'Illegal' salmon farm slips net on Skye?

'Illegal' salmon farm slips net on Skye? https://t.co/vBoQ9N6ou4 Has 'Organic' Sea Harvest jumped the gun in stocking a salmon farm without a licence? @ScottishEPA @HighlandCouncil @iasgairmuir @Ianblackford_MP @KateForbesMSP @WHFP1 @pressjournal @Ilonaamos @marinescotland pic.twitter.com/pzD1kWpWXX

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) June 24, 2020

When 'American Gods' author Neil Gaiman breached Coronavirus lockdown rules by visiting Skye last month he was quite rightly berated by Ian Blackford MP and Kate Forbes, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, for risking the spread of infection. Now it seems those same politicians are silent on the apparent breach of the law by Norwegian/Canadian-owned 'Organic Sea Harvest' who have been caught stocking a salmon farm apparently without a proper licence from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). Have salmon farmers been given a free pass by SEPA to operate illegally under the cloak of the Coronavirus relaxed regime?

“Keeping people safe remains the priority! Is that why you have not spoken a word against a non essential fish farm which built in Skye during the Covid crisis and using sub contractors traveling 100’s of miles? Perhaps it is because there are Councillors on the company board? https://t.co/b8N7OAD9nL

— Jonathan Johnson (@Jonnynogaps) June 23, 2020

@scottishepa are doing NOTHING about this illegal action, nothing at all. SEPA is #notfitforpurpose. #OrganicSeaHarvest have just stuck two fingers up to us all, again. And No #socialdistancing on their contractors boats. Don't care, won't care, just in it for the £. Pure greed?

— Ian Dobb (@IanDobb) June 23, 2020

SNP councillors, that is, who are breaking the law in operating a salmon farm without a license. https://t.co/2frp9iUaFJ

— Niall McKillop (@Badabrach) June 24, 2020

What is @HighlandCouncil chief exec, Donna Manson going to do about two of her councillors currently breaking the law, wilfully, whose fish farming operation has no @ScottishEPA Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR) license? @BBCHighlands @WHFP1 @pressjournal @FerretScot

— Niall McKillop (@Badabrach) June 22, 2020

Well #HighlandCouncil councillors Alex MacInnes & Alistair MacKinnon are at it again.They are not satisfied by ignoring community views, nor degrading a National Scenic Area but have, allegedly, illegally deployed #salmon smolts before the licencing process has completed @WHFP1

— Ian Dobb (@IanDobb) June 23, 2020

@NicolaSturgeon everyday you stand up and talk about Precautionary Principle and behind your back or not @FergusEwingMSP and @strathearnrose are allowing the polluting #aquaculture industry to operate without paying any attention to the rules and regulations. Act and act now. https://t.co/EkkmQdhObV

— A.L.Paterson (@ALPaterson4) June 25, 2020

Have the smolts used by 'Organic' Sea Harvest been imported from Norway via the Bergen-registered fish carrier Gerda Saele (which according to Salmon Business is "contracted for Grieg Seafood" – a Norwegian-owned salmon farming company)?

Or were the smolts sourced from salmon eggs (ova) imported from Norway (which was banned from exporting ova in May 2019 due to disease risks of Infectious Salmon Anaemia), Iceland (named as sourcing virus-laden salmon eggs to Cooke Aquaculture in the United States) or Ireland and on-grown in Scotland by Dutch-owned Landcatch? Either way, it does not seem likely that the Scottish Government tested the smolts or ova for viruses, pathogens or diseases.

What bio-security protocols & safety precautions are Scottish Ministers taking re. imports of ova for use on 'Scottish' salmon farms? https://t.co/uUvCg7mKfq @FergusEwingMSP @strathearnrose @KateForbesMSP @MairiGougeon @GreenerScotland @marinescotland @WeAreBenchmark @HGSalmonUK pic.twitter.com/YFjGUiaNlt

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) February 26, 2020

Isn't it ironic…don't you think. A little too ironic…and, yeah, I really do think…It's like salmon farmers exploiting the Coronavirus crisis when over 50% of farmed salmon tested positive for a virus https://t.co/8Z8lYMIv2p @marinescotland @SSPOsays #alanismorissette pic.twitter.com/eQDxDZYezs

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) March 13, 2020

A Freedom of Information disclosure by the Scottish Government in February 2020 revealed that Organic Sea Harvest imported 584,000 salmon eggs in February 2019 from Mowi Ireland to be on-grown by Landcatch Natural Selection Ltd at their Ormsary Hatchery in Argyll with another 675,00 salmon eggs imported in November 2019 from virus-laden Stofnfiskur in Iceland (read more online here).