JULY 2004

Inishowen Salmon Top o' The World

Three Inishowen fishermen, James McKinley, Pat Diver and Michael Farren are among the selected few to be awarded accreditation under Board Iascaigh Mhara's new Wild Salmon Quality Scheme. Mr John Browne, T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources recently officially launched BIM's Wild Salmon Quality Scheme, the worlds first quality scheme for wild fish to have successfully secured EN45011 accreditation. Minister Browne presented certificates to the first seven skippers (four were from Waterford) whose vessels received accreditation under BIM's ground breaking Scheme.

The qualifying skippers received their official accreditation following a rigorous quality assurance process which covered all aspects of their onboard work. This ranged from improved handling of wild salmon to vessel hygiene, quality grading and use of ice, all of which proved critical in ensuring fish produced under the Scheme reaches retailers and consumers as a premium quality product.

Commenting for BIM, Mr Hugh Byrne, Chairman said: " I would like to congratulate the skippers present here today to receive this important quality award. The dramatic improvement in the quality of wild salmon our fishermen are landing is a very significant achievement for BIM. Since the instigation of t his Scheme the industry has experienced an exceptional price increase for wild salmon with fishermen who in 2001 were getting less than €4 per kilo of salmon are now securing €9 - 13 per kilo for quality assured wild salmon both on domestic and foreign markets. This is some achievement and must be saluted here today."

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