the basis of the Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Galway Bay salmon farm.
For more information visit this website.
Supplementary submission to Commission, click here.
Comment on Jackson et al. ‘Impact of Lepeophtheirus salmonis infestations on migrating Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., smolts at eight locations in Ireland with an analysis of lice-induced marine mortality’,visit this website.
Commission correspondence, visit this website.
