Campaigners against the environmental damage caused by fish farms have condemned as “inhumane” the salmon farming industry after 300,000 young salmon died in a North Uist jellyfish attack.
It follows confirmation by Loch Duart Salmon that their young salmon were attacked by the killer jellyfish. Other fish were weakened in the attack and later died due to exhaustion and the impact of poor weather conditions. The fish were said to have died as they were trapped in the fish farm’s nets at the company’s farm in Lochmaddy.
Loch Duart Salmon is claimed to be sustainable and clean
Now Outer Hebrides Against Fish Farming (OHAFF) has gone on the attack itself claiming it was a tragic incident which highlighted everything that is inhumane and wrong with salmonid aquaculture.
Peter Urpeth from OHAFF said: “That so many young fish have died a panicked and painful death either directly due to jellyfish stings or through exhaustion as a consequence of the attack, is a damning indictment of the industry, and why so many people concerned for animal welfare want the unnatural and forced containment of a migratory and iconic fish species to cease.”
Farmed salmon were a sitting target for swarms of sealice and jellyfish which were prone to mass outbreaks of disease and the industry was polluting seas and threatening wild fish stocks, he said.
“Sealice are showing growing resistance to chemical treatments and in recent years fish farmers have reported huge mortalities to disease. This has to stop, and OHAFF urges anyone with a concern for animal welfare to stop buying farmed salmon for Christmas and forever.”
Loch Duart Salmon did not immediately respond to the criticism of the industry.
The people who support Outer Hebrides Against Fish farming are overflowing with hypocrisy.
Though its very regrettable what happened to the young salmon in Uist, did they suffer any more than panicked fish scooped up by trawlers ,who are slowly squeezed and suffocated to death in a fishing net.? Or ,worse still , fish who are painfully tormented to exhaustion trying to free themselves from the hook gouging into their sensitive mouth . All in the name of sport !
Fish caught by real fishermen are eaten at least, whatever the method used to catch. These salmon are pure wasted, victims of a mess created by greedy corporate CEO’s. Wake up, even the local farm worker’s know that industrial salmon farming is pure CRAP and the worst thing ever to come to the west coast of Scotland, a disgrace to the people & country.