The unsustainable advance of the farmed salmon industry in Scotland is devastating the marine ecosystem. Local people and environmentalists protest, entrusting Sum of Us with a petition against the issuance of new concessions.
The unsustainability of salmon farms in Scotland.
Below the nets where farmed salmon are crowded, a sea of pollutants plummets into Scottish waters. Fish feces, feed residues, veterinary drugs and antibiotics. A heap of substances that threatens to irreparably devastate the marine ecosystem in Scotland, as well as make the albeit remote beaches impassable.
Scottish farms are in fact devoid of the strict regulations-protecting animal welfare and environmental protection-that are in place and subject to strict veterinary controls in Norway, as noted.
A further threat to Scotland’s marine ecosystem comes from plans to build new megafarms off the country’s most pristine coastlines, such as the Hebrides and Arran Islands. Local governments tend to go along with such projects as opportunities for increased tax revenues, but without regard to environmental costs.
Instead, residents are opposed to the development of mega salmon farms. Not because they despise the prospect of a few handfuls of jobs, but precisely because they are aware of the inestimable value of the marine areas they have tried to protect in recent decades.
Scottish salmon, animal welfare and seal slaughter
Animal welfare and Scottish salmon do not exactly rhyme. Recent scandals over salmon being eaten by sea lice and disease, however, have not been echoed outside England. And industrial giants like the Scottish Salmon Company and Mowi and continue tocram ‘thousands of tons of fish into cages to be processed into ‘sustainable’ fillets, creating the perfect conditions for the spread of disease.’ (1)
The Scottish salmon industry’s appropriation of the sea then harms other species as well. To keep seals away, which are naturally attracted to the concentration of salmon, farmers install sound devices that also disturb dolphins and cetaceans. And when sound disturbances don’t work, farmers demand a license to kill seals. As happened, in 2017, to at least fifty specimens.
The petition can be signed by following the link https://actions.sumofus.org/a/no-new-salmon-farms-off-the-scottish-coast/?akid=62990.7823883.K9Epr3&rd=1&source=fwd&t=13
Notes
(1) Mowi was also placed under investigation for reporting altered data on the amount of chemicals, such as hydrogen peroxide and pesticides, used to control disease outbreaks and sea lice
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
