Anger at Fish Farms Over 500per Cent Growth Plans

By DAVID ROSS HIGHLAND CORRESPONDENT

SCOTLAND’S fish farming industry has been accused of playing Russian roulette with wild salmon after one company said it wanted to expand production by more than 500per cent.

Angling interests are calling for the farm to be relocated as the fragile peace between the farmed and wild sectors appears to be under pressure again.

In recent years relations had improved through the development of local area management agreements. These have led to significantly lower numbers of sea lice in some sea lochs. Consequently there have been some increases in the number of adult fish returning to the rivers covered by local agreements.

However, now Scotland’s wild salmon interests, including the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards, the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland, the Atlantic Salmon Trust and the Salmon and Trout Association (Scotland), have expressed their opposition to an application to more than quintuple the size of a fish farm on Loch Shin in Sutherland.

Migdale Smolt, which produces smolts for the salmon farming industry, has applied to increase its fish production from 30 to 160 tonnes a year.

Andrew Wallace, director of the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards and policy director of the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland, said: “This application . . . once again illustrates the way in which some producers seem happy to play Russian roulette with wild salmon stocks.

However, Alexander Murray, Migdale Smolt’s spokesman and consultant, said Mr Wallace’s comments were predictable.

(c) 2007 Herald, The; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.