Killary Harbour - fish farming

oirishfruitie

Hey,
Just interested in the amount of fish farming that's going on in Killary Harbour. Is this all year round? Does it bring a lot of work to the area? Does it not pollute the fjord? How does it affect water tourism up and down the fjord in Summer? If any? Is it salmon farming? Just interested.

biko

As a tip, ask in Angling too

Bodacious

oirishfruitie wrote: »

Hey,
Just interested in the amount of fish farming that's going on in Killary Harbour. Is this all year round? Does it bring a lot of work to the area? Does it not pollute the fjord? How does it affect water tourism up and down the fjord in Summer? If any? Is it salmon farming? Just interested.

No salmon cages i pretty sure they all mussel farms which cleanse the water anyway. Local guys fish the wild salmon with nets, all fully licensed etc they have a set quota and once they get X amount have to rise out of it.. cants leave nets neither,, see a salmon jump and they try circle it in with a net... thats as much as i know!

tphase

there are (or were) salmon cages near the mouth of the fjiord off Rosroe. Been a while since I was down that way so they may not be operating now. The mussel farms are further in the bay.
Edit: the cages are visible in google maps

Kristopherus

Those Google maps were done in 2009.

Sharoonatic

Hi guys, I'm just doing some research for some writing I'm doing and was looking up Rosroe fish farm because I worked there in 1999; thus I came across your boards in the list of links.
I was the only female worker there at the time :eek:. I lived down the road in Lettergesh East, on a sheep farm, and there was no other work available in the area. Most of the local lads worked at Rosroe so they could earn enough to run their cars.
I felt sorry for the caged salmon and used to secretly celebrate behind my boss's back whenever they managed to escape from a cage. The work was hard on the hands (I used to clean them out after they'd been gutted); we started at 7.45 am and I used to cross the pain barrier at 11 am.
Best view I've ever had from a canteen though!

Sharoonatic

I forgot to say, there were posters of sea lice (not sexy) in the foyer and we were expected to report any sightings of the critters to the manager without delay. I'm happy to say I didn't see any. I read a book by a local (Erriff River I think) water bailiff called Sean somebody; it was very interesting and I wish I could remember the title as I would buy it and read it again. He explained the how the sea lice/fish farm problem was affecting the wild trout, but I can't remember the details. If anyone knows about it I would really appreciate it if they would be so kind as to remind me, and if anyone knows the book I'm on about I'd be most grateful for the title.
I think it was something to do with the salmon getting lumbered with the lice because they were not free to pass into fresh water which I think the writer said kills lice, and lice-ridden escapees were responsible for sea trout infections.
Someone asked about pollution. I'd say the salmon feed was a pollutant and the lorries that delivered it (with great difficulty sometimes-I saw some insane manoeuvres on that road) caused significant damage and disturbance to wildlife.

deadchap

Was this the book you were referring to. Guarding the Silver: A Life with Salmon and Sea Trout by Sean Nixon.

http://books.google.com/books/about/Guarding_the_Silver.html?id=bddQGwAACAAJ