Sir, More than 3,000 signatures have now been collected by Friends of the Sound of Jura against a proposed fish farm within the Loch Sunart to Sound of Jura Marine Protected Area (MPA).
The local group is buoyed by this groundswell of support for the local and national petitions (see tinyurl. com/fosoj). The group’s key concerns are for wild salmon and trout runs on the River Add, critically endangered flapper skate that use the deep trench beside the proposed farm, and local businesses that are based on the sustainable use of the sea.
Recent reports have highlighted the toxic nature of treatment against sea lice infestations at fish farms, as well as the large amount of fish farm effluent that would be dumped into the Marine Protected Area. The network of MPAs in Scotland is part of the government’s commitment to a ‘clean, healthy, safe, productive and biologically diverse marine and coastal environment that meets the long-term needs of people and nature’.