Sir,
I have been following the Lamlash fish farm letters culminating in the two and a bit columns from Craig Anderson. His dissertation offers nothing but the usual platitudes about working with all and sundry, yet he makes no real mention of the pollution effects except to say they would be minimised. That is unacceptable. There should be no pollution at all. He fails to say how the death toll of farmed salmon caused by lice and gill disease is going to be addressed. I refer to the Sunday Herald report of the mortality of Marine Harvest salmon, 7,609 tons in 2016, all being transported by road to Widnes, Lancashire, to be burned.
The Scottish Government is more interested in the revenue from farmed salmon than the environmental damage it is doing. My own view is no expansion till the disease and seabed pollution are ended. On the seabed pollution, I believe a system of suction removal of solids should be used. Waterways can be cleared with this technology so why not salmon waste? I am sure reluctance to spend money is the answer to that. Finally, our seas worldwide are reaching pollution saturation and all the talk by big polluters of minimising the effects of their actions are of no value to our fragile world. The sea is the engine that powers our planet so stop the rot now. Oh and why is a Forresian interested in Arran? My roots are in Arran and boyhood memories of angling contests that filled baskets with fish before greed killed that.