Fish farm folly

Now that scientific research confirms what many have believed for decades regarding sealice from salmon farms killing wild sea trout and salmon, perhaps our Government will finally act to stop the expansion of this polluting industry and to move existing farms away from known salmonid migration routes (‘Call for curb in fish farms as study shows pest risk to wild fish’, Scotsman, 10 January).

As well as the risk to wild salmon, recently published figures show salmon farmers lose about 25 per cent of their stock each year due to disease, sea lice predation and accidents involving chemical and mechanical attempts to delouse the salmon.

These deaths result in tens of thousands of tonnes of dead fish being transported hundreds of miles by road to be disposed of as toxic waste.

If over, perhaps well over, ten million animals died of disease every year on land-based livestock farms there would be a public outcry and farms would be closed for animal welfare reasons.

There is also a problem in that the toxic chemicals used to kill sealice also kill the spat of crabs, lobsters and other shellfish.

Salmon farming is an ecological and animal welfare disaster and our MSPS must not continue to ignore this fact.

JOHN F ROBINS, Animal Concern, Dumbarton