SALMON FARMING
Holm truths
A PLANNING application for a new salmon farm is quietly making its way through the Shetland Islands council. Fish Holm, a site between the remote archipelago’s mainland and the northern island of Yell, would be stocked for 6,000 tonnes, making it the country’s largest fish farm by weight.
Record-high death rates, mass fish escapes and grisly gill diseases have stoked scrutiny of salmon farming internationally so surely Shetlanders can rely on their council to study Scottish Sea Farms Ltd’s application for potential impacts on the water column, sea floor and the fish themselves? Three days after the plan went live, the council’s environmental health department gave its written verdict: “I have no objection.” Departmental emails showed the statement was produced by a trainee.