Ms Catherine McManus:

That will stay more or less as it is, because we are still operating with the same old licences. The licence is not just confined to or does not just stipulate how many fish you should have in the water; it also limits the amount of foreshore that you can occupy. As we stock our fish at half the density of production of Scotland, Norway or the Faroe Islands, for example, we have to do half the volume in the same space we are licensed for. We would like to spread out more to double our production across a bigger area. It is really to do with space. We are limited by acreage and that is why the licences need to be completely reviewed and reformed in order that we can operate on a maximum allowable biomass, MAB, basis.

There are four to five main operators in the industry. It started back in the late 1970s and early 1980s with a number of small operators or individual entrepreneurs who took a risk to set up either trout or salmon farms. As time went on and the industry moved from inshore production to more nearshore production, they realised that to stay at sea and to keep their crop at sea, they would have to invest in serious technology. This is where the Norwegians came in. The company I work for was formerly called Fanad Fisheries. It joined up with a company called Mowi ASA in Norway at the time in the 1980s to bring in new technology and expertise, particularly in breeding. That is how the relationship began. The Norwegians are significant investors in the industry in Ireland. It is capital intensive and not for the faint-hearted. It has gone from a small, family operation to something much bigger. The farms that were licensed over the years have more or less consolidated into four main companies.