Independent Aquaculture Licensing Review Published (31.5.17)
Authors: Mary Moylan. Lorcán O’Cinnéide and Ken Whelan
Overarching Conclusion:
“… that a root-and-branch reform of the aquaculture licence application processes is necessary. The reform needs to be comprehensive in scope and focus both on immediate actions which can produce results in the short term as well as initiatives which will bear fruit in the longer term.”
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed T.D. today received the report of the independent Aquaculture Licensing Review Group which examines the process of licensing for aquaculture and its associated legal framework in keeping with actions identified in Food Wise 2025 and Ireland’s National Strategic Plan for Sustainable Aquaculture Development.
The Minister thanked the Independent Review Group for their report “I wish to thank the members of the Group, Mary Moylan, Lorcán Ó Cinnéide and Ken Whelan, for the expertise, focus and attention they have brought to bear on the issues arising for this licensing process”.
The Independent Review Group was tasked with making recommendations to improve the existing licensing system and to undertake steps to review the legislative framework. As part of its review work, the Group took a detailed look at the existing process, undertook comprehensive stakeholder consultation and examined comparative national and international consent systems to determine best practice for managing a complex licensing process in a transparent, environmentally appropriate and legally robust way.
Welcoming receipt of the report, Minister Creed said “This report was commissioned against a backdrop of a licensing process which has accumulated a significant backlog and, it’s fair to say, considerable stakeholder frustration on many sides. I have no doubt that the Independent Review Group has undertaken a considerable journey to understand the complex issues involved in this process and to reach the 30 recommendations in the report that I will now need to examine.”
Both Food Wise 2025 and the National Strategic Plan identified issues with the current licensing system and recommended an independent review to examine the existing challenges and propose improvements in line with best-practice internationally.
The full report is available on: http://www.fishingnet.ie/independentaquaculturelicensingreview2017/
