The Salmon & Trout Association: influencing national decision makers over the management and protection of salmon, trout and sea trout, and the conservation of water and the diverse environments upon which all aquatic life depends. This is their latest nbewsletter - May 2011

Aquaculture Campaign

On April 7th, we published a dossier, compiled by Guy Linley-Adams, on hitherto unpublished Scottish Government Fish Health Inspectorate reports of inspections of Scottish salmon farms from 2009 and 2010, obtained by the Salmon & Trout Association under Freedom of Information law.

The reports of inspection visits to Scottish salmon farms made by Government inspectors over the last two years shows what a sham the present regulatory system is:

• 68 instances of fish-farms recorded as having sea-lice levels above the thresholds recommended in the industry’s own Code of Good Practice during the period for which records were inspected
• 52 instances of fish-farms recorded as having other sea-lice related issues, such as damage or mortality caused by sea-lice, or high lice loads on sampled fish
• 48 instances of fish-farms reported as not recording farm sea-lice numbers in accordance with industry standards
• 21 instances concerning evidence of a lack of efficacy of, or tolerance to, or potential resistance to available sea-lice treatments, including unexpectedly low sea-lice clearance rates using licensed treatments and failure to control sea-lice numbers
• Concerns related to the proper containment of farmed fish, including the presence of misshapen cages, nets with holes or tears, either deliberately or otherwise made, and nets sagging at or below the water line.

Since publication, the dossier has been widely circulated and already has caused embarrassment amongst fish farmers.  For example, it was reported recently that at a meeting between Council Planners, fish farmers and NGOs on one particular island, a fish farmer claimed categorically that his farm had never treated fish for lice.  His face was, apparently, a picture, when an NGO representative slid the dossier in front of him, showing quite clearly that official Government records proved that he had indeed treated his fish.  Encouragingly, the Council concerned was quite keen to get its hands on the dossier for future reference.

There was also a furious response from the Scottish Salmon Producers' Organisation, which shows again that we must be doing something right!  Their defence still centres around complete denial of any fish farming impact on wild fish, despite the stack of scientific evidence, plus the fact that we don't understand them!  They are even arguing that our report proves how well the industry is doing!

Your chance to contribute towards the Campaign!

We desperately need to keep the pressure up on the soon-to-be-formed new Government to regulate salmon farming more robustly, and not to have such a reliance on voluntary agreements and codes of practice which manifestly are not working.

We were lucky to attract major donations from a few individuals last year to kick start the Aquaculture Campaign, but we need more resources to carry it through.  Now that you have seen how active we are being, especially through Guy's specialist legal expertise, and how successfully cages are being rattled in Scotland, please donate as freely as you can to ensure we keep maximum pressure on this vital issue.

We are not only doing this for the Scottish West Coast and Islands, but just as importantly we are supporting the principle that these iconic natural resources, wild salmon and sea trout, must be protected for future generations, not sacrificed on the altar of commercial greed and lack of Government commitment.  The industry can still thrive if it acts responsibly, and we intend to keep at the fish farmers until they do!   

Please send whatever you can afford via the S&TA website

The S&TA Aquaculture Campaign is part of a coordinated approach with other wild fish organisations, including Fish Legal, to protect wild salmon and sea trout from the impact of poorly operated and regulated fish farming.

Close Containment

Whenever close containment is suggested, fish farming representatives laugh and say that it will never happen; it is too expensive.  However, S&TA and our wild fish colleagues in Scotland, including Fish Legal, Association of Salmon Fishery Boards and Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland, believe that an ultimate goal of close containment for the entire industry, both in freshwater and marine environments, is the only credible way to ensure minimal interaction between fish farms and the natural environment, including wild salmon and sea trout.

Research is already underway in Canada, Norway and China into close containment production for salmon and trout, although none, as yet, is being undertaken in Scotland.  As with most other relevant issues, the Scottish industry is behind the game, mainly because there is no regulatory pressure on them to do anything other than carry on regardless of impact on wild fish. 

We have always said that we do not want to see the closure of the Scottish fish farming industry, and we continue to stand by that policy.  The industry can expand to any level it wants, provided that it does so in close containment units, where parasites and disease can be effectively controlled, escapes kept to a minimum and waste products collected and completely removed from the water.  Increased investment will be necessary, but this will surely be offset by a longer unit working life and increased production efficiency.  And if farmed fish becomes just a tad more expensive, that must be a price worth paying for environmental protection.

New S&TA Fly Life Video on Web Site

John Slader, who many of you will know from his work both at Head Office and with the Wessex Branch, is also a talented photographer and filmmaker.  His video on Riverflies is now featured on the S&TA website (www.salmon-trout.org and click on 'Watch our Video' on the Home page), and makes fascinating viewing.  If  you ever wondered how to encourage these essential insects to breed more on your stretch of river, adding valuable food for resident trout, take special note of his demonstration on the use of a flyboard!   This video introduces a new series of website videos we shall be uploading over the coming months which deal with all aspects of our work.     If you find them of interest, please do forward the link to your friends.

NASCO Meeting

The annual North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) meeting takes place in Greenland at the beginning of June.  S&TA CEO, Paul Knight, will be deputising for Chris Poupard and chairing the NASCO NGO delegation.  The final report from the Aquaculture Focus Area Reviews will be presented at a special session, allowing us to voice concerns about the way in which salmon fish farming, under current operating conditions, continues to impact salmon and sea trout throughout the northern hemisphere.

We will report on the meeting in June's E-Newsletter.

England and Wales Salmon Catch Statistics

Salmon catch statistics have recently been published for 2010, and they attract mixed emotions.  On the one hand, increases in both net and rod caught fish would suggest a rise in the number of returning adults.  However, the near trebling of salmon caught on the north east coast of England is concerning.  While we should be cautious about reading too much into one year's data, the worrying thing about the NE is that, of a total catch of nearly 20,000 fish in 2010 (7,505 in 2009), 12,000 were caught in the coastal T&J nets (the rest by the remaining 15 drift net licenses).  The drift nets are subject to a Zero Net Limitation Order, whereby licenses are given up as netsmen retire, and so the fishery will gradually phase out.  However, the T&J nets are not covered by the NLO, and so are out-with the phase-out policy.

With Greenland and the Faroes continuing to show restraint in the number of salmon they catch on the feeding grounds (zero in the case of the Faroes), this does not show England in a good light, having held the moral high-ground since the 2003 partial drift net buy-out.  In fact, we will be lumped in with Norway and Scotland as those countries failing to heed NASCO guidelines that coastal mixed stock fisheries are bad management practice. 

Apart from raising the issue at NASCO, we have written to the Fisheries Ministers in both England and Scotland to complain about their continuing support of mixed stock fisheries, joining with colleagues in other English and Scottish organisations to show a united front.

Game Fair

If you would like to help the S&TA this year at the CLA Game Fair (Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire - July 22nd, 23rd & 24th), where we are responsible for organising casting competitions, championships and clinics, please contact Philip Wellesley-Davies on 07970 848534  or email: philipwd@hotmail.com (Subject: ‘Game Fair 2011 Help’) – a free entrance ticket and food voucher will be given to each volunteer, in return for half a day's help.

Membership

One of the best ways to get more recruits into the Association is for existing members to sign up friends who are not already contributing to S&TA's work, and yet they gain from any of the benefits we obtain for game fish and their environments.  It goes without saying that if every member signed up just one new recruit, we would very quickly double in size and influence.  Please help us by directing non member friends to the web site and follow the links to our membership pages.

Source: Salmon & Trout Association