Two million farmed salmon in the Vikna district of Nord Trondelag are to be slaughtered because they have become resistant to chemical treatments against sea lice.
The Norwegian Government has taken this drastic step because wild smolts migrating through the fjords to the open sea next May and June will be at grave risk from the huge numbers of juvenile lice being released from salmon farms that cannot control their lice numbers. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority can levy significant fines of up to 200,000 kroner (some £20,000) per day on salmon farm operators where sea-lice levels on farmed salmon remain over accepted thresholds.
With this in mind, the Salmon and Trout Association (Scotland) wrote to the Scottish Government, drawing attention to the situation in Norway and asking what consideration it is giving to applying ‘similar punitive sanctions’ against salmon farm operators in Scotland who fail to keep sea-lice numbers below agreed thresholds.
Hugh Campbell Adamson, Chairman of S&TA, said the contrast between Norway’s responsible attitude and the prevailing one in Scotland ‘could hardly be more marked.’ He continued, ‘Here the salmon farming industry’s own figures confirm that sea lice numbers have been out of control for many months on farms in areas such as West Sutherland and the northern part of Wester Ross – and yet the Scottish Government declines to take any action whatsoever.
New salmon farm permitted despite protests
Highland Council has approved a salmon farm expansion in Loch Kanaird, Wester Ross, despite massive opposition. Don Staniford, Director of Protect Wild Scotland, said, ‘It beggars belief that Highland Council can approve this salmon farm expansion despite over a decade of pollution, 100% community opposition, sea lice infestation problems, no current planning permission and its proximity less than 1 mile to a salmon river.’
On October 8th this year, Protect Wild Scotland revealed that Wester Ross Fisheries (Salmon) have been breaching pollution limits for over a decade. In an email dated 26 June 2013, Highland Council declared itself so shocked at the state of affairs that they asked SEPA if it was correct that sea-bed pollution reports for the salmon farm operated by Wester Ross Fisheries in Loch Kanaird had been “unsatisfactory” for 11 years.
The result, it seems, was a twiddling of the thumbs and a gazing at the sky. A Highland Council spokesman said it was ‘reasonable to assume that if seabed conditions on a site consistently fell below expected standards then SEPA would be taking some form of action against the developer.’ Pass the parcel.