Setting wild fish lobby straight about sea lice
In a press release, the S&TAS has listed a range of question which it says highlights what the public cannot know, “unless weekly farm-specific sea-lice count data is published by the fish farms.”
In response to the claims from S&TAS, SSPO has published a list of answers on its homepage.
In response to the claim that the public will not know “when exactly were sea-lice numbers on each salmon farm too high”, SSPO emphasised that the salmon farming industry has volunteered to report 30 areas of data modelled on wild fish reporting areas.
“These reports will indicate how effectively the industry manages sea lice and will be published online quarterly. The average numbers reported indicate to salmon farmers that a treatment should be considered in line with the guidelines set out in the Code of Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture. The notion of "too high" is an arbitrary concept invented by the Salmon and Trout Association.
“The resolution of the information provided in the new reports is ideally placed to inform a discussion with wild fisheries interests about any possible impact of lice on wild salmon populations. The detailed information provided allows information from the salmon farming sector to be accurately matched with information from the wild fisheries sector.”
SSPO also provided answers to questions regarding amongt other things the smolt run, lice levels, dealing with lice and impact on wild fish.
SSPO concluded : “It is important to recognise that numbers on their own have little bearing on the real issue, which is whether or not there is any impact on wild fish and to determine that requires reporting from both sides. A study currently being commissioned by the Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum will be crucial in determining any impact and will shed light on an issue that is currently the subject of much speculation.”
