Friday 13 December 2024
 7.3°C   SW Moderate Breeze
SCT - 2025/26 Small Grant SchemeSCT - 2025/26 Small Grant Scheme
Ocean Kinetics - The Engineering Experts

Letters / Hopefully not a free for all

I’d commented on 21/11/23 on an earlier 16/11/23 article of Chris Cope concerning fish farms and reminded SN readers then of a recent BBC Countryfile report on the subject, with an also attached somewhat sobering comment by Animal Equality on fish farm conditions and environment degradation.

Chris Cope’s interesting report of 15/2/24 on MSP Ariane Burgess’s response to Scottish Sea Farms’ application for consolidation of some four disparate salmon sea fish farms into one at Fish Holm leaves one with the distinct impression this is being done primarily by the owner for financial economies of scale.

Salmon company criticises MSP’s ‘ill-informed’ views on proposed new Shetland farm

As with oil and gas, overseas owned wind farms on and offshore and foreign owned cruise liners impacting the community, notwithstanding the local employment use for fish production and processing, this is yet another business one might think should primarily be in the hands of locals.

Or at least with SIC holding significant public investment on behalf of the population in public seas.

Ms Burgess’s comment on water quality seems to have considerable validity when one considers, apart from the response of SSF appears dating back to 2018, yet in 2022 alone an expanding mortality rate of some 17 million was recorded above a harvest of 77 million fish.

In addition, 2023 has not been a good year for major producers due to factors at ‘biologically challenged sites’. Hardly sounds like fish welfare or water quality is being improved by producers of this product, though it is comforting to know our ingestion of chemical input related to fish survival is improving.

Or does the future lie in onshore production and processing, thereby supposedly reducing environment impact and fish disease?

On reviewing the Sweden plan  for a Eu47 million EIB funded onshore facility projected to produce some 10,000t of salmon annually, one reflects with astonishment, as per the more recent Grimsby farm Animal Equality report below, on the amount of pollutants this facility is likely to produce.

What is stated for the just approved 5,000t Grimsby plant, without even an EIA, (1,000t smaller than what proposed for Shetland) is reportedly going to produce the equivalent waste to a 400,000 human population.

So one can imagine what’s going into Shetland seawater from the applied for larger sea farm! The Swedish facility is proposing to recycle 99 per cent water with waste going to biogas. Presumably if it’s done on land it has to be processed, and therefore an added cost, though owners say mortality and chemicals reduced.

However even onshore production can throw up problems as per Gigante’s reported recent smolt mortality.

Surely for Shetland one of several things the area should be known and respected for, apart from local ownership to retain income locally, is quality of product, priced accordingly. Quality should stand out from what’s mass produced.

So in this this case hopefully it’s not a free for all in Shetland seas, or is anyone with authority for same determining limits to both ownership and scale of otherwise polluting businesses.

Andrew Marshall
East Kilbride

Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 

Newsletters

Subscribe to a selection of different newsletters from Shetland News, varying from breaking news delivered on the minute, to a weekly round-up of the opinion posts. All delivered straight to your inbox.

Daily Briefing Newsletter Weekly Highlights Newsletter Opinion Newsletter Life in Shetland Newsletter

JavaScript Required

We're sorry, but Shetland News isn't fully functional without JavaScript enabled.
Head over to the help page for instructions on how to enable JavaScript on your browser.

Your Privacy

We use cookies on our site to improve your experience.
By using our service, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

Browser is out-of-date

Shetland News isn't fully functional with this version of .
Head over to the help page for instructions on updating your browser for more security, improved speed and the best overall experience on this site.

Interested in Notifications?

Get notifications from Shetland News for important and breaking news.
You can unsubscribe at any time.

Have you considered becoming a member of Shetland News?

If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please consider paying for membership and get the following features and services: -

  • Remove non-local ads;
  • Bookmark posts to read later;
  • Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
  • Hide membership messages;
  • Comments open for discussion.