Offshore salmon farms take heat from environmentalists
source: http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?l=e&country=0&special=&monthyear=&day=&id=341...
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- jefftego
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Environmental groups have criticised plans for the establishment of Scotland's first offshore salmon farms. They say building farms in the open sea only moves the problem of a threat to wild fish stocks farther out.
Marine Harvest wants to establish the new farms as part of a GBP 40 million (EUR 43.3 million) project for its Scottish operations. European demand for Scottish salmon has been rising by 6-8 per cent per year.
The move might mitigate concerns about the adverse environmental impact of its existing aquaculture farms, most of which are located in sea lochs. Farmed salmon waste has been accused of contaminating inland waters and disseminating fish disease, The Times reports.
“We are unconvinced by these plans. Farming of carnivorous fish is unsustainable as an industry because it relies on a greater input of fish product than the salmon it produces, roughly 5kg of feed for 1kg of fish,” explained Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland.
“Moving farms offshore as a means of reducing pollution just moves the problem further out at a time when our seas are under grave threat from climate change. We will be interested to see what the environmental impact assessments find,” he said.
Marine Harvest wants to establish the new farms as part of a GBP 40 million (EUR 43.3 million) project for its Scottish operations. European demand for Scottish salmon has been rising by 6-8 per cent per year.
The move might mitigate concerns about the adverse environmental impact of its existing aquaculture farms, most of which are located in sea lochs. Farmed salmon waste has been accused of contaminating inland waters and disseminating fish disease, The Times reports.
“We are unconvinced by these plans. Farming of carnivorous fish is unsustainable as an industry because it relies on a greater input of fish product than the salmon it produces, roughly 5kg of feed for 1kg of fish,” explained Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland.
“Moving farms offshore as a means of reducing pollution just moves the problem further out at a time when our seas are under grave threat from climate change. We will be interested to see what the environmental impact assessments find,” he said.
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- groups:
- Oceans
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- tags:
- fish farming, salmon farming, marine harvest
