Impact of salmon farms - Government report reveals major threat to wild salmon

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH - SCOTLAND

PRESS RELEASE

Friday 2 August 2002

NEW GOVERNMENT REPORT REVEALS SALMON FARM IMPACTS

Salmon farms "major threat" to wild salmon

Scottish salmon farms "constitute a major threat" to the wild salmon populations according to new research published by the Scottish Executive [1].

Kevin Dunion, Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland said:
"This report confirms long standing concerns that salmon farms are having a major impact on wild salmon stocks through mass escapes from cages and infestation by sea lice.
It also identifies significant areas where our knowledge is inadequate and where further research is required such as the cumulative or long term impact of medicines and chemicals used in the marine environment”.

"Given the fishfarming industry's aspirations for further growth then it is essential that these deficiencies are rectified, which is why we have called for a precautionary approach to the use of toxic chemicals and for relocation of cages away from wild salmon rivers and for a reduction in the number of cages where the cumulative impacts may be too high”
.
"We are concerned however that the Scottish Executive is unwilling to place obstacles in the way of the economic expansion of the industry and that any measures taken will be inadequate or voluntary"
ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:
[1] REVIEW AND SYNTHESIS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF AQUACULTURE" by The Scottish Association for Marine Science and Napier University.
Published by the Scottish Executive Central Research Unit 2002
http://www.Scotland.gov.uk/cru/kd01/green/reia-00.asp

Here is what the report says on 5 main areas relating to the impacts of salmon farming on the environment.

1) The discharge of waste nutrients and their interaction in the wider marine environment
"Fish farms undoubtedly contribute to the pool of plant nutrients in seawater. Fish excreta and decaying food contain or release ammonia and salts of nitrate and phosphate"
"In the north and west of Scotland, however, fish farms are the most important extra source of nutrients in most lochs and voes"

2) Effects of other discharges from aquaculture, e.g. medicines and chemicals
"a recent study concluded that even a single cage application of cypermethrin has the potential to create a plume of up to 1 km2 that may retain its toxicity for several hours. In that study, water samples collected up to 5 hours post-treatment were toxic to the benthic amphipod, Eohaustorius estuarius, causing immobilisation during 48 hour exposures. This has potential ecological implications because, in reality, cypermethrin treatments involve multiple releases daily, usually over several consecutive days."

3) Disease impacts on wild and farmed stocks

"the burden of opinion has recently begun to swing in favour of accepting the likelihood that lice from farms constitute a direct threat to wildsalmonids."

"Even with greater access to effective sea lice treatment agents it is uncertain that total lice numbers can be brought down to low enough levels to fully protect wild salmonids."

4) Escapes from fish farms and potential effects on wild populations
"Escapees from fish farms may interbreed with wild population resulting in losses of genetic variability, including loss of naturally selected adaptations, thus leading to reduced fitness and performance. Non-local genes have been introduced into wild salmonid populations for over a century, as a consequence of restocking programmes intended to increase population sizes. However, the effect of these programmes is probably insignificant compared with that caused by farm escapes simply owing to the large scale of escapes in comparison with the wild populations. Escapes from salmon farms, therefore, constitute a major threat to wild populations"
[FoE note: in the last five years there have been over one million esacpes from Scottish fish farms]

5) Sustainability of feed supplies
"In 2000, 35% of the fishmeal and 57% of the fish oil produced was used in aquaculture diets, with the remainder used for livestock, including pigs, poultry and ruminants. Aquaculture production has been expanding globally at over 10% per year since 1984 and the industry is expected to double within the next decade. At the current growth rate, it has been estimated that by 2010, 56% of the fishmeal and 85-98% of the fish oil produced will be utilised by the aquaculture sector."
"it still requires between 2 and 5 kg of wild fish to produce 1kg of fishmeal-fed cultured fish."
[2] Last year (June) Friends of the Earth published its report 'The One The Got Away - Marine Salmon Farming in Scotland' in which the industry's progress over the last ten years is reviewed and recommendations for the future direction of the industry made.
ENDS