€1.4 million pilot project to benefit mussel industry

Ireland’s seafood development agency BIM and the Centre for Applied Marine Sciences at Bangor University in Wales chose Wexford as the location to announce the launch of a €1.4 million pilot project aimed at creating a portal to bring together scientific research in the Irish Sea.

The collaborative project has been funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Wales Ireland Cooperation programme and will focus on information of particular relevance to the mussel producing sector in the pilot phase which will benefit Wexford.

The pilot programme will initially focus on the sharing of information in relation to the seed mussel, to make available all the latest data on the positions of shellfish seed collection sites and will seek to broaden the understanding of shellfish larvae movement within the Irish Sea.

This type of information is essential to mussel producers and could greatly assist in the future sustainable development of the industry in Wexford.

The economic benefit of aquaculture and fisheries in the Irish Sea is important to the Irish and Welsh economies with a total value of €254 million (€58 million Welsh and €196 million Irish).

The mussel aquaculture industry is a major component of this and according to the latest figures from BIM, the Irish mussel sector experienced another challenging year in 2016 production with a combined production volume of 16,000 tonnes and a value of €12 million, down on 2015 levels, reflecting the continued challenge of acquiring seed mussels.

Seed mussel supply is a limiting factor to industry expansion and the lack of seed availability reduces the volume and profitability of production within the cross border area. Locating shellfish seed can often be a prohibitive cost for small and medium enterprises.

Announcing the launch of the project at a mussel workshop in Wexford, Shelagh Malham, from the Centre for Applied Marine Sciences at Bangor University, Wales said it would help to manage common valuable resources between our shores.

Ben Dallaghan of BIM said a better understanding of seed settlement patterns would enormously benefit the shellfish industries in both Ireland and Wales.