December 11, 2007

No help assurance for Northern Ireland's only salmon farm

Financial help to save Northern Ireland's only salmon farm may not be available, the Agriculture Minister said today.

Michelle Gildernew said she was still considering the matter with ministerial colleagues and cannot give any reassurance for a financial aid.

Northern Salmon Co Ltd has been under threat after a freak jellyfish attack last month wiped out 100,000 fish off the Co Antrim coast.

Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Patterson, met senior managers at Glenarm Bay and Red Bay with local MP Sammy Wilson to push for a speedy solution.

The farm faces financial ruin as it is forced to pay overheads and costs with no income likely until 2010. A total of 12 jobs are at risk and Wilson has called for a loan from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Invest NI.

Fish worth more than EUR1 million (US$1.4 million) were killed when billions of small jellyfish known as Mauve Stingers stung and stressed the salmon being kept in cages about a mile into the Irish Sea.

The school of jellyfish covered a sea area of up to 10 square miles and 35 feet deep.