Something fishy

Gill Turner is a frequent, articulate and, I have always thought, well-informed contributor to The Scotsman letters column in support of the SNP, but her letter of 5 October quotes a figure of 95 per cent for the Scottish fishing catch as compared to the UK total. This seemed a little over the top, and a brief look at the UK Sea Fisheries Statistics for 2017 published by the Office of National Statistics appears to confirm my doubt. According to my reading of them, the total tonnage of landings at Scottish ports in 2017 compared to the UK total was around 69 per cent, a long way short of 95 per cent.

While accepting that this does not invalidate the argument in Gill Turner’s letter, I do feel contributors to your columns should be more careful in quoting “facts” which, on examination, prove to be less than accurate.

Or perhaps she can shoot me down by quoting the source of her figure of 95 per cent?

ANDREW BROOM

Traquair Park West, Edinburgh

The latest report issued by

SEPA into the performance of our salmon farming industry makes grim reading with 20% (1 in every 5 farms) being described as poor, very poor, or at risk.

For many years the Scottish salmon farms have been found to be releasing massive amounts of harmful ammonia and fouling the sea bed, with food debris and faeces not to

mentionthedestructionofthe wild species with thousands of lice released from cages .

SEPA have the power to prohibit these farms from continuing to pollute our West Coast waters and desecrating our wild salmon and sea trout but seem reluctant to take decisive action in the matter, and if we have to wait until the SNP inquiry is complete it may be too late for our precious salmon angling industry.

DENNIS FORBES GRATTAN

Mugiemoss Road Bucksburn, Aberdeen