Worries for wild salmon stock after escapes

Scottish Government figures obtained by the newspaper revealed that 186,252 farmed salmon had escaped so far this year, compared with 299,983 in 2006. Former Green MSP Eleanor Scott yesterday backed organisations demanding a ban on fish farms on salmon migration routes, insisting that "poorly sited cages should be relocated as a matter of urgency". According to Scotland's most up to date figures, angling is worth around £113million a year to the economy and supports 2,800 jobs, the newspaper wrote. But Frank Buckley, secretary of the Society for the Protection of Salmon and Sea Trout, told the Press and Journal that he believed fishing-related tourism is gradually being decimated by the sheer quantity of farm releases. "Unless the environment department deals with it now, the species on the west coast is possibly facing extinction," he said.