Salmon situation worsens

The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO), recently issued figures showing that in the fourth quarter of 2013 sea lice numbers on farmed salmon were massively out of control in in parts of the west coast and western isles. Average lice numbers were over thresholds in 13 out of 30 areas for which data is reported by the industry. On the seven farms in this area, operated by two companies, Wester Ross Fisheries Limited and Scottish Sea Farms Limited, the monthly lice count was between five and ten times the permitted threshold. This is despite three area-wide treatments and a staggering 25 other treatments for lice.

Hugh Campbell Adamson, Chairman of the Salmon & Trout Association Scotland (S&TA(S)), said: ‘We would ask Ministers again to consider ordering a cull of all the fish in the very worst affected farms – the kind of decisive action taken by the Norwegian authorities when they were faced with a similar problem – and the fallowing of these farms until such time as a proven solution is identified.’

There is clear evidence that both wild salmon and sea trout are in decline in Scotland’s ‘aquaculture zone’, whereas, generally, populations have stabilised on the east and north coasts where there is no fish-farming.

More detail is available from the Salmon & Trout Association (Scotland) www.salmon-troutscotland.org