Dr. Cecil Beamish:

The strategic plan for sustainable aquaculture development set a target of a twofold increase in production by 2023. Oyster farming has been growing quite well and there has been significant investment in it, while mussel farming has been quite static. Salmon farming has gone up and down and has been hit quite hard by various climatic and disease challenges over the past five or six years, not uniquely in Ireland. In the context of climate change, there may be question marks about the viability of salmon farming in some areas in the future, but that does not mean other species will not be farmed.