Mussel farm in Cork harbour will ‘completely destroy' habitat, says ecologist

Members of the Cork Sub Aqua Club recently completed a preliminary dive at a site earmarked for a controversial mussel farm in Kinsale Harbour, where a “vibrant and healthy” seagrass bed was discovered.

The dive, undertaken following the recently approved aquaculture licence, which will see the commercial cultivation of mussels in the area using bottom culture on the sub-tidal foreshore, saw nine members of the CSAC evaluate the area for the presence of seagrass.

The evaluation, undertaken by five divers and four snorkellers, took place at the 23-hectare site between the Dock Beach, James Fort, and Charles Fort.

Destroy

Speaking to The Echo, ecologist and dive club member Tim Butter, said that dredging the area to cultivate mussels will “completely destroy” the existing seagrass habitat.

“There’s a very vibrant and healthy seagrass bed out there,” said Mr Butter.

“We had GPS running and were able to track where the seagrass bed is, and it’s right in the middle of the aquaculture zone.

“Currently, seagrass doesn’t have legal protection in Ireland, but it is a really important habitat for lots of marine organisms. It forms quite a dense plant growth [and] a lot of commercial species like codlings and lobster will use it,” he added.

“It also has an incredible capacity to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

“Dredging will completely destroy the seagrass and the mussels would smother it as well. You can’t trawl a seagrass bed. There has been a big push to get seagrass protected, because it’s so important — we have a lot less seagrass now than we had before — it’s under a lot of pressure.”

Negative impacts

Fianna Fáil Cork South West TD, Christopher O’Sullivan, said that the State “should be doing everything to protect [seagrass]”.

“I think an appeals board will have to consider any negative environmental impacts,” said Mr O’Sullivan.

“Seagrass is a habitat and an ecosystem that is disappearing in Ireland, so if there is a healthy bed of seagrass here, I think there has to be an onus on us as a State to protect that.

“Where we have it, we should be doing everything to protect it,” he added.

“It’s a really important habitat for a lot of marine species and has a huge carbon sink function.

“I’m not an ecologist, but I think that’s something that has to be stressed in the appeals process, alongside the impact on marine leisure activity and tourism.”

The application for the mussel farm, submitted by Woodstown Bay Shellfish Ltd in 2018, was granted by the Department of the Marine at the end of May.

The appeals process for submissions is due to close on June 30.