IFA Aquaculture is comprised of representatives from all sectors of the Irish aquaculture industry, including farmers of fish, shellfish, seaweeds and other species.
Photo: IFA Aquaculture
Reform of Ireland’s aquaculture licensing system must be treated as a national priority, according to Irish aquaculture sector organisation IFA Aquaculture, which says persistent delays are holding back the sector despite operators fully complying with regulations.
Addressing the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Fisheries & Maritime Affairs last week, IFA Aquaculture chair Finian O’Sullivan said licence applications and renewals routinely take many years to complete.
“In some cases, aquaculture businesses have operated for a decade or more without appropriate licensing certainty, despite full compliance with regulatory requirements. This level of delay places Irish aquaculture at a significant disadvantage compared with our European counterparts,” O’Sullivan told the committee.
According to industry figures cited by the organisation, the aquaculture sector supports more than 1,800 direct jobs in coastal areas and over 15,000 indirect roles across seafood processing and marine-related services. Irish aquaculture production is valued at €211m from an output of 38,500 tonnes, based on data from BIM's report, Business of Seafood 2024, with the sector’s gross value added to the Irish economy in 2024 estimated at €73m.
IFA Aquaculture argues that both the value and output of the Irish aquaculture sector could be significantly increased by making better use of existing licensed sites and allowing licence conditions to adapt to newer and more efficient production systems.
O’Sullivan said it was now essential that a single, consolidated piece of legislation be introduced to underpin aquaculture policy, bringing together primary, secondary and amended laws into one coherent framework.
While stressing the sector’s support for environmental safeguards, he said the current licensing regime was overly fragmented and vulnerable to legal challenge.
“The aquaculture sector fully supports robust environmental assessment, compliance with national and EU legislation, and the protection of our marine environment. What we are seeking is a licensing process that is timely, coherent, properly resourced, and legally robust,” he said.
He argued that the existing system is characterised by duplicated assessments, sequential decision-making rather than parallel processes, and prolonged uncertainty, which he said undermines environmental protection, public confidence and sustainable development.
IFA Aquaculture acknowledged that some progress has been made following the aquaculture licensing review, but said implementation has been too slow. The organisation maintains that meaningful reform must include legislative consolidation, longer licence durations of up to 20 years, clearer timelines for decisions, increased resourcing and expertise for assessments, improved access to funding while licensing delays persist, and an examination of whether a plan-led approach, such as a designated maritime area plan for aquaculture, could offer advantages.
O’Sullivan said commitments already set out in the Programme for Government must now be acted upon, arguing that a more efficient and transparent licensing system would benefit regulators, producers and wider stakeholders across the sector.
The IFA, together with the Irish Fish Processors & Exporters Association (IFPEA) called for government action to address what it called a "serious setback" for Ireland's aquaculture sector, following the confirmation in November that Irish farmed salmon exports to the United States would be prohibited from 1st January 2026, due to a decision by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).
In a statement issued at the time, the IFA argued the US agency's decision is based on "a technical legal interpretation rather than any evidence of harm or non-compliance within Irish salmon farming operations".
IFPEA General Secretary Brendan Byrne called for "immediate diplomatic effort from all of Government to resolve this issue," arguing losing access to the US market "not only threatens jobs and investment in coastal communities but also undermines confidence in Ireland’s seafood exports globally.”
