{"id":775,"date":"2010-03-23T17:16:50","date_gmt":"2010-03-23T16:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bxttlines.wordpress.com\/?p=775"},"modified":"2010-03-23T17:16:50","modified_gmt":"2010-03-23T16:16:50","slug":"sword-of-damocles-over-future-of-wild-scottish-salmon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/index.php\/2010\/03\/23\/sword-of-damocles-over-future-of-wild-scottish-salmon\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Sword of Damocles’ over future of wild Scottish salmon"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Wild<\/a><\/dt>\n
Wild salmon: S&TA nine-point action plan for survival <\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/h4>\n

THE WILD salmon lobby today accused fish farmers and the Government of holding a sword of Damocles over the head of one of Scotland\u2019s most iconic natural resources.<\/p>\n

In the latest of a series of increasingly belligerent attacks on the multi-million pound aquaculture industry, game fishery campaigners claim they have amassed ground-breaking scientific evidence of \u201ca devastating catalogue of malpractice\u201d in the way salmon farming is adversely impacting migratory fish and the marine environment.<\/p>\n

In its report into scientific studies on the environmental impact of fish farming, the Salmon & Trout Association (S&TA<\/a>), the UK\u2019s leading game fish conservation charity, calls for a nine-point \u201csurvival plan\u201d to be implemented immediately.<\/p>\n

Paul Knight, S&TA chief executive, said: \u201cAquaculture practised sustainably can offer enormous benefits to mankind and significantly reduce pressure on our precious wild oceanic stocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the scientific literature unequivocally demonstrates that fish farms, as presently constructed and operated, are having a disastrous impact on native fisheries, the wider environment and the many public benefits associated with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report, 2010: Year Zero for Wild Scottish Salmon?<\/em> <\/a>and its findings were pointedly dismissed by the Scottish Salmon Producers\u2019 Organisation<\/a>, the leading trade body, as a \u201crehash of ill-informed information from 20 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr John Webster, technical director of the SSPO, a fish biologist and himself a lifelong angler, said:<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the S&TA is stepping into areas that it has no understanding of whatsoever. There seems to be a perception that if you remove fish-farming entirely from the equation, everything will be fine. Things have changed since the days when you could catch 12 fish before breakfast.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He said there was nothing in the report that the industry had not heard before.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s report is backed by Fish Legal, the ASFB<\/a> and RAFTS<\/a>. It comes just days after a Scottish Government announcement of new proposals to help streamline the planning process for more fish farms which the \u00a3367million-a-year industry wants to see expand at 3.5% a year for the next five years.<\/p>\n

It also follows hard on the heels of the escape into Loch Lochy, one of Scotland\u2019s most pressurised wild salmon catchments, of thousands of juvenile fish from a Marine Harvest farm.<\/p>\n

\"Janina<\/a>
Janina Gray, S&TA head of science<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

S&TA head of science, Janina Gray said today:<\/p>\n

The evidence is clear that aquaculture can have a significantly negative impact, in some areas, on wild salmon, sea trout and their environment. We must . . . take action before it\u2019s too late\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The S&TA pledges to do \u201ceverything possible\u201d to ensure the survival of wild game fish and calls on the Scottish Government and farming industry to respond to the challenge urgently.<\/p>\n

Its nine-point plan proposes:<\/p>\n