Fears over siting of fish farm
Sir, Having joined fellow Tayvallich residents at a meeting with Michael Russell MSP to discuss the proposed fish farm at Dounie on the Sound of Jura, I am encouraged to hear he too objects to the planned location.
The proposed site lies inside the new Loch Sunart to the Sound of Jura Marine Protected Area (designated for critically endangered skate), inside the Knapdale National Scenic Area, and is only 5km from the mouth of the River Add, one of few remaining rivers between Tarbert and Fort William with a good population of wild salmon and sea trout.
My concerns are that adult wild fish swim through Dounie bay on their way to the Add and rivers further north, while juveniles coming down the Add also use the area. They would pick up potentially lethal infestations of parasitic sea lice from the 1.1 million caged fish. Sea lice are a growing problem for salmon farms, especially in Argyll. Despite the use of toxic chemicals soaring in the past decade, sea lice infestations are more common than ever. They could wipe out the River Add’s popular and economically valuable salmon and sea trout fishery.
This is the first proposal for a new fish farm in- side a Marine Protected Area. Its outcome will show whether these areas are more than just ‘paper parks’ when it comes to protecting the animals for which they were designated.
Many of the area’s businesses rely on the sustainable use of the sea and on Knapdale’s great natural beauty. People whose jobs depend on these things are concerned that their income will suffer. In compensation for the damage it would do, the fish farm would produce four fulltime and two part-time jobs, at most.
It would block a popular anchorage used by local boats and by yachts passing through the Crinan Canal, make the bay unavailable to creel fishermen and scallop divers, and it’s in the path of the new and very popular Scottish Sea Kayak Trail.
An application has already been made to SEPA for a licence to use anti-sea lice chemicals and discharge thousands of tonnes of organic waste into the sea each year. A planning permission application to Argyll and Bute Council is expected soon. Mr Russell suggested that concerned people should write to Mid Argyll’s councillors now and to the council’s planning department when the planning application is announced. I agree wholeheartedly. John Aitchison, Tayvallich.