Issues

Fisheries Forum

Scotland has undergone an extensive revision of fisheries and aquaculture legislation over the past decade, culminating in the Fisheries and Aquaculture Act 2007. This has been overseen by a Fisheries Forum, open to all interested parties, and a Forum Working Group, on which S&TA has held a permanent position. We have therefore been able to influence Scottish fisheries and aquaculture legislation.

The Forum still meets to discuss fisheries management in Scotland, and the way in which it should be funded in future. There are still significant issues involving the continuing mixed stock salmon fisheries along the Scottish coast, and aquaculture, which continues to impact wild fish populations and their habitats in both the marine and freshwater environments.

Coastal Mixed Stock Salmon and Sea Trout Fisheries

The Chief Executive is representing S&TA on the Scottish Government’s working group currently addressing the issue of coastal mixed stock salmon and sea trout fisheries. The killing of fish in coastal net fisheries is accepted internationally as poor management practice, as it is impossible to tell from which river fish originate, therefore making efficient management of individual river stocks impossible. Scotland continues to net fish around the coast, and this working group is looking at ways in which the impact of these fisheries can be limited.

We are working with colleagues from the Association of Scottish Fishery Boards, Atlantic Salmon Trust and Scottish Anglers National Association to argue the case for wild fish management and conservation, while four netting representatives promote their industry’s position. Scottish Government officials also attend, and a former senior civil servant, David Crawley, is Chairman. Five meetings were held to the end of May, and the Group will report to the Government by the end of 2009.

The wild fish delegation is now working towards an agreement whereby coastal mixed stock fisheries will severely cut back their annual catches, while still preserving the cultural heritage of the industry.

Aquaculture

Both marine and freshwater fish farming continue to impact wild fisheries. Marine farms create unnaturally high populations of sea lice, which then migrate and attach themselves to wild salmon and sea trout smolts and post smolts, causing significant mortality within local salmonid stocks. Escapes from marine farms also run rivers and breed with wild fish, so jeopardising distinct gene pools. Chemicals used on marine farms also impact local shellfish colonies and other marine organisms found in proximity to aquaculture sites.

Freshwater farms, particularly cage units in lochs, are also impacting wild fish. Increased nutrients from freshwater farms can significantly alter the ecology of lochs, often leading to eutrophication and low dissolved oxygen levels at certain times of the year. Escaping salmon smolts have the potential to interbreed with wild fish, while farmed trout escapees can exploit local habitats and food webs, thus depleting those resources for wild fish. The transfer of disease between wild and farmed fish is also a significant danger.

S&TA (Scotland) is currently working with colleagues in other fisheries organisations to urge the Government to impose stricter regulation of fish farming. Despite its economic importance, we believe that the aquaculture industry is non-sustainable in its current form, and that the issues of disease, parasites and escapes must be addressed by its operators as a matter of extreme urgency, if the impact on wild fish is not to perpetuate.

Beavers

This is the hot topic of the moment, with a pilot scheme started in May to introduce beavers back into the Scottish landscape. S&TA believes that any such introduction of what is, effectively, now an alien species to the UK, should only be undertaken on sound scientific evidence that the animals will not adversely impact the aquatic environment, including salmonid fisheries habitats. Several fisheries organisations, including the Tweed Foundation, have expressed deep concerns over this issue, especially that the facts they are challenging are being ignored by Scottish National Heritage, who are overseeing the introduction. S&TA has written to SNH, demanding that our concerns are addressed before any decision is taken as to whether beavers are allowed to roam wild in Scotland. We have also issued a press release on the subject (link) and continue to urge for common sense to prevail over the introduction of all alien species.