Readers of the Press & Journal and Evening Express discuss the issues of the day – including salmon fishing, parking at Garthdee and renewable energy.
Fish farms’ threat to wild salmon has already been proven
Sir, – In his letter “Making scapegoats of salmon farming”, Dr Martin Jaffa defends the statement by the head of ecology at Sepa that salmon farming was not responsible for the decline of the Atlantic salmon in Scotland’s west coast rivers.
The Fraser River in British Columbia was once reputed to have had the largest runs of salmon in the world. In 1989, Norwegian industrial aquaculture moved into the region.
Alexandra Morton, a whale biologist, had been in Echo Bay studying the resident orca whale population since the early ’80s and, as years passed, grew increasingly concerned about declining numbers.
The indigenous people of British Columbia were also concerned about declining salmon numbers and the threat to their livelihoods, and asked Morton for help.
Salmon is part of the orca whales’ diet, so Morton decided to investigate if there was a connection between fish farms and the decline of wild Pacific salmon. She filmed and highlighted the infectious diseases and parasites emitted from the pens into the migration routes of wild Pacific salmon.
She presented the facts and fought the Canadian government and British Columbian authorities for 30 years. She received death threats, was followed and threatened at gunpoint, appeared in court and had decisions go against her. She faced financial ruin but still she carried on. Salmon numbers declined to such an extent, government conservation officers were called in to cull emaciated and starving grizzly bears.
After years of harassment and disappointments, finally, at a press conference in 2018 – after a First Nations-led occupation of salmon farms in Broughton that went viral – it was announced an agreement had been reached by the province and federal government, along with representatives of the First Nations, for the removal of salmon farms from the archipelago.
Against all the odds, Alexandra Morton proved the impact fish farms have not only on wild salmon, but on nature and wildlife in general.
Peter Fraser, Crathie, By Ballater.
Dive in and try joys of angling
I agree with Joseph Durno that the old Norco building could be converted into a multi-storey gymnasium, but why not encourage youngsters to get outdoors instead of being stuck inside?
Aberdeen & District Angling Association offers a fantastic deal on junior membership, with access to 30 miles of river fishing on the rivers Don, Dee, Ythan and Feugh.
The ADAA also offer its members access to two well-stocked stillwaters.
Being outdoors has many benefits for your wellbeing, and you can see amazing things on the riverbank – birds, deer, otters and the odd seal, all of which I doubt you will see in the old Norco building.
Juniors can also learn all about the river, what lives in it and how important the river is to the survival of hundreds of different bugs, flies and birds. Not just angling, but educational.
Kenny Riddell, Aberdeen and District angling association.
Facing issue of problem uni parking
Sir, – I’m afraid I’ve just had an undignified argument with three female RGU students who were parked in front of my house in a permit-only area.
They insisted their app allowed them to pay and park there. Not so. Needless to say they were not ticketed by the warden.
Between September and December there were roughly 100 cars improperly parked, with only three tickets issued!
To rub salt in the wound, Garthdee residents may soon have to pay £200 a year for their permit, in an area cluttered with students.
Norrie Brand.
Power guarantee is nonsense
Sir, – I write in response to Clark Cross’s inane letter ridiculing wind power over National Grid power contingency actions. That’s been their job for decades, to mitigate for possible events and hourly peaks.
The peak risk (Monday at 5pm), arose not from wind but possible French nuclear power outages (UK imports 5 to 10% of direct power). Imports (gas plus nuclear) add up to the largest slice of total electric power in UK.
Countries short of gas invest heavily in wind, solar and hydro (a “no-brainer” for China and India with capacities at 40% and rising faster than UK’s 30%), to reduce the cost and dependence on others.
UK diversified its power sources to be less tied to single fuel markets (like Russia). Today, UK does well with cheaper wind power, as UK overall wind consistency gave 28% (2022) of annual power generated, a better usage of capacity than China, so clearly merits more wind power here.
A plot of UK power margin history shows the current 25% average winter excess capacity is normal. In the 1960s, it was about 10%.
To have that far higher, to cater for every “blue moon” hourly peak and world events, would take doubling of gas power capacity and 100% guaranteed excess gas import contracts, at massive cost locked in for decades.
This, to 100% guarantee his 5pm dinner at the “flick of a switch”, is economic nonsense, like his letter.
Mike Hannan, Cults, Aberdeen.
Issue with another reader
Sir, – The veil has slipped from Herbert Petrie as he criticises hard work and aspiration and instead promotes old-fashioned socialist views in its place – more akin to communist states like Russia, China, Cuba and so on.
Indeed, unlike his form of socialism or authoritarianism, capitalism can reward individual innovation (risk and reward) and work ethic, where anyone can have an opportunity to improve their station in life by hard work or coming up with new ideas.
As someone who worked himself up from the shop floor when attending evening classes at RGIT (with no time off) often working 12-hour shifts (including weekends), I certainly do not need lectures from the likes of him. No, Mr Petrie, it’s not about ideology – it is called hard graft with no guarantee of success.
The idea that people of his “ilk” (Oxford dictionary: type; kind) believe that they alone are somehow a paragon of morality whilst everyone else who doesn’t share their nationalistic views or attempt to improve themselves are by his definition “corrupt and greedy” is contemptible – especially to the high-earning professionals and entrepreneurs who now have to work an equivalent of over five months a year for the government before earning a single penny in a Scotland where 46% do not pay any income tax.
Furthermore, Mr Petrie appears to be oblivious to the fact that the vast majority of Scots welcomed Alister Jack’s “imperious” intervention to force a rethink by the “gender-obsessed” Ms Sturgeon to prevent convicted rapists into women’s prisons.
As far as his “new day coming” is concerned; it reminds of Wilkins Micawber from the novel by Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, where the character is identified by always believing that “something will turn up” – which, of course, it never does.
Finally, I hate to disillusion Mr Petrie further, but his brand of ideology for “his country” is not shared by the majority of Scots or other advanced economies, and I certainly would not want my grandchildren’s dreams dashed by such nonsense.
Ian Lakin, Murtle Den Road, Milltimber.
Unconvinced by climate change
Sir, – There she goes again, with never a scintilla of doubt, Ms [Lesley] Ellis declares that the climate change discussion is settled. Fossil fuel is the culprit, science says so and the sooner the rest of us accept this, the better.
Well I, for one, have yet to be convinced.
Because whilst there may be some increase in flooding in various UK locations, I think this is largely caused by injudicious planning and building projects that probably shouldn’t have been allowed in the first place.
But this can be dealt with through sensible local action, backed by government help.
We can do this without beggaring ourselves as a result of following Ms Ellis’s advice.
As for the rest of the world, I would remind Ms Ellis that many parts of our planet are uninhabitable and always have been.
The topography of the Earth is changing all the time, some locations can become untenable, other places become more habitable.
What is certain is this process, even if exacerbated by our tiny contribution of CO2, is relentless, whatever we in the UK do, because the rest of the world hasn’t climbed aboard Ms Ellis’s “climate change bandwagon” and are very unlikely to do so.
Alex J Gray, Dunvegan Place, Ellon.
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