Protesters oppose fish farm in Galway Bay

IRELAND: Up to 2,000 people marched through Galway City on Saturday in protest at plans by Bord Iascaigh Mhara to locate a 100 million Euro fish farm on a 456 hectare site in the lee of the Aran Islands, the Irish Times reports.

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The marchers who wielded banners proclaiming “Save Galway Bay” and the names of more than 20 angling and protest groups, were addressed at the City’s Spanish Arch by Icelandic entrepreneur and wild salmon conservationist Orri Vigfusson.

Mr Vigfusson said he was dedicated to restoring the abundance of wild salmon that formerly existed on both sides of the North Atlantic, and warned the Galway Bay project could “destroy” wild salmon stocks in the region.

Following the protests the marchers sent a delegation to the International Skipper Expo in the Galway Bay Hotel where they were due to hand in a letter to personnel on the BIM stand.

Protesters who had hoped Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney might be at the Skipper Expo were disappointed. A spokeswoman for Mr Coveney said he was in Cork with family following a busy period with EU negotiations and the horse meat scares, the newspaper reported.