Salmon farming told to clean up

A CHARITY set up to protect wild fish stocks is stepping up its campaign to demand higher standards from salmon farmers.

The Salmon & Trout Association (S&TA) has appointed Guy Linley-Adams, a lawyer and environmental campaigner, to target politicians and scrutinise financial support for the angling industry.

He will also examine claims from retailers and supermarkets about sourcing salmon products from companies that are farming responsibly.

Mr Linley-Adams, who has worked for Friends of the Earth, the Marine Conservation Society and as a consultant to WWF-UK and Wildlife and Countryside Link, was head of the legal team at the Anglers' Conservation Association.

He is also co-convenor of the UK Environmental Law Association Water Working Party, and member of the Environmental Law Foundation.

He will push the S&TA targets to see the relocation of fish farm sites identified in areas sensitive for wild fish and to remove all smolt (young fish) cage units from river systems containing wild salmon populations.

He said: "There has simply not been sufficient progress over the last few years in reducing the impact of salmon farming.

"I feel the industry is at a crossroads. It can chose the path of unsustainable expansion, or it can recognise its failings, pull back from the brink and start to address the damage it has already caused.

"Working with the S&TA, I see it as my task to cause the industry to choose the latter option."

The S&TA was established in 1903 to address the damage done to rivers by the polluting effects of the industrial revolution.

Chief executive Paul Knight said: "Scientific research confirms that farming of salmon in floating cage farms on the Scottish west coast has had a negative impact on wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout; even the Scottish Government now concedes it is likely that impacts of aquaculture have contributed to the decline in runs.

"We must now translate this scientific consensus into action."