According to the Regional Administrative Agency, the production of fry near the shore could have caused water pollution.
The Regional Administrative Agency of Western and Central Finland has rejected the application of Ekofish, a fish farmer from St. Petersburg, to raise fry in front of the Ådö fishing port.
According to the Regional Administrative Agency, the operation could cause harmful effects in the water environment, and these effects should also be more closely evaluated in terms of achieving the goals of water management. Avi considered that, together with other loads, the activity could have caused the pollution of water bodies as referred to in the Environmental Protection Act.
Ekofish applied for an experimental permit for fry production. It wanted to investigate whether the fry can survive in salmon bags in open conditions. Usually the chicks are raised in sheltered conditions, but in this case they would have been exposed to rough seas and currents.
According to the Regional Administrative Agency, within the framework of the trial operation permit, it is not possible to make an adequate assessment of the load on the water body for a body of water where, as it stands, harms caused by eutrophication have already occurred.
Avi also did not consider the planned breeding area suitable, because it was located too close to leisure apartments and the water depth in the area is shallow.
In its decision, the agency also paid attention to the fact that the ecological condition of the water body in front of Pietarsaari has deteriorated to the point of being unavoidable. The emissions from boy rearing would have been concentrated in the summer months, when their effect is most significant.
29 statements, reminders and opinions were submitted about the trial activity notification. Apart from a few neutral statements, they were very negative for the project.
Ekofish has justified the project by the fact that it strives to find ways, from stopping exports to Russia, to utilizing the remaining fry to improve the self-sufficiency and security of domestic food production. The trial operation would have been carried out in cooperation with the Finnish Natural Resources Agency.