Hebrides Against Salmon Farms Launched in Scotland

A
new campaign group uniting forces against salmon farming expansion on the West
coast of Scotland is launched today (13 November) at a public meeting in Back near
Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. ‘Hebrides
Against Salmon Farms’ brings together local communities who are fighting salmon
farms across the Western Isles.

International campaigners including Kurt
Oddekalv of the Green
Warriors of Norway, Elena Edwards of Wild
Salmon First from Canada and Don Staniford of the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture
are in the Outer Hebrides visiting salmon farms in Loch Roag and around Harris.

“The
island community of Gometra is unanimously opposed to salmon farming
expansion,” said Roc
Sandford who is fighting plans by the Scottish
Salmon Company to expand around the Isle of Mull. “I think we all need
to link together because at the moment we’re getting picked off one by one. Hebrides Against Salmon Farms is the logical
next step.”

“A very strong, local community campaign fought off plans
for a new salmon farm in Broad Bay,” said
Peter Urpeth, who is also launching a new local campaign group on Lewis &
Harris. “This was the first time a salmon farm application had been turned down
on the Isle of Lewis, but we need to stay vigilant and not let our guard down.”

“Skye Waters Against Fish Farming (SWAFF)
was officially launched as a campaign of the organisation ‘The Larger Picture’ last
week at a public meeting on Skye,” said Arthur Sevestre who is speaking at tonight’s meeting and
spoke at a meeting in Ullapool last night. “We’re now connecting with other
local groups to raise public awareness to the threats posed by salmon
farms. There are over a dozen applications for new farms in the waters
around Skye with many more across Scotland. Connecting with other groups means that we can
work in a united and organised way on the issue nationally and even globally
rather than allowing the mighty corporations to pitch battles with small
communities with very limited resources.”

“The campaign is going viral like the
spread of infectious diseases on salmon farms,” said Don Staniford of GAAIA. “Global opposition against salmon farming is
taking hold in Canada, Chile, Norway, Ireland, New Zealand as well as
Scotland. Green warriors of the world
are uniting against Norwegian multinationals such as Marine Harvest who are
benefiting shareholders in Norway not local communities who depend upon a
healthy marine environment.”

“May
the global voices for wild salmon unite to deliver the message to Norway that
Norwegian salmon farms are not welcome and must go!” said Elena Edwards of Wild
Salmon First who is visiting from Canada.
“Traveling
thousands of miles throughout the oceans and seas, wild salmon know no borders.
Unfortunately, neither does the salmon
farming industry and the diseases that come with it. The spread of this predominantly Norwegian
owned industry is going to require a united multi-national effort to ensure
that salmon farming does not bring the final death blow to wild salmon of the
world.”

“There
is a global backlash against Norwegian corporations farming salmon in Canada,
Chile, Scotland, Ireland, Norway and all over the world where Norwegian farmed
salmon is sold,” said Kurt
Oddekalv. “We must all stand
together to fight this disease-ridden industry. Wild salmon warriors of the world must unite
and the Green Warriors of Norway will be leading the way.”

Read the press release from GAAIA online here

GAAIA and Wild Salmon
First have been touring around
Scotland all November and will be joining Save Our Seals Fund in Edinburgh on
21 November for a protest against the killing of seals by salmon farms. On 22 November, the tour moves to Ireland
for a public meeting in Bantry Bay
(23 November) and then a visit to Galway Bay where the Irish Government are
proposing a 15,000 tonne “organic” salmon farm (for a full itinerary please
visit online here).