|
 |
By Rob Edwards in The Ferret
|
| Nineteen fish farms on lochs along the west coast of Scotland have been identified as posing the most risk to endangered wild salmon by infecting them with sea lice. |
| The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has named the farms, run by two multinational salmon farming companies, with the “highest relative risk” of spreading lice to wild fish and killing them. |
| In December 2023 wild Atlantic salmon were internationally classified as endangered, with evidence that global populations fell by 23 per cent between 2006 and 2020. According to government scientists, lice from fish farms is one of the causes of the decline. |
 But controls on lice numbers at salmon farms proposed by Sepa have been condemned as “laughable” and “greenwashing” by campaigners. They warned that instead of saving wild salmon, PICTURED ABOVE, Sepa could help drive them to extinction. |
| Sepa maintained its proposals were “a crucial step forward”, and used a “proportionate, evidence-based regulatory approach” to protect wild salmon. They would aid the “sustainable development” of fish farms in Scotland, it said. |
| Salmon farming companies criticised Sepa’s plans, insisting their farms were well managed to ensure “low risk” to wild salmon. One said it was “incorrect” to infer that the 19 farms were harming wild salmon, and another attacked the views of campaign groups as “grossly misplaced and myopic”. |
|
 |
Thousands of salmon caged in sea lochs can be infested by lice, which can escape and attach themselves to wild salmon and trout as they swim past. The damage this does to wild fish has long been a source of concern and argument.
The full story is on The Ferret website
|
|
|
|
