Fish Legal has announced the publication of the Aquaculture Information Pack by the Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust (SIFT). This important document will help local communities help communities who may wish to oppose fish farm expansion and development in coastal areas where they live and fish. It also has wider importance to the game fishing community throughout the UK, whose concern at the plight of the totemic wild salmon crosses national borders.
SIFT is a new charity set up to promote the environmentally sustainable development of inshore waters and to which Fish Legal is a founding partner. The information pack developed jointly by SIFT, Fish Legal and the Salmon & Trout Association is a notable achievement for this new charity, and a key milestone in Fish Legal’s ongoing work to help protect the aquatic environment by fighting against damaging salmon farming. Fish Legal has provided practical support and expertise to SIFT in the development of the pack.
Salmon and sea trout populations in many of Scotland’s west coast rivers systems where fish farms are concentrated have collapsed over the last thirty years causing a huge impact on fishing and much needed fishery jobs. The widespread expansion of fish farming on the west of Scotland remains the best explanation for those population collapses, a fact which causes ongoing friction between environmental and fishery interest groups and the industry. The reaction of the aquaculture industry to the publication of the pack has been predictably hostile.
Robert Younger, Fish Legal Solicitor and SIFT chair said:
“The damaging impacts of aquaculture on wild salmonid populations are increasingly well understood, however the other impacts of what is a polluting industry should not be ignored. People in the angling world sometimes forget that we are not the only people who have grave concerns. By making other people aware of all the impacts and hopefully engaging them in the planning process, we will help to strengthen the case against fish farm development in inappropriate locations.”
William Rundle, Head Solicitor of Fish Legal added:
“Fish Legal made its name by helping ordinary people use the common law to fight pollution in rivers, often standing up to huge corporations who had caused devastating environmental damage. Fish Legal strongly supports SIFT and this project because it shares our values of empowering people to fight pollution, in this case in the marine environment. It is important that we do all we can to stop polluters harming the environment and the interests of anglers, wherever that harm occurs. Our Scottish Solicitor Robert Younger has made an excellent contribution to that proud and important heritage with his work on this project.”
