SACS POLICY ON INDUSTRIAL FISH FARMING.
SACS believes there is a good case for the farming of edible fish/and shellfish, since it creates employment in remote parts of Scotland, and can take pressure off natural stocks.
SACS, however, is concerned that commercial pressures have led to fish farms badly affecting and in many cases wiping out natural runs of salmon and sea trout in the West of Scotland. These adverse effects also have a negative effect on the Scottish economy, as a rod-caught fish is worth 15 times the value of a farmed fish when an angler’s contribution to the economy is worked out.
SACS contends that the piscatorial husbandry practiced by the fish farming industry is still causing much damage to the environment, and in turn, the natural wild fish stocks.
SACS has specific concerns about the following aspects of fish farming as currently practiced:-
Fish farms encourage "blooms" of sea lice that kill resident sea trout and infect and kill salmon smolts.
The chemicals currently used to counter sea lice and fish disease that result from intensive rearing in nets adversely effect crustacean and other wild sea life.
Farms cannot prevent reared salmon escaping (even a 1% loss equals 100's of fish ) and getting into local rivers, interfering with natural gene pools established over thousands of years. This is almost certainly understated. Almost half a million farmed salmon have escaped from fish farms this month (January 2005) alone due to storms.
Fish farming has become very cost-conscious because of competition from Norway and Chile, and pressure from dominant supermarket chains.
The feeding given to farmed fish consists in the main of smaller fish caught at sea and turned into meal and pellets – the immense quantity of small fish used for this purpose this is having an effect on sea bird populations, by reducing the food which would have been available for them.
SACS Opinion.
Fish farms should leave the sea lochs were they are now and conduct their operations from deep water sites, helping to prevent the transmission of disease and pollution of loch bottoms.
The technology for deep sea nets exists - of course costs of production would rise but the product would be safer.
Pressure should be put on the World Community to introduce legislation to safeguard the quality and environmental effects of farmed fish, wherever it comes, and to take steps to prevent pricing pressure from multi-national food chains to dictate "short cuts" in production and quality.
There are problems to be faced head on – our Government wants employment in the Highlands and Islands and to protect that employment.
Consultative groups have been set up - but influence by scientists who work for these commercial interests have kept the status quo and as a result there are few sea trout and even fewer salmon on our West Coast.
SACS will continue to press for changes that can be relied on to stop this decline and increase the natural salmonid stocks, lessen sea pollution and produce a farmed product which will not require a ‘Government Health Warning’!