Dr. Cecil Beamish:

They do. We have had applications in respect of which we have received 1,700 or 3,000 objections. The public are actively engaged in the process. There is a process of public consultation for every licence application and each view has to be assessed, dealt with and considered in the decision-making process. The public are intimately involved in the process. Members of the public are often involved in appeals through the Aquaculture Licensing Appeals Board.

The Deputy asked about shortening licensing periods from 20 years to ten. This is something on which we have had initial consultations with the industry because the report makes the recommendation and it is legally possible to receive a 20-year licence. There is a variation of interests. The non-governmental organisations, NGOs, have lobbied to have three-year licences, but we have tended to stick with a ten-year period as a middle ground. It is not only an aquaculture licence but also a foreshore licence. Normally, applying for a 20-year foreshore licences involves obtaining a valuation from the Valuation Office and there are five-year rent reviews. A mid-term environmental impact statement will probably be required because environmental factors are likely to change over a 20-year period.

As such, we have tended to operate using a ten-year period, with standard fees for foreshore licences. Certainly, if we were to change to a 20-year period, it would not be possible to clear the backlog because we would have to obtain Valuation Office valuations for every one of the licences. There is no possibility of having 600 of them done in anything like the timeframe we are discussing. Moreover, we would have to draw up formal leases for such a period, which would involve rent reviews, etc.

We have started a consultation process with the industry to obtain on their views on this issue. It is possible to change to a 20-year period, but it would have implications. It would have significant cost implications and we have supplied some indicative comparative costs of what might happen in such a situation. One option is to deal with the applications in hand in the way the other applications have been dealt with and then examine a prospective move to issuing longer term licences. There would also be other considerations in having 20-year licences. Effectively, somebody is sterilising an area which is very large in the case of some aquaculture licences. If the company is not capable of performing adequately, a 20-year period would create a long-term rather than a short-term problem.