Written By: Press Office
On Date: 18/3/2019
Scottish Government inertia marks anniversary of Scottish Parliament's Environment Committee's report into salmon farming
Industry allowed to persist with business as usual a year after Government was told 'the status quo is not an option'
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View REC Committee's report
One year on from the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform (ECCLR) Committee’s report on the Environmental Impacts of Salmon Farming, the first part of the 2018 Scottish Parliament Inquiry into the industry, Salmon and Trout Conservation Scotland (S&TCS) is concerned that the report is being allowed to gather dust by both Scottish Government and the industry.
Andrew Graham-Stewart, Director of S&TCS, said:
“A year ago, the ECCLR Committee, could not have been clearer that any expansion of the industry ‘must be on the basis of a precautionary approach and must be based on resolving the environmental problems’ and that ‘the status quo is not an option’. It is obvious that almost nothing has changed and we fear that the Scottish Government’s game-plan is yet more of the prevarication that has allowed the industry to develop without meaningful regulation and at the expense of the coastal environment and those species, including migratory fish, which rely on healthy coastal ecosystems. Consequently, environmental damage is continuing and indeed increasing unchecked. Scottish Government’s completely unconditional support for the salmon farming industry must end.”
The 2018 Parliamentary Inquiry into salmon farming, as conducted by the ECCLR and REC Committees, was triggered by S&TCS' formal Petition to the Scottish Parliament’s Petitions Committee in 2016.
Guy Linley-Adams, Solicitor for S&TCS, commented:
“The ECCLR Committee’s comprehensive report underlined why urgent action was required to protect wild salmon and sea trout. However, Scottish Government has not yet grasped the nettle and moved to legislate in order to improve markedly the protection of wild salmon and sea trout from the negative impacts of salmon farming.”
SSPO still failing to publish farm by farm sea lice data in as close to real time as possible
On transparency, the ECCLR Committee’s report was adamant that the industry should publish weekly data on sea lice figures on a farm by farm basis in as close to real time as possible, together with all historic data “from the time records are available”, this to be done
by the end of April 2018.
The Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation has not honoured this deadline, nor is it publishing current farm by farm sea lice data in as close as possible to real time, as the Committee required. In contrast it is only publishing monthly sea lice averages per farm more than three months in arrears and it is to the Scottish Government’s shame that they have not amended secondary legislation to force transparency on this most important of issues.
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Notes for editors
1) Salmon & Trout Conservation (S&TC) was established as the Salmon & Trout Association (S&TA) in 1903 to address the damage done to our rivers by the polluting effects of the Industrial Revolution. Since then, S&TC has worked to protect fisheries, fish stocks and the wider aquatic environment for the public benefit. S&TC has charitable status in both England and Scotland (where it operates as S&TC Scotland) and its charitable objectives empower it to address all issues affecting fish and the aquatic environment, supported by robust evidence from its scientific network, and to take the widest possible remit in protecting salmonid fish stocks and the aquatic environment upon which they depend. www.salmon-trout.org www.salmon-troutscotland.org
2) S&TCS’ formal petition to the Scottish Parliament in 2016 (http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/PE01598) has led to first the Petitions Committee, then the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform (ECCLR) Committee, and finally now the Rural Economy and Connectivity (REC) Committee examining the problems that the salmon farming industry in Scotland is experiencing on-farm and causing to the wider marine environment, including wild fish.
3) The ECCLR Committee report (http://www.parliament.scot/S5_Environment/Inquiries/20180305_GD_to_Rec_salmon_farming.pdf), issued earlier this year, agreed with S&TCS that there are significant concerns over impacts upon wild salmon and sea trout in the aquaculture zone of the west coast and in the western and northern isles of Scotland.
Some key findings of the ECCLR Report on the Environmental Impacts of Salmon Farming:
“There appears to have been too little focus on the application of the precautionary principle in the development and expansion of the sector”.
“If the current issues are not addressed this expansion will be unsustainable and may cause irrecoverable damage to the environment”.
“The Committee is deeply concerned that the development and growth of the sector is taking place without a full understanding of the environmental impacts”.
“Scotland’s public bodies have a duty to protect biodiversity and this must be to the fore when considering the expansion of the sector. We need to progress on the basis of the precautionary principle and agencies need to work together more effectively.”
“…further development and expansion must be on the basis of a precautionary approach and must be based on resolving the environmental problems. The status quo is not an option.”
“The current consenting and regulatory framework, including the approach to sanctions and enforcement, is inadequate to address the environmental issues. The Committee is not convinced that the sector is being regulated sufficiently, or regulated sufficiently effectively. This needs to be addressed urgently, because further expansion must be on an environmentally sustainable basis.”
Salmon & Trout Conservation UK is a registered charity: England & Wales number 1123285, Scotland number SC041584. Salmon & Trout Conservation UK is a company registered in England and Wales. No. 5051506. VAT Number: 564 4723 28
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