Browse content similar to Scotland's Fishy Secrets. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Fishing for salmon and sea trout on a remote Scottish river. An iconic | 0:00:04 | 0:00:08 | |
sport, but it relies on the existence of an iconic animal, | 0:00:08 | 0:00:17 | |
Atlantic salmon. I'm present pren - - Kenneth Macdonald, BBC Scotland's | 0:00:17 | 0:00:19 | |
science correspondent, I'm investigating whether hid none this | 0:00:19 | 0:00:22 | |
idyllic landscape there's an environmental disaster that might | 0:00:22 | 0:00:25 | |
mean salmon and sea trout could be disappearing from our seas, rivers | 0:00:25 | 0:00:35 | |
and lochs. The sea trout are just not there. What effect will it have | 0:00:35 | 0:00:40 | |
on the fish It will become weaker and easier for a predator to catch. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:44 | |
It would be wrong to say, well, we don't know, we don't really like | 0:00:44 | 0:00:54 | |
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this, but we think you should go Loch Maree a freshwater loch in | 0:01:12 | 0:01:17 | |
Wester Ross. I'm lucky enough to be getting a guided tour with the | 0:01:17 | 0:01:22 | |
laird here, John McKinsey. As the landowner he owns the fishing. Tell | 0:01:22 | 0:01:28 | |
me how far back your familiary goes with this land and this loch? | 0:01:28 | 0:01:35 | |
we started. In - I think it was 18th great grandfather was granted | 0:01:35 | 0:01:40 | |
the lands of Gairloch by James IV. So we've been here quite a long | 0:01:40 | 0:01:43 | |
time. This loch was once world- famous. It brought anglers to | 0:01:43 | 0:01:47 | |
Scotland from across the globe. That's because it used to have the | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
best sea trout ange ling in Scotland. That used to support many | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
jobs here, but trout stocks have crashed. It's hard to believe when | 0:01:54 | 0:01:58 | |
you look at how beautiful this place is, but John believes that | 0:01:58 | 0:02:03 | |
beneath the surface there's been an environmental disaster. The sea | 0:02:03 | 0:02:07 | |
trout are just not. There the fishermen don't want to come. Who | 0:02:07 | 0:02:13 | |
wants to sit in boat for a week when you're not likely to catch a | 0:02:13 | 0:02:20 | |
lot to put it mildly. When you look around at what it's become now, how | 0:02:20 | 0:02:25 | |
does that make you feel? It's sad, frankly. It's a pale, pale | 0:02:25 | 0:02:30 | |
imitation. It's barely an imitation actually. It's a memory. What's | 0:02:30 | 0:02:34 | |
responsible for that crash? John believes there is an environmental | 0:02:34 | 0:02:39 | |
disaster caused by tiny parasites called sea lice. They don't live | 0:02:39 | 0:02:44 | |
here, they live in the sea six miles away. Sea trout and salmon | 0:02:44 | 0:02:48 | |
are found in freshwater lochs like, Loch Maree. They use rivers to go | 0:02:48 | 0:02:55 | |
to sea to feed before returning to spawn. It's in the sea that the | 0:02:55 | 0:03:05 | |
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route of -- root of any crisis can be found. John's are based on the | 0:03:08 | 0:03:12 | |
work of Peter Cunningham a byologist who works for the fishery | 0:03:12 | 0:03:16 | |
owners much he offered to take us out and show us what is wrong much | 0:03:16 | 0:03:22 | |
he use as 50 meter long sweep net to catch a sea trout. If they are | 0:03:22 | 0:03:28 | |
lice carrying lice he will know there is a problem here. So on only | 0:03:28 | 0:03:32 | |
the second cast of this sweep net we have lovely looking sea trout. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:36 | |
That is the good news. It has sea lice. Just how much how many, we | 0:03:36 | 0:03:42 | |
will have to wait for a wee while we need to anaesthetise, process it | 0:03:42 | 0:03:48 | |
and take a proper scientific look at. It You can see tiny little lice, | 0:03:48 | 0:03:53 | |
these are attached by a filament to the skin of the fish. If they get | 0:03:53 | 0:03:58 | |
too many it creates an infection that is why the dorsal fin becomes | 0:03:58 | 0:04:03 | |
eroded. It's not as perfect a fin as it should be. That many lice, | 0:04:03 | 0:04:08 | |
what affect will it have on the fish? Weaker and easier for a | 0:04:08 | 0:04:14 | |
predator to catch. This is what all the fuss is bfplt it's a sea louse. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:20 | |
This is a female she has a spring of eggs coming off her tail. They | 0:04:20 | 0:04:24 | |
are remarkable little creature. They are not aliens, they are | 0:04:24 | 0:04:27 | |
naturally occurring thesh are little crustacean. They attach | 0:04:27 | 0:04:30 | |
themselves to passing sea trout and salmon. Now, when a sea louse | 0:04:30 | 0:04:34 | |
attach it isself to a sea trout it's a feat likened to somebody | 0:04:34 | 0:04:38 | |
being able to jump on to a jumbo jet and hang on while the jumbo jet | 0:04:39 | 0:04:43 | |
is in flight. The other problem, is although she doesn't look like much, | 0:04:43 | 0:04:47 | |
it's how many of her kind that are on that single fish that we netted. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:54 | |
There were 91 sea lice. Each one of them suckers on, if you like, and | 0:04:54 | 0:04:59 | |
chew it is way slowly into the fish. Peter says sea lice numbers have | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
increased in the last 20 to 30 years hech says there is one key | 0:05:02 | 0:05:06 | |
reason for that. Out in the sea here, there is a fish farm. He says | 0:05:06 | 0:05:12 | |
that lice from the farmed fish are infecting the wild ones. It's all | 0:05:12 | 0:05:17 | |
about numbers. Sri Lanka -- salmon farm will have 500,000 fish in it | 0:05:17 | 0:05:21 | |
or more. Around here if you have healthy sea trout population in the | 0:05:21 | 0:05:25 | |
loch you might have 10,000 or 20,000. It's an order of magnitude | 0:05:25 | 0:05:29 | |
of two more farmed fish. If there is a natural relationship between | 0:05:29 | 0:05:33 | |
parasite numbers and wild fish, as there always was, you have ten | 0:05:33 | 0:05:37 | |
times as many hosts with the parasite, you can easily have ten | 0:05:37 | 0:05:42 | |
times as many parasites. Which is all it is to upset the balance. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:48 | |
That compromises the health of the wild fish. There are also problems | 0:05:48 | 0:05:52 | |
for wild fish in areas where there are no farms like the East Coast. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:55 | |
Peter accept that is there are other factors like global warming | 0:05:55 | 0:06:00 | |
and lack of food making life difficult for salmon and sea trout. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:08 | |
He is convinced lice from farms are contributing to their decline. At | 0:06:08 | 0:06:13 | |
the end of the day, Peter changes out of his wetsuit and brings us | 0:06:13 | 0:06:18 | |
here, to the River Ewe, the link between the sea lock and Loch Maree. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:24 | |
He he thinks he can show us one last bit of evidence. If they are | 0:06:24 | 0:06:28 | |
have lots of lice they will head for the river because freshwater | 0:06:28 | 0:06:37 | |
kills the parasites. Lice levels are high enough to make them feel | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
unkosm comfortable. Judging by the damage on the fins a few of them | 0:06:41 | 0:06:45 | |
have decided it's Bert coming back into freshwater where the lice will | 0:06:45 | 0:06:50 | |
come off rather than staying out in the sea. So, campaigners want farms | 0:06:50 | 0:06:58 | |
near the rivers that are used by wild fish moved far out to sea. The | 0:06:58 | 0:07:01 | |
fish farm Peter blames is here in the sea loch, a few miles from | 0:07:01 | 0:07:07 | |
where he took his neting. It's run by Scotland's biggest producer, | 0:07:07 | 0:07:10 | |
Marine Harvest, they believe there is no proof to link them to what's | 0:07:10 | 0:07:17 | |
happened to wild fish stocks. We are heading out towards the fish | 0:07:17 | 0:07:24 | |
farm here on isle ewe, we have ten blast plastic tens each 100 metres | 0:07:24 | 0:07:30 | |
in succumb frens. How many are we talking about? 500 and 600,000. At | 0:07:30 | 0:07:36 | |
the moment, we are going to look at a pen which will have 42,500 fish. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:42 | |
They are around about 4.9 kilos, they are ready for harvesting. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:48 | |
farm cost over �2 million to set up. It employees five full-time and | 0:07:48 | 0:07:53 | |
five part-time staff much across Scotland this industry employs over | 0:07:53 | 0:07:57 | |
1,000 people and generates �400 million for the economy. We weren't | 0:07:57 | 0:08:03 | |
sure what to expect on the farm itself. Would we see fish with lice, | 0:08:03 | 0:08:09 | |
would it be obvious if marine har rest were to blame? Steve showed us | 0:08:09 | 0:08:12 | |
some fish, anaesthetise them and prove his fish were clean of lice. | 0:08:13 | 0:08:20 | |
What we are looking for here are any signs of lice on the fish. And, | 0:08:20 | 0:08:28 | |
there don't appear to be. That's good. Very good. They are beautiful | 0:08:28 | 0:08:32 | |
looking fish. We saw no lice. Steve says that us a's because lice | 0:08:32 | 0:08:37 | |
levels are monitored and a range of chemical treatments is used to | 0:08:37 | 0:08:45 | |
remove them if worrying numbers are found. If you came to the farm and | 0:08:45 | 0:08:49 | |
you sea saw a will the of lice on the fish that would be a different | 0:08:49 | 0:08:53 | |
matter. They work with nearby farms and wild fish groups to reduce lice | 0:08:53 | 0:08:57 | |
and share some information. Can an operation this big really claim | 0:08:57 | 0:09:02 | |
it's having no impact on the wild r environment? We are farming in | 0:09:03 | 0:09:07 | |
nature. So, we can't say that we're not having an impact. It's knowing | 0:09:07 | 0:09:11 | |
how much of an impact we've got I think it would be wrong to say, | 0:09:11 | 0:09:14 | |
well, we don't know, we don't really like this, but we think you | 0:09:14 | 0:09:19 | |
should go out of the loch. We don't think that is a reason for moving. | 0:09:19 | 0:09:23 | |
Campaigners say the industry may not be admitting the scale of the | 0:09:23 | 0:09:26 | |
problem. That's because sea lice levels are monitored by the | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
companies themselves and information about how many lice are | 0:09:29 | 0:09:33 | |
found on each farm isn't published. To the wild fish lobby, that is | 0:09:33 | 0:09:37 | |
like asking the fish farmers to be poachers and gamekeepers at the | 0:09:37 | 0:09:42 | |
same time. I think, if there was an issue on a farm, and there have | 0:09:42 | 0:09:46 | |
been issues in the past, there is no getting away from that, I think | 0:09:46 | 0:09:52 | |
it is important that we do have external, auditors, inspectors to | 0:09:52 | 0:09:56 | |
look at the farm. I'm sure they would want to do that in any case. | 0:09:56 | 0:10:00 | |
It is important. The staff here keep a close eye on their fish. The | 0:10:00 | 0:10:05 | |
government does check up on the farms. Are they doing enough? We | 0:10:05 | 0:10:07 | |
have used the Freedom of Information system to find out | 0:10:07 | 0:10:11 | |
about those inspections. In the last three years, inspectors almost | 0:10:11 | 0:10:15 | |
always simply looked at paperwork, rather than doing their own lice | 0:10:15 | 0:10:21 | |
counts. They only counted lice themselves on about one in 20 | 0:10:21 | 0:10:25 | |
visits. Campaigners say that is pretty much self-regulation. If | 0:10:25 | 0:10:28 | |
campaigners are right and the industry could be hiding the scale | 0:10:28 | 0:10:33 | |
of the problem, what is the worst that could happen? There is | 0:10:33 | 0:10:43 | |
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We have come to Norway. A country whose fish farming industry dwarves | 0:10:51 | 0:10:55 | |
that of Scotland. We are told things here are very different from | 0:10:55 | 0:11:01 | |
back home. In what way? That is what we have come to find out. The | 0:11:01 | 0:11:05 | |
Norwegian salmon industry is the biggest in the world, six or seven | 0:11:05 | 0:11:09 | |
times bigger than ours. Recently the impact on wild fish has become | 0:11:09 | 0:11:14 | |
a major political issue. I arranged to meet the Norwegian Environment | 0:11:14 | 0:11:18 | |
Minister. It's not just his casual attire that differs from what I've | 0:11:18 | 0:11:22 | |
seen in Scotland. Thank you for having us. Is there any doubt in | 0:11:22 | 0:11:26 | |
your mind, and the mind of the Norwegian government, there is a | 0:11:26 | 0:11:30 | |
link between sea lice and fish farms and sea lice and the wild | 0:11:30 | 0:11:38 | |
population? No. I mean, we do not consider this is a scientific issue, | 0:11:38 | 0:11:40 | |
scientists believe there is a connection. They have to take | 0:11:40 | 0:11:44 | |
political action on the basis of science. I cannot invent science, | 0:11:44 | 0:11:48 | |
that would be very wrong. How would you characterise where the fish | 0:11:48 | 0:11:53 | |
farming industry is in Norway at the moment? Moving step-by-step in | 0:11:53 | 0:11:57 | |
the right direction. What I normally tell the sea farming | 0:11:57 | 0:12:01 | |
industry is that they should take lessons from what other industries, | 0:12:01 | 0:12:04 | |
like chemical industries or aluminium industries did in the | 0:12:04 | 0:12:08 | |
1970s, stop denying that there is a problem and spend all their time | 0:12:08 | 0:12:12 | |
solving the problem. I wanted to find out what had driven the | 0:12:12 | 0:12:16 | |
minister to a view that was out of step with what the industry in | 0:12:16 | 0:12:20 | |
Scotland had told me. That meant an early start the next day on the | 0:12:20 | 0:12:30 | |
0:12:30 | 0:12:35 | ||
other side of Norway. We are in Hardangerfjord, which is the fjord | 0:12:35 | 0:12:41 | |
holding the highest density of fish farms in the whole world. They are | 0:12:41 | 0:12:48 | |
all closed down for fishing. That's because wild stocks have all but | 0:12:48 | 0:12:52 | |
disappeared. We travel to Granton, a village that had once depended on | 0:12:52 | 0:12:56 | |
fishing. We met a man whose life had been bound up with the river | 0:12:56 | 0:13:02 | |
from childhood, whose way of life had been lost. The whole community | 0:13:02 | 0:13:10 | |
started living by the start of the fishing season in the river. And, | 0:13:10 | 0:13:17 | |
the early catch of like 4,000 kilos. In this short river. This is a | 0:13:17 | 0:13:24 | |
river that's probably, I think, it's like three kilometers long. | 0:13:24 | 0:13:34 | |
0:13:34 | 0:13:34 | ||
Great capacity. Great production of You have not fished this river in | 0:13:34 | 0:13:44 | |
0:13:44 | 0:13:49 | ||
how long? In 15 years. Why? Sorry. I am not able to tell you how it | 0:13:49 | 0:13:59 | |
was. You would have to experience it. You won't believe me if I tell | 0:13:59 | 0:14:04 | |
you. It means there is a whole generation now, more than a | 0:14:04 | 0:14:09 | |
generation... May be two. And they have grown up thinking that the | 0:14:09 | 0:14:17 | |
river as it is now is normal. You constantly have to remind | 0:14:17 | 0:14:21 | |
yourself that, despite the stunning scenery here, there is a widespread | 0:14:21 | 0:14:26 | |
belief that what lies beneath is an environmental catastrophe. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:31 | |
cannot show you industrial pollution or anything like that. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:41 | |
This is a slow death beneath the surface. The scientists can prove | 0:14:41 | 0:14:44 | |
that this is a disaster. Norwegian government has responded | 0:14:44 | 0:14:53 | |
to these concerns. Now farmers have to report weekly lice figures and | 0:14:53 | 0:14:56 | |
farms can be forced to slaughter their fish if levels are | 0:14:56 | 0:15:01 | |
persistently high. Anyone can see statistics from any individual farm, | 0:15:01 | 0:15:05 | |
in stark contrast to Scotland. The Norwegian government is even | 0:15:05 | 0:15:15 | |
0:15:15 | 0:15:15 | ||
thinking of banning fishing in certain areas. That is at least in | 0:15:15 | 0:15:20 | |
part because Norwegian trout like these ones face a new problem. In | 0:15:21 | 0:15:26 | |
2009 there was an outbreak of lice which scientists believe was caused | 0:15:26 | 0:15:30 | |
by them becoming resistant to the chemicals used to kill them. The | 0:15:30 | 0:15:33 | |
implications are huge. Potentially it could mean that farmers could | 0:15:33 | 0:15:38 | |
not do anything to control infestation of their fish and wild | 0:15:38 | 0:15:47 | |
ones nearby. Back in Scotland, the key question was: His resistance | 0:15:47 | 0:15:54 | |
happening here? By one of our great salmon rivers, the Tate, I arranged | 0:15:54 | 0:15:59 | |
to meet a man who speaks for the industry here. We are regulated by | 0:15:59 | 0:16:03 | |
the Environmental Protection agency, SEPA. They keep a close eye on what | 0:16:03 | 0:16:08 | |
is going on in the industry, as did the Fish Health Inspectorate. The | 0:16:08 | 0:16:13 | |
reports are open to all to see. They are regularly reported on and | 0:16:13 | 0:16:17 | |
are regularly inspected. industry body says there is no | 0:16:18 | 0:16:22 | |
significant problem. On our travels around Scotland, rumours of Purse - | 0:16:22 | 0:16:26 | |
- resistance persisted. We wanted to find out how big a problem it | 0:16:26 | 0:16:31 | |
was so we submitted a detailed Freedom of Information request of | 0:16:31 | 0:16:36 | |
our own. Some of the answers were very interesting indeed. When we | 0:16:36 | 0:16:40 | |
asked a Government, we found notes of private discussions between | 0:16:40 | 0:16:50 | |
0:16:50 | 0:17:02 | ||
Government officials and drug In another document relating to the | 0:17:02 | 0:17:12 | |
0:17:12 | 0:17:14 | ||
Veterinary Medicines Directorate, That sounds like the Government | 0:17:14 | 0:17:19 | |
knows it is not being told everything. Guy Linley-Adams is a | 0:17:19 | 0:17:24 | |
lawyer. He has been hired by campaigners. He has discovered no | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
single body here is recording all the instances where resistance is | 0:17:27 | 0:17:34 | |
happening. If we're getting resistance sea lice we need to know | 0:17:34 | 0:17:41 | |
where the populations of those are. If it does spread, you will get | 0:17:41 | 0:17:47 | |
multiple resistance in sea lice and you could have this awful scenario | 0:17:47 | 0:17:52 | |
with farms having huge burdens of sea lice. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:56 | |
And it could have even more worrying effect. I have a | 0:17:56 | 0:17:59 | |
Government report that we have obtained that says that regulators | 0:18:00 | 0:18:04 | |
are explaining the UN -- investigating the unexplained death | 0:18:05 | 0:18:13 | |
of 6,000 fish on a farm at Hoganess in Shetland. We contacted us | 0:18:13 | 0:18:18 | |
sources identity we cannot reveal who has direct knowledge of | 0:18:18 | 0:18:22 | |
Hoganess and the industry more widely. He told us that resistance | 0:18:22 | 0:18:26 | |
to medicines is a real problem and some farmers have been turning to | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
illegal pesticides. We have been passed any male which it is claimed | 0:18:29 | 0:18:33 | |
was written by a concerned member of staff and which was sent to | 0:18:33 | 0:18:43 | |
0:18:43 | 0:18:48 | ||
management early in September of Staff are clearly worried and we | 0:18:48 | 0:18:51 | |
know that chemicals banned from using the marine environment were | 0:18:51 | 0:18:58 | |
seized from a boat at a farm. The company told us it took the | 0:18:58 | 0:19:07 | |
allegations, including the e-mail, seriously and were investigating. | 0:19:07 | 0:19:11 | |
Due to a confusion about which part of the law covers this area, the | 0:19:11 | 0:19:16 | |
company will not face any consequences. The minister in | 0:19:16 | 0:19:20 | |
charge, who is working on a new bill on aquaculture, agree to meet | 0:19:20 | 0:19:26 | |
me. His resistance an issue that you recognise as being a problem in | 0:19:26 | 0:19:31 | |
Scotland? At the moment, there is not evidence of resistance to the | 0:19:31 | 0:19:35 | |
various treatments that there are. Some other countries have found | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
that there is resistance if you continuously used the same | 0:19:38 | 0:19:43 | |
treatment. Do you not think we are in roughly the same position as | 0:19:43 | 0:19:47 | |
with sea lice in a hall, namely that the Scottish Government does | 0:19:47 | 0:19:53 | |
not know how big the problem of resistance is because, as it says | 0:19:53 | 0:19:57 | |
here, some fish farms are holding back from telling you? I think we | 0:19:57 | 0:20:00 | |
have a pretty clear idea of where these problems have historically | 0:20:00 | 0:20:07 | |
been. In any event, if there is a difficulty that is affecting one | 0:20:07 | 0:20:10 | |
fish farm, I think there is a certain pressure in the industry | 0:20:10 | 0:20:14 | |
for bat farm to deal with it because, of course, if one part of | 0:20:14 | 0:20:19 | |
the industry is showing poor performance, that affects the | 0:20:19 | 0:20:24 | |
marketability of all products. you know what is going on with fish | 0:20:24 | 0:20:30 | |
farms, how come we the public cannot find out about it? We cannot | 0:20:30 | 0:20:34 | |
find out what is happening farm by farm. If we were in or we could | 0:20:34 | 0:20:39 | |
find it on the wet. That is a good point. I have discussed it with | 0:20:39 | 0:20:44 | |
Norwegian ministers and Norwegian fish farming interests. We have | 0:20:44 | 0:20:48 | |
pose the question of whether there is adverse effect through public | 0:20:48 | 0:20:51 | |
disclosure of information. We should be looking at that in | 0:20:51 | 0:20:55 | |
Scotland and it will be part of what we expect to consult on in the | 0:20:55 | 0:21:00 | |
aquaculture bill. There is nothing to fear from disclosure of | 0:21:00 | 0:21:05 | |
information that we believe tells a good story about our industry. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:09 | |
are also looking at marine protected areas. To what extent | 0:21:09 | 0:21:12 | |
might that extent, perhaps adding areas where there is no fish- | 0:21:12 | 0:21:18 | |
farming? We will consult on that. Could we see a position, as in | 0:21:18 | 0:21:23 | |
Norway, where fish farming is not allowed to protect wild fish | 0:21:23 | 0:21:28 | |
stocks? Everything is open for discussion. We have to have the | 0:21:28 | 0:21:32 | |
consultation and you have to understand what the effects of | 0:21:32 | 0:21:36 | |
different options would be. That was quite surprising. There | 0:21:36 | 0:21:39 | |
was a quick look -- a commitment to greater transparency so that we, | 0:21:39 | 0:21:44 | |
the public, can find out more about what is going on in fish farms. And | 0:21:44 | 0:21:51 | |
there was agreement on the idea of having areas where fish farming is | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
banned completely. It looks like we are not the only people who have | 0:21:54 | 0:21:58 | |
learned from what is going on in Norway. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:02 | |
Some people have taken matters into their own hands. I have come to the | 0:22:02 | 0:22:09 | |
Isle of Lewis to meet Peter Urpeth. A fish farm was proposed here at | 0:22:09 | 0:22:12 | |
Broad Bay but locals object to because they were worried about the | 0:22:13 | 0:22:18 | |
impact on the wild fish coming up this river, the Gress. You went | 0:22:18 | 0:22:23 | |
into this campaign to try to stop this fish farm being developed. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:30 | |
Did you expect to win? No. There is a presumption in favour that these | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
things are good. They are fishing in the river is | 0:22:33 | 0:22:37 | |
owned by local people and, in a first, the council he rejected the | 0:22:37 | 0:22:42 | |
application, at least in part because of advice from government | 0:22:42 | 0:22:47 | |
agencies that a farm would not have an impact on wild fish. The local | 0:22:47 | 0:22:51 | |
authority here scrutinised that and looked at the new evidence we | 0:22:51 | 0:22:55 | |
presented and came to the conclusion, which I think what -- | 0:22:55 | 0:23:00 | |
which I think was unique, that the link is there, is proven and | 0:23:00 | 0:23:07 | |
undeniable. I think that has huge implications for the future of fish | 0:23:07 | 0:23:11 | |
farming and planning for Scotland. When you look out here, this cannot | 0:23:11 | 0:23:16 | |
be undone if it is damaged. Once it is gone it is gone. So there will | 0:23:16 | 0:23:21 | |
be no fish farm here in Broad Bay. While the refusal of planning | 0:23:21 | 0:23:25 | |
permission is remarkable enough, what is even more remarkable is the | 0:23:25 | 0:23:29 | |
way the campaigners think they won. They won by winning the scientific | 0:23:29 | 0:23:33 | |
argument. The firm that wanted to build a farm was the Scottish | 0:23:33 | 0:23:36 | |
Salmon Company. You are not concerned that it might set a | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
precedent? Not at all. Were you surprised by what the Government | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
scientists had to say about the proposed development? I don't | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
really know what the Government scientist said about the proposed | 0:23:48 | 0:23:54 | |
development. What I do know and what we're doing is for kissing in | 0:23:54 | 0:23:59 | |
on salmon farming within their Hebrides. We created 75 jobs when | 0:23:59 | 0:24:03 | |
we opened a process facility last year. It was a �4 million | 0:24:03 | 0:24:13 | |
0:24:13 | 0:24:18 | ||
investment. We have and use site at so -- at Loch Eport. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:26 | |
Consumers may be facing a battle on a new front. Guy Linley-Adams has | 0:24:26 | 0:24:31 | |
his eye on what retailers are doing. He knew that some supermarkets were | 0:24:31 | 0:24:36 | |
selling salmon that was described as responsibly sourced. That took | 0:24:36 | 0:24:46 | |
0:24:46 | 0:24:47 | ||
in concerns about siting farms butt we have been out shopping but this | 0:24:47 | 0:24:52 | |
is not a scientific sample. There are some supermarket chains that do | 0:24:52 | 0:24:55 | |
not make any kind of claims about their salmon at all. Let's have a | 0:24:55 | 0:25:04 | |
look at these three bagfuls and see what we have got. Right, Tesco | 0:25:04 | 0:25:10 | |
responsibly farmed. That sounds good. They are warm words. It gives | 0:25:10 | 0:25:15 | |
the impression that they have done something right. No-one would claim | 0:25:15 | 0:25:25 | |
0:25:25 | 0:25:28 | ||
to irresponsibly Falla anything, would they? Sainsbury's tells you | 0:25:28 | 0:25:37 | |
the loch that it comes from. Loch Linnhe has problems because of its | 0:25:37 | 0:25:45 | |
salmon farms. It is a long, narrow loch. Salmon reared to the highest | 0:25:45 | 0:25:47 | |
welfare standards with care to the environment. That doesn't really | 0:25:47 | 0:25:53 | |
tell you what they're doing. We sent a member of our production | 0:25:53 | 0:25:57 | |
team to talk to fishmongers in the supermarkets to see if they could | 0:25:57 | 0:26:02 | |
shed any more light on the matter. The first was Sainsbury's. They are | 0:26:02 | 0:26:06 | |
by far the most helpful. The woman came out from behind the counter | 0:26:06 | 0:26:10 | |
and showed me through the various packaged fish and explain the | 0:26:10 | 0:26:16 | |
labelling. At the end she said, I cannot give you categorically | 0:26:16 | 0:26:26 | |
0:26:26 | 0:26:27 | ||
assure you that our fish comes from farms. -- from farms that meet | 0:26:27 | 0:26:33 | |
certain standards. Waitrose assured me that the only source the very | 0:26:33 | 0:26:38 | |
best. I asked if I could be certain that there fish was not interfering | 0:26:38 | 0:26:45 | |
with wild stocks. He said yes. At Tesco, no-one was behind the | 0:26:45 | 0:26:50 | |
counter and I had to wait for five minutes. Someone from another | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
counter came to speak to me and asked me to come back in 20 minutes. | 0:26:54 | 0:27:00 | |
I came back and waited around again but there was no sign of anyone. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:04 | |
Having visited these stores, are you any less confused than you | 0:27:04 | 0:27:13 | |
work? No. It is a fairly mixed message. The women at Sainsbury's | 0:27:13 | 0:27:17 | |
seemed to me, as a consumer, the one he knew most. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:21 | |
Tesco said it complied with the law when choosing farm sites and that | 0:27:21 | 0:27:26 | |
it has created a code of good practice on earth farming, | 0:27:26 | 0:27:35 | |
including measures on lice. Sainsbury's said: We recognise that | 0:27:35 | 0:27:39 | |
there could be lice impact on while fish but our actions and work with | 0:27:39 | 0:27:44 | |
suppliers aim to keep impact to a minimum. Our producers have | 0:27:44 | 0:27:49 | |
structured lice treatment plans and we have jointly funded controls | 0:27:49 | 0:27:53 | |
tournament -- to minimise further impact. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:57 | |
Waitrose said it did insist that farms are not sighted at the mouths | 0:27:57 | 0:28:01 | |
of rivers used by wild fish but admitted that claim on its website | 0:28:01 | 0:28:04 | |
that farms were far from many natural salmon rivers was not | 0:28:05 | 0:28:09 | |
strictly accurate. They also said they would contact the branch we | 0:28:09 | 0:28:14 | |
visited to clarify the firm's position with staff. Science cannot | 0:28:14 | 0:28:18 | |
yet answer the question of whether fish-farming is causing an | 0:28:18 | 0:28:23 | |
environmental disaster. The results are not all-in. Such results as we | 0:28:23 | 0:28:29 | |
have a very hotly-contested. Serious questions have been raised. | 0:28:29 | 0:28:33 |