The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

On Youtube there has recently been posted an item on Scottish fish-farms, called 'Salmon Shame'. It was known to be bad but it seems the situation is appalling, if this item is to be believed.

In the past, workers on Scots estates demanded that they were not fed salmon every day. It was cheap.

The current farms are trying their hardest to follow this route- not a rare treat but food produced as cheaply as possible. And if the local area is wiped out- it reduces the future treatments needed on the fish factories

A year or to ago wasn't the advice to eat farmed fish no more than once a week. This was due to toxins present that can build up in fish farms.

The crap that comes out of trout and salmon farms is appalling and a real problem for the rivers. The Scottish fish farms should have been closed on pollution grounds but, due to the lack of employment and the politics involved up at the top end, they have been left to it.

Shhh, no politics

Dave Burr wrote: ↑Wed Oct 26, 2022 8:41 pm A year or to ago wasn't the advice to eat farmed fish no more than once a week. This was due to toxins present that can build up in fish farms.

The crap that comes out of trout and salmon farms is appalling and a real problem for the rivers. The Scottish fish farms should have been closed on pollution grounds but, due to the lack of employment and the politics involved up at the top end, they have been left to it.

Shhh, no politics

Dave the vast majority (if not all) of fish farm for Salmon in Scotland are either at sea or in sea lochs. Still the damage they do is huge. Vast swaths of waste polluting the water and effectively making the bed under the cages uninhabited. Add to this escapees (and there are tens of thousands every year) impacting wild fish. It's an ongoing, well documented and under appreciated problem. That's without even mentioning the argulus spp that prosper on farms causing suffering to the fish, farmed and wild alike. Also the secondary impacts. Huge volumes of fishmeal are required to feed the ravenous lot. Always from unsustainable sources. Oh and a mention for the Wrasse, caught in the south coast and kept in the cages as cleaning fish.

Sadly the marketing power and influence of those benefitting from "Scottish salmon" is huge. Money talks.

I'll not be too down beat but there has NEVER been a long term, commercial sustainable fishery in the history of man. We've wrecked them all. If you'd like to know more I'd suggest you start with "end if the line" (updated) by Charles Clover.

Sad but true.

And here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7XU1GDRGoE

It is the most shocking depiction of Scottish salmon farming that I have seen - and there've been a few published in recent years.
But what to do? The Scottish government are too closely allied with the revenue/jobs etc. that the "farmers" create, so nothing will get changed.
The companies have absolutely no conscience about what they are creating, obviously. They are destroying other industries and making the lives of traditional (commercial) and pot fisherman really difficult; to what benefit to society and the Scottish economy?
I stopped eating farmed salmon - ok, therefore ALL salmon - years ago.
Thank you, SxMan for putting this up.
Mike

Further to Ian.R.McDonald's earlier comments:

In the past, workers on Scots estates demanded that they were not fed salmon every day. It was cheap.

The current farms are trying their hardest to follow this route- not a rare treat but food produced as cheaply as possible. And if the local area is wiped out- it reduces the future treatments needed on the fish factories

In the 50s and very early 60s, we ate chicken once a year, on Easter Sunday, when my gran would kill one of her very small flock. It fed about 8 of us!

"Food produced as cheaply as possible....."
Chicken is now the cheapest of meats and surprise, surprise, look what's happenened as a result of chicken super-farming - the events on the Wye.
Cargill boasted on Monday (Farming Today) that they turn out a million chicken carcases a week - I think, in Herefordshire. They and others have nowhere to store/put safely all the poo that they produce.
And massive funding for the development of the farms along the Wye has come from the Welsh Government.
The cheapest meat and fish clearly means pollution and environmental destruction.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... our-rivers My thanks to SussexMan for drawing my attention to this film.

None of the UK governments is doing anything about pollution, anywhere. The don't give a sh..! toss. It is all about money and their mates running collossal multi-nationals like Cargill and all the rest of them.

Mike

The Scottish government are only allied to their own pockets. Most of the salmon farms around scotlands coasts are owned by companies from overseas e.g Switzerland,Canada,even Cyprus to name a few. No wonder the Scottish government does nothing about it,it must bring in some cash on licenses for every step in the production and selling of farmed salmon.
Not much that is British is British owned,if our economy collapses so does all the others who have a stake in the uk. The fishing industry will never recover through overfishing,then add to that the uks obligation to contracts. Bye bye anything that’s gets in the way of the money train.

Absolutely shocking,the bosses of the large supermarket chains should be shown this film.maybe it would lead to a boycott of farmed Salmon.
As shown at the end of the film there is a solution but I fear things will just carry on as they are.
I am not a great eater of Salmon but I will certainly not buy farmed fish in the future.

Grumpy wrote: ↑Thu Oct 27, 2022 7:18 pm Absolutely shocking,the bosses of the large supermarket chains should be shown this film.maybe it would lead to a boycott of farmed Salmon.
As shown at the end of the film there is a solution but I fear things will just carry on as they are.
I am not a great eater of Salmon but I will certainly not buy farmed fish in the future.

Unfortunately Grumpy,that would be asking companies from overseas to stop dealing with other companies from overseas because they are pooing on someone else’s doorstep overseas. Q

Barbelbonce wrote: ↑Thu Oct 27, 2022 2:21 pm Further to Ian.R.McDonald's earlier comments:

In the past, workers on Scots estates demanded that they were not fed salmon every day. It was cheap.

The current farms are trying their hardest to follow this route- not a rare treat but food produced as cheaply as possible. And if the local area is wiped out- it reduces the future treatments needed on the fish factories

In the 50s and very early 60s, we ate chicken once a year, on Easter Sunday, when my gran would kill one of her very small flock. It fed about 8 of us!

"Food produced as cheaply as possible....."
Chicken is now the cheapest of meats and surprise, surprise, look what's happenened as a result of chicken super-farming - the events on the Wye.
Cargill boasted on Monday (Farming Today) that they turn out a million chicken carcases a week - I think, in Herefordshire. They and others have nowhere to store/put safely all the poo that they produce.
And massive funding for the development of the farms along the Wye has come from the Welsh Government.
The cheapest meat and fish clearly means pollution and environmental destruction.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... our-rivers My thanks to SussexMan for drawing my attention to this film.

None of the UK governments is doing anything about pollution, anywhere. The don't give a sh..! toss. It is all about money and their mates running collossal multi-nationals like Cargill and all the rest of them.

Mike

My French distributor at work was in the Bresse area- driving down lanes with beautiful white birds growing on over time before being sold for £20 or more. Lets not compare to the dreadful UK sheds as its just too upsetting. The UK put price before quality every time. And our " Government " all struggling by on £200k a year or more are not interested!