THE Irish ballad The West’s Awake, by Thomas Davis came to mind of late following the devastating news that Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) had lodged a proposal for a supersized salmon fish farm off Inis Oirr in Galway Bay.

Angling organisations, anglers, stakeholders, hoteliers, restaurateurs, islanders and west coast citizens are ā€œup in armsā€ and rallying in large numbers in opposition to this outrageous proposal.

Take, for example, my report of Oct 29th in which I said the off-shore location for the proposed farm was a ā€œstep in the right directionā€.

I was immediately contacted by an islander who, quite rightly, takes issue with this assumption……

The Irish Times. 10/12/12. Read the article ‘Opposition mounts to super-sized fish farm in Galway Bay’

Sea-liced pink salmon smolt from Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia, Canada
Sea-liced pink salmon smolt from Broughton Archipelago, British Columbia, Canada