An Irish judge has asked the relevant authorities to re-examine two salmon farming licenses submitted by Mowi — previously ordered to be canceled — instead of sending the company back to the table on an investment plan first conceived in 2011, reports the publication. Irish Times.

Judge David Holland ruled he had the power to order the Aquaculture Licensing Appeal Board and the Irish Minister for the Marine to reconsider Mowi’s original applications for a planned €8.9 million ($9.5 million ).

He said it would be “quite wrong” to make Mowi “needlessly go back to the drawing board” by putting together new applications to rectify the appeal board’s errors in considering the original.

He also noted that his decision stemmed in part from the fact that Mowi’s claims were not assessed quickly enough in the first place.

The two salmon farm licenses were granted by the appeal board and the minister, but were later canceled in 2023 due to inadequate control over the potential risks posed by the “frightening” noise devices they presented to the seals in a protected conservation area.

Mowi’s plan for 18 salmon cages on about 42 hectares also failed to fully take into account the risk of escape, the ruling ruled last year, following cases brought separately by Inland Fisheries Ireland, Salmon Watch Ireland and the environmental litigator Peter Sweetman.