Please sign our petition to put an end to this destructive and cruel practice

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6 / 1000 signatures

More About This Action

We are calling on the Irish government to follow in the lead of other governments around the world and ban the destructive and cruel practice of open-net fish farming in Ireland.

 5 Reasons to sign:

  1. Protect wild salmon and trout
     Wild salmon returning to Irish rivers declined 90% between 1975 and 2022. Sea lice from open-net salmon farms are a major source of infection for wild salmon and sea trout, cutting wild salmon returns dramatically in some Irish rivers and pushing already struggling stocks closer to collapse. Open cages allow diseases and parasites to spread freely between farmed and wild fish.

  2. Stop escapees threatening wild salmon
    When cages fail, farmed salmon escape into rivers and bays, where they can breed with wild fish, weaken their genetics and compete for food and spawning grounds.​ Inland Fisheries Ireland has called farmed escapees a "significant threat" to the future of wild salmon.

  3. Ensure clean water
     Open-net farms discharge faeces, uneaten feed, pesticides and antibiotics straight into bays, loading them with pollution and damaging seafloor habitats under the cages.

  4. Make "organic" have meaning
     Ireland’s farmed salmon is labelled 100% organic, yet organic standards still allow the use of pesticides, antibiotics and powerful disinfectants in open cages for them to be viable, with waste and residues entering the marine environment.

  5. Keep salmon feed for wildlife 
     Salmon in open-net farms are fed using wild-caught fish, including sprat, taking key food sources from seabirds, dolphins and whales and undermining marine food webs, for what amounts to much less food for people. 

 

Petition Text

We call on the Irish government to ban open-net salmon farming within a transition period, with no renewals or new licences permitted within that period.

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Action Overview

We are calling on the Irish government to follow in the lead of other governments around the world and ban the destructive and cruel practice of open-net fish farming in Ireland.

 5 Reasons to sign:

  1. Protect wild salmon and trout
     Wild salmon returning to Irish rivers declined 90% between 1975 and 2022. Sea lice from open-net salmon farms are a major source of infection for wild salmon and sea trout, cutting wild salmon returns dramatically in some Irish rivers and pushing already struggling stocks closer to collapse. Open cages allow diseases and parasites to spread freely between farmed and wild fish.

  2. Stop escapees threatening wild salmon
    When cages fail, farmed salmon escape into rivers and bays, where they can breed with wild fish, weaken their genetics and compete for food and spawning grounds.​ Inland Fisheries Ireland has called farmed escapees a "significant threat" to the future of wild salmon.

  3. Ensure clean water
     Open-net farms discharge faeces, uneaten feed, pesticides and antibiotics straight into bays, loading them with pollution and damaging seafloor habitats under the cages.

  4. Make "organic" have meaning
     Ireland’s farmed salmon is labelled 100% organic, yet organic standards still allow the use of pesticides, antibiotics and powerful disinfectants in open cages for them to be viable, with waste and residues entering the marine environment.

  5. Keep salmon feed for wildlife 
     Salmon in open-net farms are fed using wild-caught fish, including sprat, taking key food sources from seabirds, dolphins and whales and undermining marine food webs, for what amounts to much less food for people.