Rob Edwards

Plague of 'super lice' threatens wild salmon

from Caledonian Mercury, 16 February 2010

Wild salmon and trout populations in Scotland are under threat from a plague of ‘super lice’ at Norwegian fish farms, angling groups have warned.

Salmon farms in Norway have suffered from a huge rise of infestations by sea lice, which are becoming increasingly resistant to pesticides. The lice spread to wild fish, weakening and killing them.

Scottish anglers fear that the super lice will spread to Scotland’s fish farms, then deplete the nation’s vulnerable wild stocks. The prospects for wild salmon and trout are “deeply worrying”, they say.

Norway is the world’s biggest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon, producing around 865,000 tonnes a year. Scotland is second, with about 133,000 tonnes a year.

But the Scottish government wants to expand production by about a third - a prospect that is greeted with alarm by the Sea Trout Group. The group was set up by the Scottish Anglers National Association and the Salmon and Trout Association in 1997 to campaign for more controls on fish farming.

Salmon farming industry under attack in new film

Exclusive, 08 November 2009

Salmon farming multinationals are this week facing an unprecedented broadside from a new film which blames the industry for wrecking the environment and destroying livelihoods in Scotland, Canada and Chile.

The film accuses two leading Norwegian-owned companies, Marine Harvest and Cermaq, of spreading disease and lice to wild fish by siting their cages in the wrong places and allowing thousands of fish to escape.

This allegedly puts the jobs of shellfish farmers, local tourist businesses and   others at risk, while rewarding shareholders in Norway. The fish farming industry, however, described the accusations as outdated and inaccurate.

The film, ‘Farm Salmon Exposed’, has been made by Canadian filmmaker, Damien Gilles, and is being launched at a screening in Edinburgh tomorrow as part of a global week of action. Later in the week, it is also being shown in Dundonnell and Oban in Scotland, as well as Dublin in Ireland, Santiago in Chile, Vancouver in Canada, Washington DC in the US and Oslo in Norway.

Government to ban slicing off shark fins at sea for soup

from Sunday Herald, 11 October 2009

Slicing the fins off endangered sharks and selling them to China for soup - a practice widely condemned as “barbaric” - is to be banned in Scottish waters.

The Scottish government is promising to implement a ban “within weeks” following a campaign from wildlife groups. It is also lobbying the European Commission to close loopholes which have allowed thousands of tonnes of shark fins to be landed, while the rest of the animals’ bodies are dumped back into the sea.

“I have no doubt the Scottish public will abhor this cruel and wasteful activity and will welcome Scotland's leadership,” said the Scottish environment minister, Richard Lochhead.

“Some shark populations are close to extinction, so I am delighted that Scotland is bringing an end to such a barbaric practice. As one of Europe’s most important fishing nations, we have a duty to show that we are serious about protecting the sustainability of our seas.”

Google plan for floating internet servers powered by the waves

from Sunday Herald, 17 May 2009

Imagine it. Every time you click on a Google search, your request is answered by huge banks of internet computers floating around Scotland’s coast, powered by the sea.

It may sound like science fiction, but it’s serious. The internet giant, Google, has filed a patent for boats packed full of mainframe servers, driven by electricity from wave power machines under development in Scotland.

And it’s just one of a raft of proposals by major companies which are set to make Scotland a global centre for the arrays of powerful computers that keep the internet going - and exploit the nation’s inexhaustible supplies of clean, renewable energy.

The rapid expansion of the internet, which is now accessed by 1.6 billion people across the world, is demanding ever more power. Despite the efficiency of computer “data centres” increasing by 30% a year, the total amount of electricity they demand is doubling every 5-8 years.

Government crack down on cutting off shark fins for China

from Sunday Herald, 26 April 2009

The Scottish government is issuing new rules aimed at preventing endangered sharks from having their fins cut off and sold to China for soup.

Ministers are determined to stop foreign-owned boats from “shark finning” in Scottish waters, condemning it as a “wasteful and damaging practice”. Some fishermen are alleged to throw the sharks back into the sea after removing their fins.

There is a lucrative market in Asia for the fins, which are said to be worth up to £450 a kilogram. Shark fin soup is prized as a traditional delicacy at weddings and banquets in China.

According to the Scottish government, Anglo-Spanish boats administered from Ayr and Ullapool have applied for 16 shark finning permits this year. Seven permits were issued in 2006 and seven in 2007.

Company says sorry for offering environment officials free salmon

Exclusive, 10 February 2009

A Norwegian fish farming multinational has apologised for offering to reward officials at Scotland’s environment watchdog with smoked salmon for giving the go-ahead for a new toxic pesticide in record time.

Marine Harvest suggested sending “some sides of smoked salmon” to staff at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) after they processed applications to dose salmon cages with deltamethrin in a matter of days.

The suggestion was unethical and should never have been made, the Oslo-based company said. It promised it would be sparing Sepa any embarrassment by sending the agency “an unconditional apology”.

Last year salmon farmers were anxious to be allowed to use deltamethrin to treat sea lice, which eat fish alive. Previous pesticides were becoming ineffectual, as the lice were beginning to resist them.

Wild salmon 'under threat' from fish farms

from Sunday Herald, 30 March 2008

Scotland’s wild fish are increasingly being killed by lice leaking from salmon farms, new government research has revealed. But keeping them a safe distance apart has been deemed too costly and "logistically difficult" a solution.

A raft of internal reports from the Scottish government’s Fisheries Research Services (FRS) in Aberdeen and Pitlochry have uncovered strong evidence that sea lice from caged salmon contaminate fish in the wild - and that the problem seems to be getting worse.

Wild salmon at risk from the two million that got away

from Sunday Herald, 03 December 2006

Nearly two million salmon have escaped from fish farms in Scotland over the last six years, threatening wild salmon with chemical and genetic pollution.

The pollution could be tipping the king of fish into an "extinction vortex" from which it may never be able to recover, say environmentalists and anglers. They are demanding a "fundamental rethink".

Salmon farmers breaching pollution limits

from Sunday Herald, 01 October 2006

Salmon farmers across Scotland have breached pollution limits more than 400 times over the past three years, contaminating lochs and endangering wildlife.

Salmon farm code ‘fails to do enough for environment’

from Sunday Herald, 12 March 2006

RECOMMENDATIONS to reduce the environmental damage caused by fish farms have been ignored by the industry, according to a leaked account of a ministerial meeting.

Scientist vows: I will not back down over toxic salmon claim

from Sunday Herald, 29 February 2004

The Scottish fish farming industry has been accused of desperately trying to intimidate the scientists who raised the alarm about the dangers of eating salmon contaminated with toxic chemicals.

Scientists back toxic salmon study

from Sunday Herald, 18 January 2004

The US study that sparked the toxic salmon scare has been strongly defended by leading scientists following allegations from the fish farming industry that it was biased and flawed.

A fishy tale of salmon, dioxins and food safety

from New Scientist, 17 January 2004

The argument over whether farmed salmon is safe to eat has been as frenzied as the fish at feeding time. Not only has it alarmed the industry and confused the public, it has also left scientists at odds over how to assess food safety.

Spawning a new crisis

from Sunday Herald, 11 January 2004

Like Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the Scottish salmon farming industry always looks on the bright side of life. Being condemned by a devastating US study for producing salmon is so contaminated with toxic chemicals that it is dangerous to eat isn’t something that gets Scottish Quality Salmon (SQS) down. On the contrary, it seems to buoy it up.

Government scientists warned watchdog of salmon safety risk

from Sunday Herald, 11 January 2004

UK government scientists warned last year that people who followed the Food Standards Agency advice to eat one portion of salmon a week would breach the safety limit for toxic chemicals.

Farmed salmon more contaminated than wild

from New Scientist, 09 January 2004

Farmed salmon have significantly higher levels of toxic contaminants than salmon from the wild, US scientists have found.

Contamination by PCBs, dioxins and pesticides is on average 10 times higher in farmed salmon. The consequent health risks, such as a raised risk of cancer, could detract from the known health benefits of eating oily fish, the scientists warn.

US rejects ‘filthy’ Scottish salmon

from Sunday Herald, 30 November 2003

Salmon from Scottish fish farms have been banned from entering the United States because they are “filthy”, “insanitary” or contaminated with a bug that can cause fatal infections.

Food agency caught out over salmon labelling delay

from Sunday Herald, 15 June 2003

Supermarkets have been getting away without labelling salmon as farmed because of a failure by the government's food safety watchdog to alert local authorities to a change in the law.

Fish farming pollution is up by 100%

from Sunday Herald, 18 May 2003
 
The number of incidents in which fish farms have polluted rivers and lochs has doubled in the last year, according to new figures from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).

Europe threat to ban 'toxic salmon'

from Sunday Herald, 15 December 2002
 
A toxic, cancer-causing chemical has been found in salmon from Scottish fish farms since it was banned by the government in June. The discovery could prompt legal action - and even a trade boycott - by the European Commission.