fish farm off Gometra

[anneban]

On a trip to Corryvrekan at the weekend we got talking to the owner of the boat and were disappointed (!) to discover that there is currently a consultation under way to consider the building of one fish farm off Gometra with a second in Loch Scridain. The area is designated as a National Scenic Area yet in the nearby Firth of Lorne, according to the boatman, the seal cull (at the behest of existing fish farming organisations) has already resulted in common seal numbers being severely reduced.

There's a a bit more info and a petition online at

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/savestaffaarchipelago/

They'd like to get 1000 signatures but don't have long before the consultation ends. If enough objections are expressed at this stage it might be enough to prevent a formal planning application being made. Anyone else got strong feelings about fish farming?
Anne

[Kayaks'N'Beer]

Signed #286. I didn't realise they culled seals because of fish farms. I thought they just looked ugly, smelled like crap and punted out cheap, glow in the dark meat that tastes vaguely like scampi flavoured fries. By all accounts their entire industry is under threat. Fingers crossed it collapses completely before this thing goes ahead.

[Dave Thomas]

Signed #289

[maryinoxford]

Signed #292

[Niall]

By all accounts their entire industry is under threat. Fingers crossed it collapses completely before this thing goes ahead.

Yep, the local communities could really do with a £500m industry collapsing.

[Kayaks'N'Beer]

By all accounts their entire industry is under threat. Fingers crossed it collapses completely before this thing goes ahead.

Yep, the local communities could really do with a £500m industry collapsing.

Correct. Bear in mind, it's not the local communities' £500m industry. Short of half a dozen depressing, dead end jobs they aint really set to benefit much from it, aside from the eyesore and stench, that is.

The small Gometra community is 100% against.

[Niall]

Short of half a dozen depressing, dead end jobs they aint really set to benefit much from it, aside from the eyesore and stench, that is.

There are over 6000 people employed in Scottish fish farming.

The small Gometra community is 100% against.

All 5 of them?

[Kayaks'N'Beer]

Short of half a dozen depressing, dead end jobs they aint really set to benefit much from it, aside from the eyesore and stench, that is.

There are over 6000 people employed in Scottish fish farming.

And this makes it a good thing?

[Jim]

It is far too easy to take a moral high ground over someone else's way of making a living without offering replacement jobs...

From my perspective, apart ones with seal scarers or automatic feeders that happen to run when I am nearby, I hardly notice fish farms so the whole scenic area argument is kind of lost on me. The problems of disease, parasites and pollution that surround them are much more of a concern, but if I were to express an opinion it would likely be along the lines of cleaning the industry up rather than destroying livlihoods, although often the cost of the former would lead to the latter.

[lg18]

I didn't realise they culled seals because of fish farms.

I'm afraid so. Many. e.g.:
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_r ... _year.html

[seylan]

I also signed this petition. In my view very few arguments could justify further destruction of the marine environment, even on a small scale. The damage done by fish farms is well documented.

[Douglas Wilcox]

We used to send people down filthy mines and pollute the planet with coal smoke. UK mines employed thousands of people but that didn't make it right. (China still makes Apple products using cheap labour in the coal mines and the factories).

Fish farming is a filthy industry. I read Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" in 1964, her clarion call started the shift of public opinion against using pesticides on land. (Since DDT was banned, polar bear fat and Inuit people's fat is now one of the best sources of DDT on the planet).

Fish farms might not look too bad on the surface but the sea bed round them is covered in disgusting filth. The parasites on the cooped up farm fish are badly affecting wild fish stocks. Fish farms are still shovelling pesticides into the sea 50 years after Silent Spring was published, the jobs in the UK are mostly the low paid jobs, the big money goes overseas. We need to eat, so we need fish farms. However, we need to pay more for our fish to get a cleaner industry.

Douglas

[heybaz]

^^^^^^^ How very true Douglas - one occasion that I would use a "Like" button!
Barry

[anneban]

Thanks to all who signed up.

Niall, I lived on one of the islands for several years so I understand the issues about employment. I also have cousins who are crofters on Shetland. When commercial fish farming was first discussed about 30 years they thought it would provide a way to supplement their income. They invested considerable sums (in a cooperative, village based business) only to find that when the time came they couldn't sell their fish at any kind of profit as the market was flooded with cheaper Norwegian imports. It seems to me there might be a place for small scale farming (keeping the profit in the local communities), but not on this scale. I'm also a bit suspicious about foreign-based companies setting up here. Is it because our environmental regulations are less restrictive ? This company is called Scottish Salmon but the investors listed on their website are Norwegian: the proposal currently under consideration in Seil Sound is from a Polish company.
Anne