HRH the Prince of Wales is caught up in a storm of protest over the expansion of salmon farming on the West coast of Scotland.
HRH
The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Westminster and Duke of Northumberland were
today (15 January) challenged to stand up for
wild fish in their roles as patron and presidents of the Salmon & Trout
Association and Atlantic Salmon Trust.
Following an exposé
in The Sunday Times (“Anti-aquaculture
body ‘aiding fish farm growth’”), a letter urging withdrawal from the
‘Managing Interactions Aquaculture Project’ (MIAP) has been sent from river
owners and wild salmon advocates.
The letter asks groups
including the Rivers & Trusts of Scotland (RAFTS), Fish Legal and the
Association of Salmon Fishery Boards to “stop supporting the promotion of
salmon farming on West coast Scottish sea lochs and start protecting wild
salmon and sea trout”.
“The
question is simple: do you support the protection of healthy wild salmon and
sea trout populations or do you support yet more disease-ridden and sea
lice-infested salmon farms in Scottish sea lochs?” asks the letter signed by Jenny
Scobie of the Rhidorroch Estate, James Semple and Jon Gibb from Lochaber
District Salmon Fishery Board and Don Staniford of the Global Alliance Against
Industrial Aquaculture. “The answer is
simple too. All the scientific evidence including the recent Royal
Society paper on sea lice infestation from salmon farms points to an
incompatibility between healthy wild fish stocks and lice-infested salmon
farms. You therefore have to make a choice – you cannot have both healthy
wild fish and farmed salmon in nearby inshore pens. As supporters of wild fish, we think the wild
fish lobby must do just that: lobby on behalf of wild fish not assist the PR
machine of the Norwegian-owned Scottish salmon farming industry. Hence we are calling on you to stand up for
healthy wild salmon and sea trout and withdraw your support for MIAP. Please follow the lead of Lochaber Fisheries
Trust who withdrew their support for MIAP just last week.”
Read
the letter in full online here
The
Rivers & Trusts of Scotland together with the Association of Salmon Fishery
Boards, Fish Legal, the Angling Trust, the Salmon & Trout Association (whose patron is HRH The Prince of Wales and whose president
is the Duke of Northumberland) and the Atlantic Salmon Trust (whose patron is HRH The Prince of Wales and whose president
is the Duke of Westminster) have all publicly pledged endorsement of salmon
farming on the West coast of Scotland via their support for the Scottish
government-funded MIAP (read a ‘Ministerial
Briefing’
and ‘Policy Paper:
Aquaculture’).
“The
public have a right to expect that the wild fish lobby fights to protect wild
salmon and sea trout and is not lobbying on behalf of the lice-infested salmon
farming industry,” said Jenny Scobie of the
Rhidorroch Estate. “To dare to dismiss
some salmon rivers on the West coast of Scotland as expendable is a war cry
that cannot go unanswered. Thankfully,
there is a legion of wild salmon guardians rising up against the Scottish
Government’s lethal policy of expansion.
Opposition to salmon farms not collaboration with salmon farmers is the
only way to save wild fish on the West coast of Scotland.”
“The
wild fish lobby have gone MIA in their misguided support for the Managing
Interactions Aquaculture Project,” said Don Staniford of the Global
Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture.
“Supporters of so-called ‘wild fish’ lobby groups will be shocked to
discover that these salmon sell-outs have deserted the protection of wild fish
and are now promoting salmon farming expansion.
The Prince of Wales should be ashamed of His Royal Highness for selling
the King of Fish down the river to fuel the Chinese appetite for farmed salmon
and fill the coffers of Norwegian companies. The shameful stance of HRH The
Prince of Wales as an aquaculture apologist is effectively signing a royal
death warrant for wild salmon and sea trout on the West coast of Scotland.”
Photo: Prince Charles in 2010 eating farmed salmon from Wester Ross Fisheries – a company caught by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency breaching pollution limits and fined £12,000
under the Control of Pollution Act in 2004 for polluting Loch
Tollaidh in Wester Ross
“The
Lochaber Fisheries Trust (LFT), which covers one of the most dense fish farming
regions in Scotland, said it had refused to co-operate with RAFTS amid fears
its research is flawed,” reported The Sunday Times (13 January
2013). “Diane Baum, the LFT’s senior
biologist, said the trust initially backed the idea of locational guidance to
‘help steer fish farms away from the most sensitive areas’ but became concerned
that the research is not sufficiently robust, in particular because the
migration routes of young salmon and the dispersal of sea-lice from farms will
not be considered.”
“Wild
fish interests are coming increasing pressure from the Scottish Government to
assess the risk of fish farms without proper data,” said Diane Baum, Lochaber
Fisheries Trust’s
senior biologist, in an interview with The Sunday Times (13 January
2013). “In our view, bad data are worse
than no data. We have made a decision
not to be part of it.”
Read more via "Scottish anti-aquaculture bodies accused of helping farms"
Pressure
is mounting on wild fish groups to publicly renounce their support for
MIAP. Following the withdrawal of the
Lochaber Fisheries Trust last week, a letter was sent yesterday
from a board member of the Wester Ross Area Salmon Fishery Board (WRASFB)
proposing that the WRASFB withdraw from MIAP.
According to the Chairman of the WRASFB (14 January 2013): “RAFTS were informed yesterday of our
decision to have the WRASFB name removed from the list of MIAPs supporters
pending our formal conclusion.”
The
withdrawal of WRASFB now leaves only 8 groups as ‘projects partners’ supporting
MIAP although the RAFTS web-site still lists 10
groups including the Outer Hebrides Fisheries Trust, West Sutherland Fisheries
Trust and Wester Ross Fisheries Trust (groups funded by salmon farming
companies such as Marine Harvest, the Scottish Salmon Company and Loch Duart –
and with representatives of salmon farming companies on the board).
The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator
is now investigating complaints against Wester Ross
Fisheries Trust
and the Rivers &
Fisheries Trusts Scotland in relation to conflicts of interest with salmon
farming companies (read more via The Sunday Herald’s: “Wild fish groups
under investigation by charity watchdog”).
Read the press
release – "Prince Charles Challenged to Stand Up for King of Fish" – online
here
Read a letter sent to the Wester Ross Area Salmon Fishery Board in May 2013 - online here