First published online: 15 July 2026
Salmon aquaculture in Ireland is polluting coastal waters, contributing to the collapse of wild salmon and driving overfishing for its feed – all despite organic labelling. Phasing out these open-net farms from our ocean is essential for healthy seas and rivers, wildlife, and coastal communities.
Please sign the Sustainable Water Network petition to put an end to this destructive and cruel practice.
We are calling on the Irish government to follow in the lead of other governments around the world and ban the destructive and cruel practice of open-net fish farming in Ireland.
5 Reasons to sign:
- Protect wild salmon and trout
Wild salmon returning to Irish rivers declined 90% between 1975 and 2022. Sea lice from open-net salmon farms are a major source of infection for wild salmon and sea trout, cutting wild salmon returns dramatically in some Irish rivers and pushing already struggling stocks closer to collapse. Open cages allow diseases and parasites to spread freely between farmed and wild fish.
- Stop escapees threatening wild salmon
When cages fail, farmed salmon escape into rivers and bays, where they can breed with wild fish, weaken their genetics and compete for food and spawning grounds. Inland Fisheries Ireland has called farmed escapees a “significant threat” to the future of wild salmon.
- Ensure clean water
Open-net farms discharge faeces, uneaten feed, pesticides and antibiotics straight into bays, loading them with pollution and damaging seafloor habitats under the cages.
- Make “organic” have meaning
Ireland’s farmed salmon is labelled 100% organic, yet organic standards still allow the use of pesticides, antibiotics and powerful disinfectants in open cages for them to be viable, with waste and residues entering the marine environment.
- Keep salmon feed for wildlife
Salmon in open-net farms are fed using wild-caught fish, including sprat, taking key food sources from seabirds, dolphins and whales and undermining marine food webs, for what amounts to much less food for people.
The Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) is an umbrella network of 25 of Ireland’s leading environmental NGOs, national and regional, working together to protect and enhance Ireland’s water environment.
You can learn more about why we need a ban on open-net fish farms and other recommendations that we have for aquaculture in Ireland in the Sustainable Water Network policy brief.
