Fishing for the truth about angling in Scotland
GOOD TO see BBC Scotland finally getting stuck in to the controversy surrounding salmon farming this evening with a special investigation into the risks of sea lice to stocks of wild migratory Atlantic salmon and sea trout.
Continue ReadingSALMON anglers in Scotland had a bumper year in 2010 according to provisional figures released today. Rod catches of salmon are expected to be well over 100,000 – the highest since consistent records began nearly 60 years ago. More than two-thirds were released back into the water. But the record-breaking total – and the prospects…
Continue ReadingSALMON farming injected more than £500 million into the Scottish economy in 2008 with over £84 million worth of capital investment during the last three years, according to an aquaculture industry research report published today. The study, which aims to underline the value of the salmon farming industry to rural economies, comes amid growing animosity…
Continue Reading“BULLYING TACTICS” by salmon farmers forced the Scottish Government into a policy u-turn on publishing the results of audits into fish farm escapes and disease infestation, one of the UK’s oldest conservation charities claims today. Threatened with possible legal action by the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO) if the results of the inspection reports were…
Continue ReadingTHE LAWYER behind the recent high-profile success of Fish Legal in campaigning against fish farm escapes and Scottish Water pollution incidents has been hired by the Salmon & Trout Association (S&TA) to lobby the Government and politicians in the on-going battle for sustainable aquaculture.
Continue ReadingIT’S THE dry season for news. Those summer holiday dog days when newspapers up and down the land trawl through the cuttings and weekly newspapers for a useful story to follow up and fill all those gaping empty column inches. So readers of The Times – at least those who still pay to read it …
Continue ReadingIF THERE is a single publication which presents a clear and balanced view of the health and welfare of Scotland’s migratory game fish, it is the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards’ (ASFB) annual review. Launched last year in a new format, this report should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in the future of salmon…
Continue ReadingINCREASING tension between Scottish wild salmon interests, and the Government and multi-million pound aquaculture industry, is becoming more apparent in the wake of last week’s Loch Lochy smolt escape. The Government has since claimed that the salmon farming industry and wild fish interests are cooperating to take a “huge step forward” in containment and make…
Continue ReadingSCOTTISH aquaculture interests today apologised for the Loch Lochy smolt escape and pledged to work with Government fish health inspectors to investigate the causes and improve staff training. Marine Harvest, owner of the Lochy farm also gave an undertaking that it would “co-operate fully with wild fisheries interests to re-capture any fish” it could. Gideon…
Continue ReadingRETAIL GIANTS like Tesco were today urged to recognise the environmental damage caused by salmon farms which fail to prevent accidental releases of fish into the wild, following an escape of up to 100,000 smolts into Loch Lochy, near Fort William, Scotland. In a thinly-veiled call for a boycott of salmon farmers, such as Marine…
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