Save The Swilly
(from looking like Mulroy Bay)

"No fish farm has much of a chance to go into an area if the local people are strongly opposed to it." - Frank Fahey, Minister for the Marine, 28th November 2000.

More than 1,000 acres of Lough Swilly have already been licensed for aquaculture, and the "Lake of Shadows" is rapidly becoming a second Mulroy Bay. Consultation by the Department of the Marine and the aquaculture industry has been minimal. Licensing applications for shellfish and salmon farms have been approved against the express wishes of residents and local authorities such as county and urban district councils.

From both sides of Lough Swilly, concerned residents, anglers, commercial fishermen, sailors and hoteliers have come together under one umbrella organisation, Save The Swilly, to stop this process now.

Save The Swilly will be formally launched on Tuesday, 9th January 2001. Media are invited to attend.

Time: 2.00pm

Venue: Buncrana Anglers Association clubhouse, at the mouth of the Crana River (Turn left after bridge at the entrance to Buncrana. Follow this road around to the right, turn left after Fruit of the Loom, continue past small stone cottage towards old stone bridge. Buncrana Anglers' clubhouse is on the right-hand side).

Present at the launch will be representatives of the key organisations involved in Save The Swilly, including Buncrana Anglers, An Taisce, Aileach Net Fishermen's Association, Lough Swilly Preservation Group, Donegal Inshore Fishermen's Association, Rathmullan Hotel Owners, Buncrana Environmental Group, as well as concerned residents' groups from Letterkenny, Ramelton, Rathmullan, Portsalon, Buncrana and elsewhere on the Lough Swilly shore. Support has been extended by several elected public representatives.

• Save The Swilly (STS) is an umbrella group, formed to stop aquaculture development in Lough Swilly. It has representatives from all sides of the Swilly.
• Members include: Buncrana Anglers Association, Lough Swilly Preservation Group, Rathmullan House and Fort Royal Hotel, Donegal Game Angling Federation, Buncrana Environmental Group, An Taisce, Donegal Historical Society, Fahan Sea Angling Club, Buncrana Gun Club, Inch and Leenan Commercial Fishermen
• Department of the Marine seems to be designating Lough Swilly for aquaculture. Maps marking all existing and proposed aquaculture installations - shellfish and finfish - show enormous expansion under way.
• Total installations in Lough Swilly will cover surface area of more than 1,000 acres of water.
• Serious implications arise for water quality, food safety, tourism, wild salmon and sea trout, visitor access, navigation, visual beauty, special areas of conservation.
• Save The Swilly is concerned that Lough Swilly's aquaculture licensing is not being conducted in a transparent manner; prior public consultation virtually non-existent.
• Environmental and economic impacts not adequately assessed; serious objections ignored.
• If Lough Swilly loses qualities attractive to tourists - pristine beauty, scenic drives, clean water and beaches, wild fish angling - jobs and investments will be threatened.
• EC Directorate-General for Environment has conveyed their concerns about aquaculture expansion in Lough Swilly's Special Protection Area to the government. Habitats for migrating and native wildfowl are under threat.
• Health risks: Up to 19 different chemicals regularly required, and legally approved, to produce farmed salmon. Pesticides, anti-foulants, antibiotics, along with faeces and excess food, end up in the water or as sediment on the seabed. Among the chemicals is cypermethrin, also used as sheep dip; cypermethrin is 100 times more toxic when exposed to water.
• Farmed salmon are fed animal byproducts from organisms they were never intended to eat, including their own species. BSE showed deadly consequences of reorganizing the food chain in this way.
• Conflict of interest in Department of the Marine openly declaring itself a promoter of aquaculture industry, rather than protecting and regulating the resources for which it is responsible.
• More than two thousand people have signed a petition which is still in circulation, opposing the development of aquaculture in Lough Swilly.