Highland-based campaigners have accused a fresh-water conservation body of “collaborating” with the salmon farming industry.
Protect Wild Scotland (PWS) charged the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland (RAFTS) of selling itself for “30 pieces of silver” by helping to identify areas where the fish farming industry can expand.
RAFTS has been responsible for the Scottish Government’s £425,000 Managing Interactions Aquaculture Project (MIAP). The project is looking at the interaction between captive and farmed salmon on the west coast and Hebrides.
Ullapool-based PWS said by identifying the most sensitive areas, the project was effectively showing the aquaculture industry areas where it can expand, and contributing to the Scottish Government target to grow the industry, which it opposes. Documents obtained under freedom of information show the government wanted to understand the nature of any “buy-in” by the industry before proceeding with more funding.
PWS director Jenny Scobie said: “The wild fish lobby should be campaigning against the expansion of salmon farming instead of collaborating.
“Allowing ‘buy-in’ from Marine Harvest, the Scottish Salmon Company and the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation means selling out wild salmon and sea trout. Judas accepted 30 pieces of silver – RAFTS is shamelessly selling out wild salmon for less than half a million pounds.”
RAFTS chairman Andrew Wallace said its work was welcomed by planning authorities, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Crown Estate and Scottish Government as a possible way to resolve the conflicts between fish farming and wild fisheries.
The three strains of its work involved looking at cross-breeding of farmed and wild fish, sea-lice and developing a model to help locate fish farms in areas with the least impact on wild fish, he said.
“Curiously the outputs of all three of these projects have been regularly cited by Protect Wild Scotland in their campaign against fish farming so it is hard to understand why they so object to the project,” he said.