Fishing The Fly Scotland
Index => Main Discussion Area => Topic started by: Derek Roxborough on 05/10/2018 at 20:37
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SEPA have published details of 57 salmon farms not living up to their environmental responsibilities, about 20% of the total, :z10 this includes over use of chemicals :shock Derek Roxborough
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You could argue that SEPA are also not living up to their responsibilities?
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You could argue that SEPA are struggling to meet their responsibilities as a regulating body and our environmental 'guardians'.
You might also suggest that Marine Scotlands Fish Health Inspectorate have something to answer here.
However, both are largely under-staffed and under-resourced which to an extent places the onus on environmental and fish health concerns towards ineffective self-regulation of the salmon farming industry.
I read that SEPA is preparing to launch a revised regulatory framework for salmon farming (and presumably all fin-fish farms) including improved monitoring and a fresh approach to the siting of farms. Whilst this sounds good, I expect it sounds better than it will actually deliver 'in the flesh'.
H
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will it be "Watch this space"? Derek Roxborough
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Could be that S.E.P.A. will be forced to do more the number of letters etc. that are in the newspapers etc. This topic [farmed salmon] is being brought to the general publics notice more and more each week so keep fingers crossed.
Bob.
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If SEPA are to do more then - by and large - the Scottish Government will need to endorse and fund any developments. As the Salmon farming industry is a political hot potato at the moment.... I wonder..... :-\
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Don't forget that the salmon farms operate a "voluntary" code...tiz worthless if they cannot be held to account.
I do find it concerning when a government creates a committee and inquiry to look at the regulation, husbandry and worth of the salmon farming industry and then completely ignores its findings because it does not suit their political agenda of increasing salmon farm production, increasing export and being seen as a "green" government.
The committee stated that Scottish salmon farming could not be sustained at it's current levels and it's net worth to the country was negligible. The very next day the SG announced 3 new farms, a £6m investment and a pledge to increase exports by 30%.
What I find interesting is that exports are worth around £500m, but we import £350 million pound of salmon from abroad. That import is made up of ova (49,370,000) and Parr/Smolts (1, 956,000). Therefore the £500m has to have at least the cost of the brood stock removed from its total for a more realistic figure.
So, the figures for export are grossly misrepresented. Recent reports have put the actual figures of "contribution to the economy" at around the same level as what the SG have pumped into the industry.
In other words, its not sustaining itself.
Mortality rates are running at around 23% across the total 18 month production cycle. When we are dealing with around 60, 000,000 fish a year, that's nearly 14 million salmon a year dying in production. Figures for "escapees" are difficult to find because of the way escapes are reported, but at least 300,000 escaped in 2016. It is likely that this figure is a low estimate.
All these figures are available on the Scottish Government website in the Committee Reports section.
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This morning I read a copy of a piece in Private Eye about the relationship between the RSPCA and Salmon farming, whilst most was familiar there was one particular bit of detail that was new to me andI feel it's worth sharing.
In a previous post in this thread I wrote:
... SEPA is preparing to launch a revised regulatory framework for salmon farming (and presumably all fin-fish farms) including improved monitoring and a fresh approach to the siting of farms. Whilst this sounds good, I expect it sounds better than it will actually deliver 'in the flesh'.
So with the new strategy in mind it seems that Anne Anderson, chief compliance officer at SEPA and by and large the architect of the new strategy for fish farm regulation, has announced her departure from that role. According to Private Eye she will be taking up a new job as director of sustainability at the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO) which oddly enough is the industry wide body representing the interests of fish farming operations and producers in Scotland.
So the new strategy will already be pointless as the gamekeeper has turned poacher before it launches.
How depressing.
H
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Just a big can of worms Hamish ........ :X1
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Wow! I didn't see that one coming, and I bet SEPA didn't either, :z8 Derek Roxborough
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Just a big can of worms Hamish ........ :X1
No arguments there Mr B, the machinations within and between the industry and the regulators is... errrr.... quite fascinating.
Wow! I didn't see that one coming, and I bet SEPA didn't either, :z8 Derek Roxborough
So here's a question..... I wonder what SEPA are doing to establish if their new strategy for fish farm regulation is actually going to be fit for purpose.... ???
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Here is the report from the Animal Plant and Health Agency submitted to the Scottish Government. The SG made the report public in accordance with their "transparency" policy. I think you will agree that this policy requires some fine tuning!!
(https://scontent.fgla1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/43661893_592079944541749_1902778062404059136_n.png?_nc_cat=110&oh=0f99bfeae964814aeaea460b552bf6c0&oe=5C5A2877)
(https://scontent.fgla1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/43787662_592079924541751_7144455475856146432_n.png?_nc_cat=101&oh=ef1a7edc295cc77afca830688b18a143&oe=5C50CCC8)
(http://43658059_592079957875081_2223357582473428992_n.png?_nc_cat=109&oh=b7727ffb3ec55277419f86a8591e0a2c&oe=5C436E30)
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:z4
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honest to goodness, i know i should not mention politics but the SNP's version of 'freedom of information' is " we will only release what we want to..."
they have an appauling record in terms of freedom of information requests.
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The SG made the report public in accordance with their "transparency" policy. I think you will agree that this policy requires some fine tuning!!
Actually.... this is where some of my day to day work is possibly of benefit to the discussion.
The redacted part (which is all the really useful information we want to see) has been blocked out in accordance with central government policy on the marking of data. The classification 'Official' is fairly standard fare for most communication within government and with external bodies/companies etc. The descriptor (sensitive) is the kicker here....
Where information marked 'Official' can be considered commercially sensitive or have damaging consequences (for individuals, an organisation or government generally) if it were to be in the public domain, it may gain a 'descriptor'. In this case 'Sensitive'.
The information in the report is considered sensitive in nature, the form is very clearly produced with the additional descriptor to reinforce the security of the information.
So, in this case, obtaining an un-redacted copy is unlikely.
It's all in the wording.
H
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The redacted part (which is all the really useful information we want to see) has been blocked out in accordance with central government policy on the marking of data.
However, I believe the Scottish Information Commissioner has told the Scottish Government in the past that whilst data may be deemed commercially sensitive, the rights of the public transcend those of a private company and therefore, the information must be made available.
"The Scottish Information Commissioner has this week published a formal Decision that Scottish Ministers unlawfully tried to withhold information naming fish farms that had breached Scottish Government trigger levels for the numbers of adult female sea lice on farmed salmon."
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/uploadedFiles/Decision142-2017.pdf
This has been reported in many sources, notably the Salmon and Trout Conservation Scotland lot.
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Makes you wonder what they don't want you to see, or maybe it should be no surprise, My job was at risk because I contacted the Newspapers over an incident when I worked in the "industry", I was asked then to sign a non disclosure document, Derek Roxborough
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See an article in the Herald this morning that the amount of chemicals off the west coast is killing off the killer whales. Wonder were all the chemicals are coming from ?//
Bob .
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Guess? Derek Roxborough
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Exactly
Bob.
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we used to have a pod of Orcas used to see them regularly when I was lobster fishing, it's along time since any one saw them , it must be like swimming in a sewer to them , in the vicinity of a salmon farm, Derek Roxborough
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There is a greater swing in the popular press and media now, more so than at any point I can recall, to see something done about the blight that is Salmon farming as we currently know it.
That's marvellous.
As an angler I have hopes that this 'popular press' for seeing something done will ensure sense will be seen, before it's too late, by those who are responsible guardians for our waters. I hope that should he wish to my son will have the opportunity to fish for wild Salmon, Sea Trout and other species in our coastal waters, rivers and lochs without the curse of poisoned waters, diseased fish and industrial waste.
The realist in me thinks it will be his fight - he's just 4.5 years old - because the generations before took too long to understand the significance of the damage being done.
Slàinte!
H
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Programme on Tuesday with Landward about the salmon farming industry 9.00pm BBC2, Derek Roxborough
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(https://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/forum/gallery/2-161018124945.jpeg) (https://www.fishingthefly.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=5252)
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Set my TV to record it.... may even watch it 'live' but suspect a very large 'keep me calm' whisky will be required top calm my nerves. Will be very interesting to see how it goes.
H
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Watched the program on Landward.
Was disappointed at how amateurish the anglers were compared with the professional fish farmers. We need more than some old git [he is younger than me] moaning about he and his mates could catch dozens in a day with a photo of a lot of dead fish hanging there. The public watching this must have thought the fishers killing all those fish have only there self's to blame.
The other part of me was wondering if this was the B.B.C. trying to blame the anglers.
Bob.
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Yes.
I thought it was just my view of the programme - the fish farmers were all clued up and professional with facts and figures at their fingertips and obviously memorised.
The "anglers" and campaigners they interviewed came across as just "yer man on the street" without any structured argument other than "it used to be better than this".
Didn't find the programme particularly balanced and, for that very reason, really have to discount any arguments presented within it.
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Didn't find the programme particularly balanced and, for that very reason, really have to discount any arguments presented within it.
Whilst I concur that the programme was weighted in the favour of the more 'professional face' of fish farming I disagree that any arguments presented in it against Salmon farming should be discounted because of the way the information was portrayed.
Andrew Graham Stewart actually came over well (as did Ray Dingwall, the Ghillie on the River Ewe) and what they touched on (significantly) wasn't so much about the Salmon but the Sea Trout relationship with coastal Salmon farming. Cut to the evidence presented by Lucy Ballantyne of the Lochaber Fisheries Trust on the cycle of lice problems and you have scientific evidence - proof of the relationship between sea lice populations and wild fish.
The impact on the mature fish (Salmon, wild, returning 'home') wasn't well presented and I am surprised so little was put into talking about the way in which smolts are being decimated in some places by sea lice and undeniably by other predators that used to be more heavily controlled (goosanders, seals etc).
There was a bigger story to be told and although the programme was far from a propaganda piece for aquaculture... it hardly told the whole story - which is a frustration.
H
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got to agree with you Hamish, but SEPA need to get their act together as well , but the salmon farmers are now prepared for any thing that anti's can throw at them, Derek Roxborough
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To my mind S.E.P.A. have plenty of money and manpower to bully the wee company but are scared to go after those that fight back.
Bob.
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I'm not so sure Bob, whilst I do think SEPA have to step up their game I am of the opinion that if SEPA were appropriately funded in order to provide the required level of qualified staff to deal with aquaculture then self-regulation of the salmon farming industry would not be required.
SEPA would be obliged to do it under their mandate with significant support from Marine Scotland.
What is disappointing is the measures SEPA are putting in place when farms fail the standards, which resonates with the political machinations and propaganda that surrounds the industry - particularly at the moment.
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Not sure about this but is S.E.P.A. funded by the Scottish Government. Just wondered if they were scared to bite the hand that funds them. Think that the salmon farmers will do as they like and the only thing that will change them is when they start making a loss each year.
Would not like to see the end of the salmon farms as it would put even more pressure on the wild fish. We can not go on as at present. Need to keep the "meat heads" in the newspapers.
Bob.