Galway Bay Against Salmon Cages gets Salmon Watch Ireland’s 2019 Salmon Heroes award.

(21 October 2019) – Salmon Watch Ireland has awarded its Salmon Heroes accolade for 2019 to Galway Bay Against Salmon Cages.  The award was presented at the Salmon Watch Ireland’s annual salmon conference in the Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill on 19 October.

In making the presentation the chair of the board of Salmon Watch Ireland, Niall Greene, said that: “Galway Bay Against Salmon Cages is an outstanding example of what a non-governmental organization can achieve in the cause of salmon conservation.  They came together to combat the placing of a monstrously large open cage salmon farm in Galway Bay. Having successfully accomplished that task they have gone on to become probably the best informed and most active group in the country in the campaign for the ending of open cage salmon farming.  They are an inspiration to the all of us in the wild salmon conservation movement”.

Receiving the award on behalf of Galway Bay Against Salmon Cages, its’ chair, Billy Smyth remarked: “It is encouraging to have had our efforts to combat open cage salmon farming recognized by people concerned about salmon conservation from all over the country.  Ours has been a long struggle and one which has not ended with BIM’s withdrawal of its plans for its’ Galway Bay mega-farm.  We continue to struggle with the dubious and often apparently illegal behavior of existing farms, with over-stocking, diseases and escapes and with the unauthorized accessing of fresh water sources.  We are adamant that if salmon farming is to have a future in Ireland it can only be through the phasing out of open cages and the transfer of all farming activity to land-based facilities’.

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For further information contact:

Niall Greene    086 826 9222

John Murphy   086 399 1074