Fish farms and pollution

Sir, I write in response to the article published in the Argyllshire Advertiser, February 24 edition, on the proposed fish farm in the Sound of Jura Marine Protected Area.

In the article, Stuart Cannon, managing director of Kames Fish Farming, reassures us that the government control framework minimises environmental risk, but recent history of the fish farming industry suggests that this framework has now broken down.

The proposed farm will house 2,500t of fish, making it one of the largest farms in Scotland and will discharge large amounts of faeces directly into a hitherto unpolluted stretch of sea.

It is the parasite burden of the salmon, however, that gives an even greater cause for concern.

The industry has a code of conduct that sets maximum levels of sea lice infection to reduce risk to the stock themselves and nearby wild salmon and sea trout. But this limit is routinely broken and the situation is getting rapidly worse.

The normal response of the farmers is to treat the fish with a variety of toxic chemicals, either incorporated into the feed or poured directly into the sea cages or in a wellboat alongside. Many are highly poisonous to birds and mammals and all are toxic to crustaceans, such as lobsters and prawns.

However, the salmon parasites have been exposed to so much of these chemicals in the past that they are now becoming resistant and farmers are having to use increasing quantities to less and less effect.

The use of these toxic chemicals by fish farms has increased substantially in the last decade and still the incidence of disease is getting worse.

Not surprisingly, quantities of these poisonous substances build up in the sediments near the fish farms and figures recently released by SEPA show that the residues have breached Environmental Quality Standards on numerous occasions.

Mr Cannon invites the public to scrutinise the environmental statement in which his company predicts what impact the proposed farm may have in the future. I would invite the public to scrutinise the environmental record of the pollution caused by fish farms in the past.