But now Bakkafrost, a Faroese salmon company, are proposing siting eight 160-metre-wide cages and a feed barge on the west coast of the island. Scotland’s lochs are pockmarked by salmon farming, often foreign-owned and guilty of mass pollution and what is increasingly apparent disgusting animal welfare. So why do we put up with an industry that pollutes our waters, effects our marine aquaculture and endangers wild salmon? The past decade has seen Scotland’s £1.2bn aquaculture sector increase its contribution to the economy by 154% to £472m, surpassing marine fishing at £321m. It is also one of Scotland’s most southerly salmon farms.”Matt McGrath, the BBC’s Environment Correspondent (though interestingly not the Scottish one) has written: “Salmon farming has come a long way since the fish were first grown commercially in cages in Norway in the 1960s.

Source: The Guardian March 08, 2024 13:11 UTC