Urging RSPCA to fight fish-farm plan

Animal Concern has written to the RSPCA calling for a no-kill policy in seal control at RSPCA Freedom Food endorsed salmon farms, according to the Aberdeen Press and Journal. The RSPCA did not back down, the newspaper said.

In a letter to the RSPCA’s chief executive Mark Watts, Animal Concern’s John Robins said that he was disappointed to see that the Freedom Food standards for farmed salmon still allow participating farmers to shoot seals as a last resort. He claimed this was breaking the Animal Health & Welfare Scotland Act 2006, which requires owners/keepers of farmed animals to protect them from stress or injury caused by predators.

Animal Concern also said the proposed salmon farm and mussel lines at Groay Lingay Islands on North Uist would be within yards of traditional grey and common seal haul-out sites, breeding grounds and a very important colony of cormorant, the Press and Journal reported.

A spokeswoman for the RSPCA scheme told the newspaper that all members of the Freedom Food scheme must record and demonstrate that rigorous measures are taken to deter predator attacks on their salmon. But she added that it was inevitable that from time to time a predator may be able to bypass all efforts to exclude them, which may result in an attack on the fish.

“When such an occasion arises, there may be no other option other than to use a lethal method of control to prevent further suffering to the fish,” she said.