Farmed salmon believed to have escaped from Killary Harbour in Connemara last month have entered Lough Corrib, an important special area of conservation (Sac) and the west of Ireland’s largest wild fishery.
Following the escape of thousands of farmed salmon from a damaged cage on August 11th, some have since been discovered in nearby lakes and prime angling rivers for wild Atlantic salmon.
A salmon of farmed origin, similar to those that escaped Killary Harbour, was caught on Monday by an angler at the Galway Salmon Weir in Galway city on the Corrib river. It was forwarded to Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) for analysis.
According to Billy Smyth, chairman of Galway Bay Against Salmon Cages (GBASC), the condition of the salmon suggested it had spawned.
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In the days following the initial escape, IFI said it believed the escaped farmed salmon “pose a significant risk to wild Atlantic salmon populations” as wild salmon in the nearby rivers were returning to their rivers of origin to spawn.
There are also unconfirmed reports of escapees being caught on the Cong Canal, north of Lough Corrib, and more than 100km away on the Kilcolgan (Dunkellin) river in east Galway. The fish have travelled as far north as the Owenmore river in Co Mayo.
“We will never know how many escapees have entered the Lough Corrib Sac as the system is so large making it impossible to capture all of the escapees,” said Mr Smyth.
As licence regulator, the Department of the Marine launched an investigation into the escape at the facility run by Mannin Bay Salmon Company but declined to indicate how many farmed salmon escaped. Estimates vary from 10,000 to 30,000 fish.
The Marine Institute confirmed salmon in the cage, which was damaged by a collision with a servicing vessel during rough weather conditions, had been bathed in freshwater, a treatment for Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD), before their escape.
“GBASC are not concerned about the escapees having AGD because when they enter freshwater the amoeba will be destroyed but we are very concerned that a number of the captured escapees have lesions on their bodies which would suggest that they may also be infected with some disease other than AGD,” said Mr Smyth. “We will not know for sure until tests have been carried out by IFI.”
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