Video - RTÉ Prime Time Salmon Farming Documentary

[The Austrian]

A RTÉ documentary broadcast in September 2003 highlighting criminal activities on Salmon farms in counties Galway and Donegal on the west coast of Ireland.

http://vimeo.com/51718073

That video is 10 years old and nothing has really changed, not even the number of people working on fish farms in Ireland have increased since then. 2000 ten years ago - 2000 in 2013! This is well and truly an environmental disaster!

Underneath a letter from a concerned citizen, we need more of this! Write to your TD's, local politicians or better still, go along to one of their constituency clinics and tell them that fish farming in our seas has got to stop!
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/let ... 03305.html

Check out this page and support this group: https://www.facebook.com/NoSalmonFarmsAtSea?ref=stream

[Preston]

Dont get me wrong I think they should be run stringantly but I do think the farms have an important part to play in the preservation of wild salmon too.Without them theyre would be increased pressure on wild stocks . Fish farms provides sustainable and affordable access to salmon which without would amost certainly see a return to commerciall netting on a large scale to feed demand. Im an avid salmon angler and hope to be for a long time to come

[Bradan]

Martin where did you get that figure of 2000 jobs??? Any link?
I think you'll find its an awful lot lower than that...

[The Austrian]

this was a statement left by an ex fish farm employee here: http://www.nosalmonfarmsatsea.com/facts ... n-farming/ Kevin, maybe he meant employment rates within the entire Irish salmon farming industry.

However, I believe the emphasis should be that there was no growth in the number of jobs created within the last 10 years despite all the massive grants these businesses have received, mainly through our friends in the EU.
And instead of keeping their promises to create a sustainable and environmentally friendly fish farming industry here in Ireland what have these people done? They have destroyed next to all already existing and thriving environmentally friendly angling and tourism industry! What an irony!

I do not solely blame the inadequacy of these farmers but also the shortsightedness and utter incapability of bodies which were responsible for the controls and the execution of the laws. You can have the best regulations in the world, when they are not enforced they become a farce and are not worth the paper they are printed on.
All these farms should have been closed down a long time ago because they were operating completely illegally by not complying with rules and regulations.

Politicians and people responsible for the management of salmon farming have changed over this period of time and sit back relaxed in their retirement chairs but left us with the legacy of an environmental disaster from which to recover is a task next to impossible.

We surely have lost our reputation as a salmon and trout angling destination in the eyes of the world through whatever reason, its too late know to cry over spilled milk but much more important is the question: who is going to repair that? Our children and grandchildren?

Really, I'd feel deeply ashamed having to leave them such a heritage and having to say I've done nothing to stop this madness!