Are marine losses of salmon due to fish farms?

You may be aware that there are proposals to make virtually all rivers in Wales ‘Catch and Release’ in 2017 (this will also happen in England and Scotland).  The reason for imposing ‘catch and release’ is to conserve what few salmon manage to return to our rivers.  The evidence from the past 15 years of catch and release has shown that imposing catch and release has done nothing to preserve the spring stock so why do NRW/EA/SEPA consider total catch and release will make any difference?

Watch this video of evidence gathered in Canada which attempts were made to suppress click here   Watching this film proved extremely emotional, it lasts almost an hour but is worth every second

One of the team’s views:

We have been told by NRW that anglers are not the problem and that it is marine losses which are the main issue but they have not provided any idea of what is happening at sea.  As NRW has closed all hatcheries in Wales the only tool left in the NRW box is to impose total catch and release for salmon and this may be extended to sea trout on some rivers.

So what is happening at sea?

The introduction of salmon farms along the West Coast of Scotland and Ireland coincided with the decline of salmon and sea trout in some Scottish rivers this was attributed to increased sea lice infestations on smolts.   As the salmon farming industry has expanded we are seeing fewer salmon returning to UK rivers and the question therefore has to be is there a link between increased production from salmon farms and declining wild fish stocks?

Fish farms just happen to be on, or close too,  the migration routes of salmon from UK rivers to the Greenland feeding grounds and it could be that these salmon farms are part of the problem.  The decline in Atlantic salmon numbers is not restricted to the UK the whole of the North Atlantic and some Pacific rivers are affected.  The common denominator is the rearing of Atlantic salmon in sea cages near to or on the migration routes of salmon, although there is no clear evidence to support this assumption.  We are well aware of sea lice infestations on smolts but in looking for answers to marine losses we have recently found a YouTube documentary from Canada which looks at the death of hundreds of sockeye salmon before they have spawned and in the documentary it is alleged that the sockeye salmon are picking up viruses as they migrate past salmon farms which are producing Atlantic salmon.

This is the link to the YouTube video (its 1 hour 10 minutes long), watch it and weep!   www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTbxOFcvC4U we would ask that anyone finding a dead salmon which has not spawned (cock or hen) and looks in good condition to examine the carcase and look for indication of disease as shown in the documentary.  We need to take action now before salmon disappear from our rivers for ever.