Wild fish lobby call for publication of lice data

In a statement S&TAS said that that the Scottish Government should “stop protecting salmon farmers from proper scrutiny.”

In advance of the Stage 3 debate on Wednesday 15th May on the Aquaculture and Fisheries Bill in the Scottish Parliament, the S&TAS has again called for the publication of weekly sea-lice count data relating to each salmon farm in Scotland by law, either by amending the current Bill, or by using existing powers in the Aquaculture Act 2007, by publishing a list of Scottish salmon farms that the Scottish Government’s own Fish Health Inspectorate has noted as breaching sea– lice thresholds.

It said that it had viewed with disappointment the failure, at Stage 2, of the Committee of MSPs examining the Aquaculture and Fisheries Bill to agree amendments tabled by Alex Fergusson MSP, which would have required the publication of farm-specific sea-lice data relating to each and every salmon farm in Scotland, bringing Scotland into line with Ireland and Norway.

It said: “The S&TAS understands that an amendment to the Bill to require publication of sea-lice data on a Farm Management Area basis may still be laid for Stage 3. While, in the view of the S&TAS this is not sufficient, it is a far better position than the Scottish Government’s stated preference for voluntary publication of aggregated data by the industry, a system that will hide the key evidence as to which fish-farms have sea-lice problems.”

Guy Linley–Adams, Solicitor to the S&TA Aquaculture Campaign added: “The Bill currently before the Scottish Parliament is a litmus test of the Government’s attitude to wild fish conservation. If the Minister does not require fish-farms to publish weekly sea-lice count data by law, he will be missing an opportunity to protect and conserve Scotland wild fish heritage.”