Fish Farmers Embrace Environment Initiative – Fishupdate.com
Fish Farmers Embrace Environment Initiative Fish Farming Today Published: 10 July, 2003
IRELANDS salmon and shellfish farmers have welcomed the production of the first compendium of environmental monitoring and auditing for the aquaculture industry launched by Minister John Browne TD today (Thursday) in Wexford.
The ECOPACT initiative, from BIMs Quality and Environment section, details best environmental practice for the industry and for the first time outlines all of the flora and fauna which are protected under European Union Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas for birds.
IFA Fish Farming Executive Secretary, Richie Flynn, welcomed ECOPACT and said it highlighted the vast range of both voluntary and statutory actions, which Irish fish farmers meet in their day to day work.
What ECOPACT does is outline in a manual and scheme what both industry and the public interests have in common when it comes to protecting, monitoring and maintaining the coastal environment for future generations and the future of the fish farming sector.
Speaking on behalf of the Irish Shellfish Association, Chairwoman Mary Ferns said that the ISA realised that the shellfish industry has grown beyond the scale even envisioned by pioneers both producers and development agencies such as BIM.
She said: We believe in the ISA that it is better to have become used to this scrutiny at a relatively young age than try to force change on a more settled or conservative sector.
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