An update on Saveseilsound

I think it’s a good time to report to Saveseilsound contributors on where we are now at with industrial salmon installations in our part of mid-Argyll, as there seem to be no current applications and those recently approved have now been installed. It’s hard to believe that it’s over four years since we established the campaign group.

As most of us know, the Ardmaddy relocation was granted in May 2013 by the committee of Argyll & Bute Council voting unanimously and disregarding over 800 individual objections as well as reservations from the local MSP and the guardians of our heritage and archaeology.

Subsequently the archaeologists at RCAHMS became aware that the site contained a Viking boat naust, but they didn’t know about this in time as the Council had decided not to commission a full Environmental Statement, which would have triggered a survey.

Then the Council approved the expansion of Pol na Gille, despite numerous objections and evidence of horrendous seabed pollution. I was present on the dive boat when the seabed video was taken and have not eaten farmed salmon since. See here:

Finally last year the Council approved the new installation at the South-west end of Shuna. There was no hearing because an insufficient number of objections were received, which was perhaps understandable after the total failure of the democratic input at Ardmaddy.  Further, having granted the application an official allowed the orientation of the cages to be changed so as to project further across the Sound than was originally planned.

The cumulative effect of these consents is that we now have seven operational fin-fish sites (and some shell-fish ones as well) in the stretch of water comprising lochs Melfort and Shuna, Seil Sound and Shuna Sound, contrary to the official policy of discouraging expansion in inshore sea lochs and voes. At full capacity this could mean there are about over one million mature fish eating an unnatural diet and producing enormous quantities not just of waste food and faeces but also zinc and other additives, medicines and pesticides. If the operators start introducing wrasse that will be another factor in an already overloaded environment.

We have engaged with SEPA, whose function is to grant a licence to pollute under the CAR regulations. On one occasion we requested the Minister to call in their decision, without success. In preparing our submissions we have drawn on our members with knowledge of hydrology and marine biology as well as local knowledge of tidal flows. It is disappointing that SEPA have at no stage engaged with us, or given us any indication that they have even read what we have submitted.

We have taken part in a number of government consultations and engaged with the RACCE committee when they were considering the recent Aquaculture and Fisheries Bill. Block voting by the SNP members ensured that all reservations expressed to the committee were over-ruled and the legislation is accordingly very industry-friendly.

It’s plain that in our main aims of trying to stop the damage to the local ecology and protect the micro economy around Seil and Luing we have been entirely unsuccessful. Engagement with Argyll & Bute Council, SEPA, Marine Scotland and Scottish Government has proved totally pointless and has only shown how impotent local communities are when faced with the power of big business. It is likely that we will not require to engage with these bodies again anyway, because the stretch of water comprising Seil/Shuna/Melfort is probably so over-developed that it may be unlikely that further applications will be made. It’s certainly difficult to envisage where any further installations could be placed.

So, where do we go from here? Just possibly, to Europe.

The existing developments probably contravene the European EIA Directive, which requires those doing environmental assessments to consider the cumulative effects of all operations in an area, not just fish farms. Astonishingly there has never been one in Seil/Shuna/Melfort. Sometimes assessments have not been called for and in other cases they have been sorely defective.

It is likely that there is also a contravention of the Habitats Directive, as arguably the pollution from Seil/Shuna/Melfort impacts on the nearby Firth of Lorne conservation area.

The Waste Disposal Directive is also engaged. In the Spring of 2012 we submitted a complaint to the European Commission regarding the failure by the authorities to monitor the disposal of the carcases of over 80,000 mature salmon which perished a few months earlier at Ardmaddy in a failed biological experiment of some sort. The complaint is ongoing  but it looks as if we little people aren’t entitled to be told what’s happening, ironic because Port na Morachd means literally the port of the big people. The latest update as at 24 June 2015 reads:

“Extensive correspondence has taken place between the Commission services and the UK authorities in the context of the EU Pilot investigation which was triggered by your complaint. I can inform you that the UK authorities have in this context presented an action plan which includes an envisaged amendment to the Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2013 and improvements to the official control activities, in particular in relation to contingency planning for large scale fish mortality disposal. In order to maintain the necessary trust-based cooperation between the Member State and the Commission during the pending EU Pilot investigation, further details of the action plan submitted by the UK authorities cannot be explained at this stage. However, the timeline provided by the UK authorities shows, inter alia, that the legislative amendment is envisaged to enter into force by the end of year 2015. The Commission services are closely following up with the commitments of the UK authorities in this context.”