Salmon & Trout Association
E-Newsletter
August 2011
Contents
1. Auction Stop Press – Jonny Wilkinson’s signed rugby cap just received!
2. S&TA’s Annual Auction – online commission bidding now open!
3. S&TA Trout & Grayling Questionnaire Results
4. Triploids
7. Wanted: Anglers who can explain the benefits of recreational fishing for salmon
Rugby cap owned and signed by the great Jonny Wilkinson just received!! (Guide price £150).
S&TA’s annual auction: online commission bidding now open!
From a week’s fishing on the Ponoi in July to “money can’t buy” fishing on private beats; from a copy of “A River Runs Through It” signed by Brad Pitt to original works of art; the annual S&TA auction, its major fund-raising event, is now open for commission bidding online. And, because all the lots are donated, every penny raised goes directly to the S&TA.
The 42 (and counting!) lots are aimed to entice anglers, it is true, but within that remit there is plenty to placate the significant others in the family – such as, for example, a lunch party for six hosted by celebrity chef Prue Leith at her Cotswold home, or an overnight stay at Limewood House Hotel, recently listed in the Daily Telegraph among its choice of best country house hotels.
There is an eclectic and mouth-watering selection on offer with guide prices that start at just £30! The auction itself takes place during the annual Dinner on October 6th – but you don’t have to attend the dinner in order to bid: just click here to view the lots and place your commission bids online, by post or by telephone. It is that simple.
S&TA Trout & Grayling Questionnaire Results
Many thanks to those of you who completed and returned the recent Trout & Grayling Strategy questionnaire. The results were as follows:
150 responses were received:
(Not all questions were answered by all responders)
96 were from rain-fed rivers, 48 aquifer fed
105 supported the Precautionary Principle (PP), 27 did not
74 thought the T&GS adopted the Precautionary Principle, 38 did not
102 rivers were stocked in the respondents’ experience, 35 were not
63 had stocked with triploids, 44 had not
84 approved of stocking triploids, 47 did not
The results were interesting and somewhat surprising, because the most vociferous voices before the questionnaire were against triploid stocking. However, having followed up with some of these, it became clear that lack of evidence about triploids was the main concern, especially their potential impact on wild fish. Several people stated that they would prefer no stocking at all rather than put in triploids, because they were worried about these fish surviving through the winter months and feeding on wild trout eggs and fry. We are therefore lobbying with colleagues from the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust and other organisations for more research and monitoring of triploids to fill in the knowledge gaps.
One of our supplementary questions to members was, why not adopt catch & release and so cut back on stocking any hatchery reared fish? This has been successful in many areas, especially when part of a habitat restoration programme. Indeed, we know of one fishery which has stocked for several years with eyed ova, at the same time as adopting catch & release and extensive river restoration. A recent genetic survey showed only one of the 60 fish sampled as being of hatchery origin, and therefore the realisation that reduced angler exploitation and habitat work had produced a healthy wild population which did not require supportive stocking.
However, some fishermen still want to take a few fish away to eat during the season, and so, where this is the norm, supportive stocking is essential to protect wild populations. It is some of these who were worried about what impact the surviving triploids would have in winter.
The vast majority of responses to the questionnaire named man-made environmental stressors as the biggest threat to wild trout, including:
· excessive water abstraction
· diffuse pollution and sedimentation from poor land management
· Inappropriately sited hydropower schemes
· Fish passage
· Angling over-exploitation
These bullet points show that the issues of greatest concern to members are those which S&TA is covering within our priority work in England and Wales. And our biggest worry is that the Environment Agency, so short of resources in the present bleak economic environment, will rely on the compulsory stocking of triploids as the main protection for wild fish.
However, more than 30 responses suggested that wild trout were thriving in their rivers, so it was not all gloom…
Note: A longer version of these questionnaire results will appear in the autumn edition of Gamefisher magazine.
Wanted: Anglers who can explain the benefits of recreational fishing for salmon
Is salmon angling largely about the challenge of catching a trophy fish – or is there more to it than that? Salmon angling also provides economic benefits to communities, but does it have any other positive contributions to make?
These are questions being asked by a Big Lottery-funded research project, The Social and Community Benefits of Angling (www.anglingresearch.org.uk). Dr Paul Stolk, one of the project researchers, wants to interview recreational salmon anglers about their fishing experiences.
Your help is vital. Interviews are short (no more than 30 minutes) and can be conducted by either telephone or email. All data is kept anonymous and you will be contributing to research that is influencing recreational fishing policy and practice in the UK.
To participate, send your preferred contact details (email address or phone number) to Dr Stolk, (0161 244 5444). Interview participants will be given a list of question topics and a suitable date and time for interview will be arranged.
If you want to contribute but would prefer not to be interviewed, you can always post a comment on the project website (click here).
Do you have a friend – or friends! – who isn’t/aren’t a member(s) of the S&TA but who you think really should be? Please encourage your friends and acquaintances to do their bit by joining the Salmon & Trout Association – why not forward this E-Newsletter to your contacts list, and ask them to visit our web site? Also, if you haven’t already signed up to Gift Aid your own subscription or donation, please do so – click here.
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Salmon & Trout Association
E-Newsletter
Hydropower Consultation – August 2011
DOES A PROPOSED HYDROPOWER SCHEME CONCERN YOU?
THEN ACT NOW AND MAKE YOUR CONCERNS COUNT
Are you worried that the cumulative effects of multiple hydro schemes in one catchment have not been sufficiently considered? Has sufficient protection been given to ensure schemes will not adversely impact fish populations? Should a fish passage be paid for by the developer? These are some of the important considerations highlighted by the S&TA to help members respond to the Hydropower Good Practice Guidelines Consultation.
The consultation ends on 23rd September. IT IS VITAL, if a hydropower scheme is proposed/planned on a river you fish, own, or care about, that you register your concerns before that date. Evidence is key! Please take the time to go here and respond. The S&TA/AT crib sheet is designed, along with your experience of hydropower schemes on your local rivers, to help you with your response. If you need further information, please do not hesitate to contact S&TA’s Head of Science, with your queries. To see the crib sheet click here.
A new hydropower scheme on any river has the potential to create irreparable damage to the aquatic environment UNLESS it is properly designed and constructed as part of an overall catchment management plan, taking into account cumulative effects of multiple hydro installations. This is your opportunity to ensure that all necessary precautions are put in place first to protect our fragile aquatic eco-systems.
Please don’t delay!
Please circulate this notice to friends and colleagues who are interested in the hydropower issue and who may have evidence to contribute to the consultation Forward to a friend
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Salmon & Trout Association
E-Newsletter
June 2011
Contents
1.Greenlandic demonstration at NASCO Meeting
5.Natural Environment White Paper published
Greenlandic demonstration at NASCO Meeting
Greenlandic fishermen held a demonstration outside the hotel hosting the 28th North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) meeting, held at the beginning of June in Ilulissat, Western Greenland.They were demanding that they be given a new commercial quota to catch and sell salmon abroad, so taking advantage of what they consider to be a return to abundance of fish off the West Greenland coast, and rising global prices for wild salmon which they cannot attain in their home markets.There was sympathy for their position, but a quota is still, thankfully, a long way off.
Norway, strongly supported by Canada and only slightly less so by the EU (representing Scotland), appealed for aquaculture to be downgraded at NASCO, despite acceptance in Norway that lice and escapes emanating from salmon farms posed the greatest risks to wild salmon and sea trout.At the Aquaculture Special Session,a report was presented summarising the reviews of each country’s policy on aquaculture.The main headlines were depressing:
·Few countries had action plans for effective containment of fish within farm cages
·Little consideration was shown for the health of wild salmonids
·There was little evidence of actions (over words/plans)
·There was a lack of scientific evidence of impact at the farm scale
The NGOs gave a robust counter to the Norwegian approach, reiterating that NASCO requires more, not less, teeth in holding parties to account for policies which impact wild salmonids.Meanwhile, S&TA is continuing with its Aquaculture Campaign in the UK, where the present focus is on the consumer and retail end of the chain, and the certification process supporting wild fish.Our ultimate aim is the biological barrier between farmed and wild fish in all locations, and that, we believe, is only achievable in closed containment units.Our priority remains to convinve Government and industry of that fact.
S&TA CEO, Paul Knight, chaired the NGOs at NASCO this year.Read the full report here.
At the Association’s Company AGM on June 20th, three new Trustees were appointed.Two are from Scotland;Hughie Campbell Adamson, a proprietor on the North Esk and, until recently, Chairman of the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards, with a breadth of experience in Scottish fisheries management and policy; and Allan Marson, recently retired from a highly responsible position in international banking, so bringing a strong business background to the Association’s governance.Hughie lives in Angus and Allan in Edinburgh.
The third new Trustee, Ian Coghill, is Chairman of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), and his appointment further cements the close collaboration on which we have embarked with GWCT.S&TA’s Chairman, James Carr, has also been appointed a Trustee of GWCT.
The CLA Game Fair is being held at Blenheim Palace this year from July 22nd to 24th.As usual, we need S&TA volunteers to help us run the Casting Competitions and Championships and Clinics, so if you are able to help, please contact Philip Wellesley-Davies on 0118 972 2921 (home), 07970 848534 (mobile) or philipwd@hotmail.com – a free entrance ticket and food voucher will be given to each volunteer, in return for half a day’s help, allowing the rest of the time to walk round the showground.
Natural Environment White Paper published
The Government’s Natural Environment White Paper was published at the beginning of June and, although we had been led to expect that major fisheries issues would be highlighted in the document, we have, once again, been left disappointed by the finished article.For example, although the Government is spending significant funds on easing access for fish migration in rivers as part of Water Framework Directive (WFD) delivery, there is nothing about increasing connectivity of rivers in the White Paper, even though connecting terrestrial habitat is included.Yet again, therefore, the aquatic environment, its fish and other dependent species get a raw deal.
With colleagues from Atlantic Salmon Trust, the Angling Trust, the Association of Rivers Trusts and the Wild Trout Trust, we have written to Natural Environment and Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon, for a meeting to discuss the issue.
S&TA is currently involved on the working group agreeing the consultation document for the rewrite of the Hydropower Best practice Guidelines.Janina Gray is representing S&TA as the fisheries scientific/technical specialist.The consultation is due shortly, and we will then ensure that as many game fishing interests as possible respond – we will provide a crib sheet of the main issues to address.
Do you have a friend – or friends! – who isn’t/aren’t a member(s) of the S&TA but who you think really should be? Please encourage your friends and acquaintances to do their bit by joining the Salmon & Trout Association – why not forward this E-Newsletter to your contacts list, and ask them to visit our web site?Also, if you haven’t already signed up to Gift Aid your own subscription or donation, please do so – click here.
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Salmon & Trout Association
E-Newsletter
January 2011
Chinese Deal for Scottish Farmed Salmon
The Scottish Government’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, recently declared that the Scottish fish farming industry may need to double its production of salmon to satisfy Chinese demand, following the signing of a new trade deal.S&TA believes this could spell further disaster for Scotland’s iconic and endangered West Highland wild salmon and sea trout stocks, and it is surely premature and irresponsible of the First Minister to signal such an enormous increase in farmed salmon production before the Scottish Government and fish farming industry have addressed their dire existing problems caused by fish farming.
This statement was particularly alarming in the light of public comments made at the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland Conference last March by a leading Government scientist, that the industry may well have reached its natural capacity, due mainly to the inability to control sea lice and disease in fish farms.
Guy Linley-Adams, the environmental lawyer leading our Aquaculture Campaign, suggested that, for the First Minister to advocate doubling the industry’s output without apparently any prior consideration of his legal obligations towards the conservation of wild fish and the impact on the environment, merely demonstrated a lack of understanding and commitment within the Scottish Government towards protecting these valuable and iconic natural resources.
However, there was support for our stance from UK Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon, who was quoted as agreeing that fish farming had adversely impacted wild fish stocks.We can only hope for a similarly honest approach from the Scottish Government and the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Association.
Meanwhile, the campaign continues, and Guy is presently in Norway meeting various high level officials to discuss the difference in approach to fish farming legislation and regulation between Norway and Scotland.While Norway certainly still has a long way to go before it stops the impact its fish farming industry is having on wild fish, Scotland is way behind even them.We will report on Guy’s trip in the next E-Newsletter.
Mixed Stock Netting
Meanwhile, we are still awaiting a response from the Scottish Government to the Mixed Stock Fisheries Working Group Report, which was promised as long ago as September.Again, a meeting with colleagues in Scotland over our future policy with this issue is imminent, but suffice to say it falls into the same category as aquaculture – a demonstrable refusal to any political commitment to protect wild salmon and sea trout if that means upsetting anyone in the fish farming or netting industries.
2011 promises to be a lively year over both these vital issues.
Environment Agency boast our rivers have never been cleaner!
In England, the Environment Agency produced a press release over the New Year claiming that out rivers had never been cleaner, citing, amongst other evidence, the salmon and sea trout running back into the Tyne, Thames, Mersey and Trent.What the Agency failed to say was that nearly 75% of rivers failed to reach good ecological status under the criteria set down by the Water Framework Directive (WFD), many of those because of their fish stocks.S&TA was involved in a virulent public riposte to the EA’s claims, alongside colleagues from the Blueprint for Water team.We were able to show that, by their own records, several high profile salmon and sea trout rivers were showing declining trends – Hampshire Avon, Wye, Usk, Teifi, Lyn, Coquet etc – and wild brown populations have been severely impacted in many areas by habitat degradation and excessive water abstraction.Our joint statement also suggested that the EA’s boast of stocking hundreds of thousands of coarse fish into rivers merely showed the parlous state of wild coarse fish stocks!
A joint press release resulted in a Sunday Times article on Sunday January 16th, in which our Head of Science, Janina Gray, was quoted as the fisheries representative refuting the over-zealous claims about the state of our salmon stocks.
Vice Chair of Wildlife & Countryside Water Group
S&TA is very proud that Janina Gray has been elected Vice Chair of Link’s Water Group.Along with the fact that Janina led on two of the recent rewrites of the Blueprint for Water, this shows how far fisheries have come in the last few years, and S&TA particularly since we achieved charitable status.This is an important time for the water environment, with the Government’s Environment White Paper coming up for consultation this year, giving fisheries a vital opportunity to influence the major issues influencing our rivers, lakes and their fish stocks.And don’t forget that our environmental work is critical for ALL fish species, not just salmon and sea trout.Wild brown trout habitat is under threat in many rivers, and, as discussed below, stillwaters are also impacted by many environmental issues, as, of course, are coarse fish as well.
Stillwater Fly Life and Water Quality
We have already been approached by the anglers on one large English reservoir to help them look into the severe decline over recent years in their fly life.Apparently, even chironomids, the ‘buzzers’ so favoured by stillwater trout, are suffering.We have also been contacted by a member whose local stillwater has been heavily impacted by excessive nutrient introductions, resulting in heavy algal blooms and a visible drop in water quality.Indeed, many stillwaters experienced poor water and excessive blooms last year.
We would be very interested to hear from other significantly-sized stillwaters with similar problems.One of the least understood issues around the WFD delivery, and water management generally, is that stillwaters are affected every bit as much as rivers by stressors leading to poor water quality, and these need addressing just the same as our flowing waters – especially as stillwaters cannot flush away contaminants as rivers do.Please contact us on hq@salmon-trout.org
Annual Fund Raising Dinner
A date for your diaries is the Annual Fund Raising Dinner at Fishmongers’ Hall on Thursday October 6th.The 2010 dinner was a huge success, raising over £26,000 and giving everyone present a memorable evening.We are taking bookings already for tables and individual tickets for this year’s event, so please contact hq@salmon-trout.org to book your seats.
Meanwhile, members were extremely generous with donating auction lots last year.If you have any lots which you feel you might donate towards our work, please contact us – your support will be much appreciated, whether it be fishing, pictures, rare books or, particularly, something that might appeal to the wives/husbands and girlfriends/boyfriends who attend in large numbers and are not necessarily fisherfolk themselves!
Membership
As always, we much appreciate the members who strive to sign up friends who are not already contributing to the Association.It goes without saying that if every member signed up just one new recruit, we would very quickly double in size and influence.Please direct potential new recruits to the web site www.salmon-trout.org and follow the links to our membership pages.
www.salmon-trout.org
17/12/10
Salmon & Trout Association
E-Newsletter
Christmas 2010
A very Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year to all our Members and Supporters!
In the interests of saving the planet, we are not sending Christmas Cards this year! However, the Chairman, Trustees, Chief Executive and all the staff wish our members, sponsors, donors and all other supporters a very happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.
Thanks!
At the same time, we would like to thank you all for your help during the past year. With the continued support of members and the generosity of donors, we have been able to undertake more work during 2010 than we had planned, especially concerning the salmon farming issue on the Scottish West Coast and Islands (see below).
So, S&TA goes into 2010 in good heart. As ever, though, and in line with many other charities in our depressed economy, we need more members. You can increase your support for us by convincing a non-member relative or friend that they should join the Association or, consider giving them membership as a gift. For membership details, please click here
Aquaculture
You will have seen our recent press release uncovering information gleaned by Guy Linley-Adams, our solicitor instructed on the aquaculture campaign. He obtained correspondence from Marine Scotland under freedom of information laws, more specifically the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 that relates to a decision made by the Scottish Government earlier this year to reverse an earlier commitment to publish salmon farm sea lice and containment audits on-line. In a formal decision relating to fishfarming in Lochs Awe and Etive, the Scottish Information Commissioner had previously decided that such audits should be made public.
The Scottish Government seems to have caved in to threats from the fish farming industry that if details of the farm lice and containment audits conducted by Marine Scotland were made public, the Government could be sued by the farmers for loss of business.
It is not only that the audits are not to be published. In response to the Salmon & Trout Association’s aquaculture Petition, the Minister confirmed to the Scottish Parliament’s Petitions Committee that no such audits have been carried out on farms since March this year.
There is far more evidence of poor performance in the industry emerging from Guy’s investigations, so brace yourself for more revelations next year! This is not just us trying to embarrass the Government for the fun of it. This is one part of a strategy to pressurise the Government to better regulate the industry, to show a tougher response to those failing farms, for both Government and industry to end the unwarranted secrecy that surrounds farmed fish lice counts and other such data, and for the industry as a whole to farm in a manner that does not harm wild fish. Inevitably, this will not be possible until some farms relocate from sensitive sites near wild salmon and sea trout migration routes, so there is much work still to be done over the coming years. More reason for you to keep supporting us!
Meanwhile, you will probably have heard of the Shetland farm which controversially killed fish back in August while treating for lice. A small insight into the way that some parts of the industry operate is that the illegal treatment used was a product licensed for use on sheep and not on farmed salmon. The illegal treatment involved the same active ingredient – cypermethrin – that used to be used in sheep dips which S&TA, with colleagues from other fisheries NGOs, managed to get banned from the UK last year! Marine Scotland records report that 100 tonnes of salmon were killed.
Finally on aquaculture, the Petitions Committee debated our petition recently. Rather than close it down as we might have expected, the Committee has written again to the Government, basically asking them to answer their original questions a little more meaningfully than they did the first time. We hope that somewhere in the corridors of Scottish Government, the message will be getting through that this issue is not going away.
And don’t forget to join us on Facebook
S&TA has launched its own Facebook fanpage. If you have a Facebook account, you can now keep up to date with all the S&TA news and latest work on our fanpage. Just visit our website and click on the facebook icon. If you do not have an account but are interested in joining facebook, simply go to www.facebook.com and fill in your details and then click ‘sign up’! It is free and simple. Once your account has been set up, you will be prompted on how to add details, find friends and load photos.
Office Closure Dates
The office will be closed from Thursday December 23rd and reopen on Tuesday January 4th.
That’s it for 2010!
Many thanks again for your support, have a great Christmas and New Year, and back to tackling all these issues again in January!
www.salmon-trout.org
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26/11/10
NEWS RELEASE
26 November 2010
Gagging of Scottish Government by salmon farmers exposed; FOI shows how authorities capitulated after threat of legal action
A series of Freedom of Information requests on behalf of the Salmon and Trout Association (S&TA) has exposed how the Scottish Government made a policy u-turn in the face of pressure, including the threat of legal action, from the salmon farming industry. In March Marine Scotland informed the industry that it would be publishing details online of certain inspection reports on salmon farms relating in particular to sea lice infestations and fish escapes, carried out under the terms of the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act – given a ruling by the Scottish Information Commissioner that such information should be in the public domain.
The industry’s trade body, the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO), responded threatening Marine Scotland with legal action if any company’s business was “compromised” as a consequence. Marine Scotland then announced that it was “suspending the publication plan” and reviewing the situation in light of the issues raised by SSPO. In October Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham confirmed that no audits or inspections of fish farms had taken place since March 2010.
Guy Linley-Adams, the lawyer tasked with spearheading S&TA’s campaign to protect wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout from the negative impacts of aquaculture, commented: “The threat by the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation to bring claims for damages against Marine Scotland over publication of enforcement audits is, in my experience, unprecedented. On the one hand it shows just how confident the salmon growers are of their position in Scotland with respect to central government. On the other it is a clear indication of just how impotent the authorities are in the face of the salmon farmers’ bullying tactics.”
Paul Knight, S&TA CEO, said: “This saga gives the lie to Scottish Government’s contention that the salmon farming industry is properly and effectively regulated. It now appears that the industry is calling the tune and consequently there must be fundamental questions over the credibility of Scottish Government’s aquaculture policy and, indeed, its commitment to protecting wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout, two of Scotland’s iconic natural resources.”
Prominent amongst salmon farming companies opposing the publication of inspection reports in March was Loch Duart Ltd, which brands itself as the “Sustainable Salmon Company”. Loch Duart admitted to an escape of 4,000 farmed salmon from its Loch Laxford site in early November.
Mr Linley-Adams added: “Loch Duart is a prime example of why Marine Scotland’s inspection reports should indeed be in the public domain. The company has an abysmal record on fish escapes and is reported to have lost almost 60,000 in eight separate incidents in the last ten years. Perhaps it is understandable why it so keen to suppress certain inspection reports on its farms.”
ENDS
Issued on behalf of the Salmon & Trout Association by Andrew Graham-Stewart (01863 766767 or 07812 981531). For further information contact Guy Linley-Adams on 01432 379093 or 07837 881219.
Extracts from correspondence between Marine Scotland and the salmon farmers (obtained under FOI)
From Neil Purvis, Fish Health Inspectorate Policy Manager, Marine Scotland to stakeholders (salmon farmers), 25 March 2010: “Since November 2008, the Fish Health Inspectorate has implemented a programme of audits in relation to the parasite (sea lice) and containment provisions of the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Act 2007….This letter is to inform you that Marine Scotland will be publishing a summary of audit findings on our website www.frs-scotland.gov.uk and this page will be updated periodically as audits are conducted. The intention to publish this information has been made previously through meetings of the Ministerial Working Group for Scottish Aquaculture. In addition to a summary publication, if third party applications for the full details of audits are made then this information may be released.”
From Phil Thomas, Chairman of the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation, to Rob Raynard (Director of the Aquaculture and Fish Health Programme within Marine Scotland Science) and Charles Allan (Head of the Fish Health Inspectorate within Marine Scotland Science), 30 March 2010: “If a company’s business is compromised, or if it loses business as a result of an MSS ‘audit’, there is every possibility it could seek legal redress on the grounds that the ‘audit’ is ‘not competent under statute’ or ‘not-accredited and is carried out by staff who are not qualified auditors’. Similarly, if you release audit information that contains any error, there is every prospect that a company will seek legal redress through the courts for material damage to its business.”
From Rob Raynard (Director of the Aquaculture and Fish Health Programme within Marine Scotland Science) to Phil Thomas, Chairman of the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation, 9 April 2010: “The Scottish Information Commissioner has deemed that we do not have grounds to withhold information or the names of businesses where such information is generated under statute……..However, in light of the other issues that you raise we are suspending the publication plan until we have had the opportunity to fully investigate these and to consider with SG policy colleagues in Edinburgh.”
From Loch Duart Ltd to Neil Purvis (Marine Scotland Science), 30 March 2010: “Loch Duart Ltd does not agree to its audits being placed on the website….Inaccurate critical reports could destroy a company or its business and in such a case, what would the legal position be? We require a full and frank response to how a company might achieve financial redress before this proposal is brought to fruition.”
Note to Editors
1) The Salmon & Trout Association (S&TA) was established in 1903 to address the damage done to our rivers by the polluting effects of the Industrial Revolution. For 107 years, the Association has worked to protect fisheries, fish stocks and the wider aquatic environment on behalf of game angling and fisheries. In 2008 it was granted charitable status. S&TA’s charitable objectives empower it to address all issues affecting fish and the aquatic environment, supported by strong scientific evidence from its scientific network. Its charitable status enables it to take the widest possible remit in protecting salmonid fish stocks, and the aquatic environment upon which they depend. For further information visit www.salmon-trout.org
2) S&TA recently engaged Guy Linley-Adams, a dedicated campaigner and lawyer, to focus solely on just one key issue: to move the fish farming industry towards environmental sustainability. The priority targets for the campaign are be the relocation of those existing fish farm sites identified in areas sensitive for wild fish and the removal of all smolt cage units from river systems containing wild salmon populations. Guy is a practising solicitor qualified in England and Scotland, specialising in environmental, water, fisheries and freedom of information law. Guy has had a number of successes with the Scottish Information Commissioner in securing disclosure of official information on fish farming, including inspection reports and audits relating to escapes on Lochs Lochy, Etive and Awe.
Salmon and Trout Association
Fishmongers’ Hall
London Bridge
London
EC4R 9EL
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