The Belfast Agreement has failed to come to the aid of mussel growers in Lough Foyle, according to local producers, who have appealed for protection from fisheries ministers on both sides of the Border.
The future of many families who have invested heavily over the past 12 months in a mussel fishery in the lough depends on urgent legislation, the Foyle Mussel Growers' Association said.
Over a year ago mussel seed was transplanted from one part of the lough to another and is now the subject of a dispute. The Foyle Fisheries Commission, which administers the waterway on behalf of both governments, lacks the legislation to take any action on the claims.
"Ironically, aqua-culture was highlighted in the historic Belfast Agreement as an area for cross-Border co-operation," the association says. A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in Northern Ireland said that the Department was aware of the problem but there was a limit to what action it could take.
Proposals to expand the legislative powers of the Foyle Fisheries Commission in this regard had been suspended, pending a decision on the proposed new cross-Border body for aqua-culture, the spokesman said.
A spokesman for the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources said that legislation was being prepared to give the commission full responsibility for the development and regulation of aqua-culture. Pending the legislation, the commission was working closely with the various interests.
