Up to 80,000 salmon worth up to €2.4m have been wiped out by a massive toxic plankton bloom off West Cork which is being linked to climate change.
It comes as the Government announced its €125bn Climate Action Plan.
Scientists from the Marine Institute and other experts are now investigating the incident which decimated stock at Mowi Ireland’s fish farm operations in Bantry Bay.
The Irish Examiner reports that the Norwegian-based seafood company confirmed last night that its Ahabeg and Roancarrig sites were both affected by the toxic bloom in late October.
The company say the naturally occurring bloom was exacerbated by warmer waters, the average water temperature in the bay is around 11.5C but it was close to 13C in recent days.
The Marine Institute warned last March that harmful algal bloom patterns in Irish waters are changing because of climate change.
