Red Alert - Fish farm threatens Seil Sound

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Ewan G Kennedy

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I am starting this thread to alert readers to the threat to the Seil Sound and Cuan Sound in Argyll from a proposal by Lakeland Marine Limited to relocate and expand a salmon farm, positioning it in an area of great panoramic beauty and much used by yachting and boating people. Please read the full details on www.scottishboating.blogspot.com and feel free to comment if you are so inclined. But remember, the consultation period ends on 27 July.
 
I used to know a feller who fought a long and acrimonious battle against fish farms in the river entrance to his estate. Unfortunately Robin is no longer with us but if you can dig up the details of the battle he fought on Lewis...and at least temporarily won..it might be of some use for reference.

Its fair to say he wasn't much liked up there by some, as he was not a man to compromise on what he wanted, but he was passionately devoted to the survival of wild Salmon and Sea Trout (he wasn't a boater really) and blamed the proliferation of fish farms and the sea lice they encouraged, which he was sure damaged wild fish stocks. Its probably of no use to you now, but its a battle others have fought, so I thought it may be of interest anyway.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1356236/Wild-salmon-nearly-extinct-on-Lewis.html

Tim
 
Thanks for the comment Tim

I have written about the legal (and other) aspects at http://scottishboating.blogspot.com/2011/02/bad-neighbours.html. The lesson learned in the case I mentioned was that it doesn't make sense for the ordinary citizen to litigate against the Crown Estate Commissioners, as the latter use the resources of the citizens in general to defend themselves without mercy.

However all is not lost. In particular the Commissioners will be learning to watch their step, particularly in Scotland, where there are issues about whether or not it is right for all of their revenues to flow to London. This very week the coalition has tried to do something to appease people by setting up a charitable fund, for example.

However the main thing is that Argyll & Bute Council have no reason to favour the Crown against the interests of local residents and will be trying to
behave objectively in dealing with the application. There are many objections going in on environmental and animal health grounds, but sailing and boating people must also speak up, so it's important for those on this and similar forums to make their views known on the Council's website:- http://publicaccess.argyll-bute.gov...iveTab=neighbourComments&keyVal=LN76RBCH06O00

Best wishes

Ewan
Tim[/QUOTE]
 
Fish farming, who decides?

On a personal level, as a cruising yachtsman I would be happier if there were no fish farms, I hate the sight of them, however sailing is only a leisure pursuit for me, while for many of my neighbours fish farming is the way that they make their living and feed their families, so I would be very selfish to object to it. Both yachting and wild salmon angling are regarded as quite elitist pastimes particularly in struggling highland and island communities where young people are forced to leave for lack of work. I spoke to a pleasant local guy in an Assynt harbour last year who told me he had no compunction about poaching wild salmon from the river, he was convinced that it did not belong to the wealthy London banking family that controlled the rivers where he had been born. Also, these fish farms produce food that ordinary people can eat; before salmon farms fresh salmon was an almost unaffordable luxury.
So I believe the decision should be made by the people who live all their lives in these locations and struggle to stay there, I hope our Councillors will take the same view.
 
Quandary said:
On a personal level, as a cruising yachtsman I would be happier if there were no fish farms, I hate the sight of them, however sailing is only a leisure pursuit for me, while for many of my neighbours fish farming is the way that they make their living and feed their families, so I would be very selfish to object to it. Both yachting and wild salmon angling are regarded as quite elitist pastimes particularly in struggling highland and island communities where young people are forced to leave for lack of work. I spoke to a pleasant local guy in an Assynt harbour last year who told me he had no compunction about poaching wild salmon from the river, he was convinced that it did not belong to the wealthy London banking family that controlled the rivers where he had been born. Also, these fish farms produce food that ordinary people can eat; before salmon farms fresh salmon was an almost unaffordable luxury.
So I believe the decision should be made by the people who live all their lives in these locations and struggle to stay there, I hope our Councillors will take the same view.
Click to expand...

Historically not quite true. The rivers once ran wild with Salmon, to such an extent that there were Salmon riots in London in the 16C as the poor got fed up with a diet of nothing but salmon. Industrialisation, pollution and in Scotland (and across the sea on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland) it was overfishing that has destroyed numbers. Your 'pleasant local guy' might soon have no salmon or sea trout at all to catch were it not for certain people, rich or otherwise, fighting to save them.

You could equally say that only the owners of the fish farms get rich as their employees are chiefly E.Europeans, so it not the local employment pool some had hoped it would be. You can't be just plain 'anti' fish farms as we know they have benefits, but its perfectly appropriate to fight the over proliferation of fish farms if its causing damage. Like any other activity it should be subject to scrutiny and not just rubber stamped where it might cause ecological damage to fish life. Raggies and Stinkies come a fair bit down the scale I'm afraid as an endangered species.

Tim
 
I dispute your assertion that the jobs all go to Eastern Europeans though I accept that they are probably some among the crews of the Norwegian smolt pumping ships, certainly there are very few Scots on them. The majority of guys working from the barges are locals, some are crofters as well, as the two occupations are reasonably complementary and crofting alone can not support a family to modern standards.
You go a long way back in the history of salmon fishing to justify your position, I am afraid I was restricting myself to living memory, and not all the absentee estate owners are environmentalists, sea eagles have had to be artificially reintroduced to Scotland, they also used to relish wild salmon.
I suppose it comes down to whether you care more for people or landscape, I think I will make a brief representation to our Council.
 
You missed the Iraqis rioting about their working conditions in Dingwall then as long ago as 2003....;)

Tim
 
In reply to Quandary I fully understand how scarce jobs are in the Highlands. That is why it's important not to damage the industry that creates by far the most of them, tourism and leisure, a far greater number than fish farming. The number employed by the latter is going down with mechanised feeding now the norm.

It's now perfectly possible for farms to be located in remote spots far from major tourist centres and thus the two industries need not be in mortal conflict.

There's no need to feel bad about having a cruising boat or using the countryside for leisure either. The spin-off from yachting contributes greatly to local employment, boatyards, moorings, chandleries, hotels, marinas etc.

The hope for our future, I suggest, is to maximise our assets, landscape, culture etc and not to allow major farming companies, usually owned abroad, to exploit us.
 
Ewan G Kennedy said:
In reply to Quandary I fully understand how scarce jobs are in the Highlands. That is why it's important not to damage the industry that creates by far the most of them, tourism and leisure, a far greater number than fish farming. The number employed by the latter is going down with mechanised feeding now the norm.

It's now perfectly possible for farms to be located in remote spots far from major tourist centres and thus the two industries need not be in mortal conflict.

There's no need to feel bad about having a cruising boat or using the countryside for leisure either. The spin-off from yachting contributes greatly to local employment, boatyards, moorings, chandleries, hotels, marinas etc.

The hope for our future, I suggest, is to maximise our assets, landscape, culture etc and not to allow major farming companies, usually owned abroad, to exploit us.
Click to expand...

Its the fish farms located in 'remote spots' which I like least, particularly if it is an attractive anchorage though as a transient visitor I only anchor in any place perhaps one or two nights in the whole year so can not really complain, I would have less problem with them beside a marina like Croabh Haven which is every bit as much of an eyesore, though it also provides some employment. I overlook three fish farms, (salmon and halibut) from my home but from a distance they are only really visible when the ship is in discharging into the cages, the jobs they provide is not seasonal either and the smokeries etc. that they support seem popular with the tourists as is the gravad lax and other fish dishes that are served in the hotels. If I objected to fish farming I would have to change my diet and I am too selfish for that.
 
Ardmaddy Fish Farm - Still time to object

Hi Everyone

Argyll & Bute Council have confirmed that the closing date for comments is in fact 4 August, and have also said that as a matter of practice the Council will have regard to any important comments or information received up to the decision date.

I've put up a further post on www.scottishboating.blogspot.com and will be posting more information in the course of this week. This is a mega-threat to our natural environment and navigational safety.
 
Oh no it isn't . . .

Ewan G Kennedy said:
This is a mega-threat to our natural environment and navigational safety.
Click to expand...

Erm . . . as a resident and frequent traverser of these waters I have to disagree and say that it is neither. If anyone feels that the new fish farm is a 'mega-threat to navigational safety' then god help them when they find themselves in Cuan Sound a mile further on.

Regarding the environmental 'threat' - yes, fish farms create a lot of detritus but that is the primary reason for moving the (existing) farm to the new location, where there is a stronger tidal flow. Fish farming has issues, of that there is no doubt - but we cannot object to everything, and our insatiable demand for cheap protein means most of us have accepted far worse practices than intensive salmon farming. Let's work to clean the industry up, not attempt to drive it out of existence - a course of action that is doomed and will lead to further bad relations between those who make their living from the sea and those who play on it.

I confidently predict that this development will not have the slightest effect on tourism. The only tourists that will see it will be customers of Sea Life Adventures, and I really do not expect this - in spite of what the proprietor may say - to effect his income in any way.

- W
 
Webcraft
Nice to find something we agree on, at last. We can not hope to sustain the local economy solely on summer tourism.
The first thread on this encouraged me to to take the trouble to make a submission to ABC.
 
I'm sorry, I can't agree. I regularly anchor at Ardmaddy as it's a convenient shelter from north and east, as well as a convenient place to wait for the tide through Cuan. I've never seen another yacht anchor here (which is why I like it) so I can't believe it will affect many of our ilk.

If the existing farm were to be trebled in size it still wouldn't interfere with navigation. I dislike what fish farms do to the sea bed, but in this case I can't see the proposal making much difference.

The currrent Ardmaddy fish farm is not particulary noisy, and is only audible from around a couple of hundred metres .. which is nowhere near any anchorage.

I can't imagine tourists being affected .. Porpoise taking her divers and visitors from Balvicar are the only ones in the area who would notice.

No, I don't like fish farms, but neither do I like battery farmed chickens, pigs or cattle - but that is the price we pay for cheap supermarket food.

My problem with fish farms is when they are located in traditional safe havens. This one isn't.
 
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