Hundreds of anglers and ghillies are expected to gather outside the Scottish Parliament this week amid growing concern over the decline of wild Atlantic salmon.
The protest, scheduled for Wednesday, coincides with a session of Holyrood’s Rural Affairs and Islands Committee, where Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon is due to face questions about the regulation of salmon farming in Scotland.
Organisers say the demonstration will bring together representatives of Scotland’s angling community, which they estimate includes around 32,000 members. It is believed to be the first time in modern history that organised angling interests have assembled at the Scottish Parliament over concerns related to wild salmon.
Ken Reid, administrator of the Salmon Fishing Club community, said: “Anglers are typically conservation volunteers, not protestors. When the people who quietly restore rivers and fund vital science feel compelled to stand outside Parliament, it reflects the seriousness of the situation and that something has gone badly wrong.”
Alison Baker, chair of Angling Scotland, said anglers were increasingly alarmed by the trend.
“Anglers have long been the ‘eyes and ears’ of our rivers, but we are now witnessing a collapse in wild Atlantic salmon numbers that no amount of catch-and-release or local conservation can fix alone,” she said.
Campaigners attending the demonstration are expected to call for an immediate moratorium on further expansion of open-net salmon farming, an independent cumulative impact assessment and stronger compliance with international conservation obligations.
The protest comes as the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Islands Committee continues its scrutiny of salmon farming regulation. A committee report published in January last year criticised the pace of progress in improving oversight of the sector and urged ministers to implement reforms within 12 months.
Gougeon is expected to provide an update on the government’s response when she appears before the committee alongside civil servants Jill Barber, head of aquaculture development, and Hazel Bartels, senior delivery lead for farmed fish health and innovation.
Something “badly wrong”????
There’s a lot “badly wrong” about Shane Jone’s dreams of fish farming.
Fish farming needs high capital input, is fraught with risk of disease because fish are crammed in to make it barely profitable and is a poor investment. In fact if I had money to invest it would never be in fish farming!
Environmentally it”s dangerous to wild fish stocks plus it’s a dirty operation with antibiotics needed to stave off disease.
A bum investment for NZ.
There is a much bigger issue taking place in New Zealand.
The RMA (1991) was enlightened environmental legislation for its time recognizing New Zealand could not longer keep destroying natural capital to grow primary industries.
As the conservative OECD observed in 2017, New Zealand has reached its environmental limits, issuing a “Fail Grade” for New Zealand’s environmental future.
The current Coalition Government instead of taking note is hell bent on keeping this country a world leader in the sphere of environmental and freshwater degradation.
The present RMA reform – the Planning Act and Natural Environment Act together with the Local Authorities Reform, and the castration of F&G as body with a Statutory duty to advocate for freshwater habitats of salmon and trout all are aimed at a short term economic boost that will create massive generational loss.
Anglers are among the first to observe this loss.
The South Island’s salmon fishery is on a rapid path to extinction due to irrigation and High Country intensification wiping out spawning and nursery habitats.
Sadly Kiwi Anglers are a passive mob.
Their response to date has simply been to stop buying licenses.
I agree 100% with Peter Trolove, the Kiwi angler seems to roll with whatever hsppen. Not willing to stand up and fight for the rights, they want an environment to play in but won’t fight for it, never see the big suppliers making any noise, hello, that’s there livelihoods, but no noise.
Hunters fight for the rights
Come on Kiwi anglers.