By Gery Flynn

Údarás na Gaeltachta’s decision to jettison its marine research subsidiary, Taighde Mara Teo (TMT), has been met with disbelief and disappointment by the aquaculture community.
A statement from the Gaeltacht development agency states that ‘a decision to discontinue the activities of Taighde Mara followed an assessment of its future in light of changes in the marine sector in recent years.’

It continues:
’Taighde Mara has, for the most part, provided a consultancy service with little funding available for research purposes. The wide range of expertise now available from organisations such as the Marine Institute and NUI Galway’s Martin-Ryan-Institute, with its research unit in Carna, and the marine research activities of other third-level institutions such as National University of Ireland, Cork, and the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology has impacted greatly on Údarás na Gaeltachta’s assessment of its need to continue its own marine research activity.’
In addition, the statement notes that recommendations from the Seafood Industry Strategy Review Group’s Steering a New Course’ (popularly known as the ‘Cawley report’), and the Marine Institute’s ‘Sea Change’ strategy were ‘factors also considered in making this decision’.

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