Mr. Donal Maguire:

That probably is true, Deputy, because the barrier to entry to get into the business is much lower as the costs involved are much lower. One can operate successfully as an oyster farmer or a mussel farmer at a lower level. That has meant there is much more community ownership and with that community ownership has come buy-in.

Interestingly, we carried out some studies with IFA Aquaculture recently and we conducted a big national survey asking whether people had a difference in attitude and acceptance between finfish farming and shellfish farming. The greater population are very relaxed about either form of farming and did not perceive any real difference in acceptability between salmon farming and either mussel or oyster farming. What we did find, which was very interesting, is that the great mass of people in Ireland have no objection whatsoever to any form of aquaculture. They are very relaxed about it and if it creates jobs, they are for it. They want to buy the product in the supermarket and what we really have is a small, vociferous and highly effective minority who are strongly against salmon farming because of their worries regarding its interaction with sport angling. This, in particular, is where the issues lies. However, the vast bulk of people are broadly positively disposed towards the sector.