In this new cod farming project 20,000 juvenile fish have been moved in recent days from land-based facilities to sea cages by marine scientists at NUI Galway. It is called “Eircod” project, led by the university’s Martin Ryan Institute, along the Irish coats. The project has bred the fish from a specific Irish strain and aims to rear them to market size. The project ahs long-term aim to supply continued demand for a cold-water species which are the equivalent of “turkey” to many of our European neighbours at Christmas time.
It is fact that cod have been under severe pressure in the wild in European waters, with quotas cut back annually at EU level and anecdotal evidence that climate change has been pushing stocks further north. In Norway, Iceland and Canada cod have been successfully farmed. Dr Richard Fitzgerald, senior scientist with the project, informed that this project is first of its kind where a native strain of the fish has been bred and released in these numbers in Ireland.
Fitzgerald explained that the fish are now in cages at the Trosc Teo farm in Connemara, having been reared from eggs collected from the Celtic Sea, off the south coast. The eggs were then hatched and nurtured at the Martin Ryan Institute’s base in Carna, Co Galway. The scientists said that parentage of the fish is known and the growth performance of the different groups will be monitored up to market size – with the better performing being selected for use in future breeding activities.
