New salmon farms must be banned, MSPs told

ENVIRONMENTAL bodies yesterday demanded an immediate moratorium on new Scottish salmon farms in an attempt to tackle a growing crisis in the industry.

Salmon and Trout Conservation Scotland (S&TCS) urged the Scottish Government to stop the expansion of new open cage marine salmon farms and block any existing sites from growing.

Its call was supported by 26 other environmental groups and other bodies in a direct plea to ministers.

Holyrood’s rural economy committee is holding an inquiry into the growth of the sector, after the envifarmers ronment, climate change and land reform (ECCLR) committee previously published a damning report warning that the industry’s expansion is unsustainable and could cause ‘irrecoverable damage’ to the environment.

Guy Linley-Adams, solicitor for S&TCS, said: ‘If planning departments don’t believe that the firm conclusions of the ECCLR committee’s report are sufficient to enable them to refuse such applications and so are carrying on with business as usual, then we need a moratorium now.

‘If we agree with the MSPs on the committee that further expansion must be sustainable and that, unless current issues are addressed, any expansion will be unsustainable and may cause irrecoverable damage, there can be no other logical conclusion. Nobody, not even the salmon themselves, should be supporting expansion while current environmental issues are still to be addressed.’

Salmon, Scotland’s single biggest food export, is worth £600million a year in overseas sales. The industry provides an estimated 2,500 jobs, with thousands more supported by the aquaculture sector in rural and coastal communities.

But there are fears that high fish mortality rates linked to a ‘crisis’ caused by sea lice will hit output and bring rising costs for producers.

Groups that back the S&TCS call for a moratorium include the Scottish Anglers National Association, Salmon Aquaculture Reform Network Scotland, Wester Ross Area Salmon Fishery Board and Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

Andrew Graham-Stewart, director of S&TCS, said: ‘The all-party ECCLR committee unanimously agreed its report in March and concluded that the current consenting and regulatory framework for the salmon farming industry is inadequate to address the environmental issues.

‘They were not convinced the sector is being regulated sufficiently, or regulated sufficiently effectively, and made it clear that this needs to be addressed urgently because further expansion must be on an environmentally sustainable basis.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We work to maintain an appropriate balance between supporting the industry and its development and protecting the environment. We continue to take steps to enhance our approach.

‘We will be very interested in the rural economy committee’s wider consideration of the sector, including the ECCLR conclusions.’