FISH FARMS
Torn net effect
E ARLY October brought Storm Amy and gale-force winds to Scotland. At Gorsten fish farm in Loch Linnhe, a sea loch in the west Highlands, waves dislodged mooring anchors, tearing open nets and freeing 75,000 salmon.
Those fish began spreading up the River Lochy towards its endangered wild salmon, but in a run of stories the week after the escape, farm owners Mowi tried their own slippery escape. The National, the Scotsman and then the Times quoted a Mowi spokesperson saying the same thing: “It is inaccurate to suggest that any escaped fish might be diseased, cause environmental damage, or pose any significant risk to wild breeding populations.”