from Sunday Herald, 28 April 2002
Salmon farmers impeded a major government investigation into the environmental damage they cause, according to a secret report obtained by the Sunday Herald.
A £4 million research project to find out whether salmon pesticides kill marine wildlife was jeopardised because farmers refused to co-operate. Their attitude was "totally unsatisfactory" and "very frustrating", said scientists in the leaked report.
Caged salmon are often infested with sea lice, which eat their flesh. To kill the lice, salmon farmers feed or bathe the fish with toxic chemicals such as cypermethrin, azamethiphos and teflubenzuron. But environmentalists and shellfish farmers have long feared that these chemicals could kill wildlife as well.
In 1999 the British government launched a five-year study by a consortium of regulatory agencies, marine research laboratories and the salmon farming industry to investigate the situation. The Sunday Herald has seen a confidential 178-page progress report on this study from last April, entitled Ecological Effects Of Sea Lice Treatment Agents. It contains scientific evidence that the chemicals may be reducing the populations of tiny animals vital to the marine food chain.
But the report also reveals that leading scientists were upset because salmon farmers were frustrating their research. It lists complaints about farmers failing to say when they were applying pesticides or how much they were using.
"The lack of details of what was administered and in what amounts during treatment, together with the lack of notice of treatments to the consortium, is threatening this project and is totally unsatisfactory," said Dr Carol Long, a senior environmental safety assessor from the government's Veterinary Medicines Directorate.
Dr Kenny Black, the research project leader at Dunstaffnage Marine, near Oban, added: "The often poor response from farmers in the past has been very frustrating." He argued that researchers could not depend on having reliable information on farmers' plans, and would have to adapt accordingly. He questioned the value of the project "as a consequence of these uncertainties".
Other problems mentioned were "insufficient notice of sea lice treatments" and "operational and logistical limitations". "There are some concerns about the relatively low frequency of site inspections," reported one researcher. "The fieldwork programme has encountered some logistical difficulties, mainly with regard to the availability of fish farm work boats for sufficient time on planned dates, but also with regard to the very short notice (and occasionally no notice) received of proposed treatments for sea lice."
The lack of co-operation from salmon farmers has alarmed Friends Of The Earth Scotland. "Deficiencies regarding the collection of data which are only coming to light in this secret document must be rectified so as not to undermine what the research will ultimately be able to reveal," said FOE Scotland's director, Kevin Dunion.
But the leaking of the report has infuriated both scientists and farmers, who believe it will not help future co-operation. According to the industry newsletter, Intrafish, Dr Black thought the report "was no-one's business but that of those who had commissioned it".
Last year he refused to give a copy to Don Staniford, a well-known campaigner against fish farming. "The reports are very preliminary and have not been really polished for public consumption," Black said. "They contain management information that I would not put in a report for external consumption, for example how I have resolved logistical problems between contractors and with the farmers."
The research was concentrated at three fish farms on the west coast of Scotland. Two, at Loch Sunart in Ardnamurchan and Loch Diabeg in Torridon, are run by the world's largest fish farming multinational, Marine Harvest, while the third, Port na Moine on Loch Craignish, is operated by the Norwegian-owned Lakeland Marine Farms.
Marine Harvest accepted that there had been "teething problems" last year. A demand from one researcher for a late start so that he could first eat a cooked breakfast in his hotel had been "absolutely unacceptable", claimed Graeme Dear, the company's managing director in Scotland. But since then, he said, Marine Harvest had accommodated dozens of visits from scientists.
"There were difficulties on both sides but there has been well over a year of close collaboration," he said. "It has been working very well indeed."
Colin Blair, production manager for Lakeland Marine Farms, expressed surprise at the criticisms. "We feel we've been extremely helpful, given them access to the site at all times, and access to boats and equipment," he said.
Graham Shimmield, director of the Dunstaffnage laboratory, agreed that there had been difficulties, but added: "We have a lot of help from farmers. The co-operation we currently have is leading to much better outcomes to the research."
Despite Dr Black's misgivings, other scientists were keen to publicise the research - partly to help attract more funding. "The media and the environmental press are once again becoming very interested in the impact of salmon farming," said Dr Long.
"They also appear to be unaware of this project and what it is trying to achieve. Information on the project, how it is progressing, and its aims should be more readily available. Maybe that way we can attract other funding as well."
