What do you see when you think of Scottish salmon? A shining silver fish leaping through crystal clear water perhaps. Or maybe an image of a wide, pure river running through the majestic Scottish Highlands through snow capped mountains. Chances are you are thinking words like wild, natural and clean. The Scottish salmon farming industry is now worth billions of pounds and employs lots of people in remote communities. The sad truth, however, is that it is anything but clean and natural. In fact it’s time we asked big questions about just how sustainable farmed salmon is.
OneKind a group that campaigns against animal cruelty in Scotland argues that welfare problems are widespread at fish farms. “This is not just a question of husbandry on any particular site, this is about an industry that simply cannot ensure consistently good welfare or lives worth living for the animals in its care,” said the animal group’s policy advisor, Libby Anderson.
“OneKind calls for immediate Scottish Government action to stem this appalling tide of suffering. Twelve sites with a total of 737,000 salmon dying (from disease) in just three months is an animal welfare crisis.”
She added: “In this context, the intention of the industry and Scottish Government to double production by 2030 looks increasingly misguided and we continue to call for a moratorium on further expansion.”
It simply isn’t natural for salmon to live in cages and in order to sustain what is a highly artificial environment the lives of the fish have to be manipulated. What causes considerable problems for the environment is simply the quantity of waste matter that fish farms dump into the sea lochs (costal inlets) that they inhabit. Fish farms waste a lot of food that sinks to the bottom of the sea bed an pollutes the environment. Also, a lot of fish crammed together in a small space produce an awful lot of poo that also causes a considerable pollution problems.
A further issue is that large quantities of caged salmon are a perfect breeding ground for sea lice which attach themselves to the salmon and literally eat them alive. This is something that concerns Scotland’s angling communities as they worry that elevated numbers of sea lice, in the inlets wild salmon will pass through, also threatens the wild salmon population.
I’ll be up front, I don’t have much time for the Scottish wild salmon fishing community. It’s a bunch of rich men who keep salmon rivers to themselves so they can enjoy a spot of elitist fishing. It’s pretty much the equivalent of deer stalking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_stalking in the water. I am an occasional, very bad, trout fly fisherman. I enjoy it but I’m so inept I need a fish to voluntarily impale itself on my hooks. I spend more time trying to untangle my fly from the nearest gorse bush or even extract it from my jumper or occasionally my finger, than I actually do fishing. Despite that there is something incredibly relaxing about swishing your rod back and forth and watching the current carry away your fly. Due to salmon fishing the public largely are banned from huge stretches of Scottish rivers which are the reserve of wealthy men.
I might not have much time for salmon anglers but I have a lot of time for wild salmon. These fish are an important part of the ecosystem of Scottish rivers and deserve as much protection as they can get. By protection I mean not netting the mouth of Salmon rivers and I do not include the practice of shooting seals which is permitted for the protection of salmon farms. In 2014 80 seals were legally shot to protect salmon farms.
“When you buy Scottish salmon you pay for bullets to shoot seals,” said John Robins from the Save Our Seals Fund.
Why is it that we constantly develop models of farming that cannot coexist with the natural inhabitants of these shores? It feels like the first reaction of the farming community, both on land and at sea, to the existence of natural competitors or simply animals that wish to live alongside us, is to reach for a gun. Look at the thousands of mountain hares slaughtered on Scotland’s hills because they might, just might, carry ticks that can harm the grouse population. There is no scientific evidence to link mountain hare with damage to the grouse population. Look at the badger cull in England. Again no scientific evidence of a link between the badger and bovine TB but enough of a link for the farming community to demand that thousands of badgers are shot.
Problems with salmon farming are escalating.
Many farmed salmon dying before they can even reach the shops. Perhaps it’s time to call it a day on salmon farming yet, remarkably, the Scottish government is calling for increased salmon production despite all the environmental problems this will cause. Increased subsidies, paid by you and me, are also propping up this industry which is damaging our seas and threating wild salmon. Salmon are fed ground up anchovies which are shipped half way round the world. It takes roughly three kilograms of Anchovies to grow one kilo of farmed salmon, making no ecological sense at all.
It seems unlikely that this industry can find a way to operate in a way that doesn’t pollute or inflict suffering on thousands of fish. It is such an artificial way for salmon to be bred that it will always need to be supported in ways that damage the environment. I’ve decided that I am not going to eat any farmed salmon. If we stopped buying salmon in the supermarket the industry would die a natural death and perhaps it’s time for that to happen and for all of us to realise that salmon farming is no longer sustainable.
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For more information visit…
Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture
Atlantic Salmon Nature.scot