The Scottish Government

Nick Nairn does Scotland a great disservice by trying to portray salmon as coming from rivers. The vast majority of salmon produced in Scotland is intensively produced in fish farms, using environmentally damaging and totally unsustainable practices. The bulk commodity industry is dominated by large multinational companies who care little about Scotland's environment and even less about their workforce.

I know this as I used to work in the industry for several years at a time when it would have been possible for us to develop aquaculture in a sustainable direction, but sadly successive UK and Scottish government agencies chose to throw subsidies and grants the way of big business to encourage huge growth of the industry, and leaving us with a dreadful environmental mess in our west coast lochs and islands, and the near extinction of salmon and sea trout from many of our rivers.

Salmon farming can never be sustainable while it depends on feeding 5 tonnes of wild fish to produce one tonne of salmon for human consumption. On top of that there are the artificial chemical pigments fed to the fish as food supplements, to produce the lurid pink fleshed pulp we see on supermarket slabs, and the antibiotics fed to ward off diseases prevalent in the overcrowded pens.

Farmed salmon ? - I don't think so. If you must eat it buy organic as an occasional treat from Shetland, fed on the offcuts and trimmings from wild fishery processors. But better still eat Scottish shellfish, which live on a natural diet, make no demands on the environment, and are probably the best in the world.

Come on Nick Nairn, stop pedaling such blatant industry propaganda.

AS NN says, yes Scotland has wonderful food resources, but apart from excellent chefs like Nick, many of the standards of preparation and presentation are, frankly, embarrassing. With just a little more knowledge, care & attention-to-detail we could much improve our still comic reputation abroad.

Just wondered why we have not heard from Mr Nairn?

Has he any views/opinions on the comments posted here?

Bruce Sandison

Please steer towards a ‘realistic’ Scottish food policy and acknowledge the coffee and tea drinker, tropical fruit eater and chocolaholic by including/ promoting Fairtrade products.

Scottish produce must be affordable and accessible to everyone. However, if we stop supporting farmers in developing countries by not buying their products, what are their options? So, responsible consumerism involves buying Fairtrade products as well as local.

I also agree with the comments made by Bruce Sandison.
I would also add that the food resourses used to feed farmed fish i.e. Sand Eels are being taken from the sea at such a rate that other wildlife is being badly affected.

I also agree with Bruce regarding our native fish and the damage caused by intensive fish farming.
Also the resourses used to feed these farmed fish is resulting in a severe lack of food for other species including sea birds.

Much as I like Salmon and love Scotland it hurts to see comments promoting the use of salmon in cooking as most of it is the result of industrail farming in Scottish waters. Having spent the last 20 years repeatedly holidaying and visiting Scotland the environmental damage condonned by successive governments has to be seen to be believed. I cannot understand why these polluters have not been banned and could just not see such vandalism of the environment being allowed in England or Wales.

Also agree with Bruce regarding our native fish and the damage caused by intensive fish farming in areas where they are causing great harm both to native migratory fish stocks as well as other marine species. That includes your beloved shellfish Nick.

1) "Sorry, Nick, but as a food source "the salmon in the rivers" doesn't work. "

2)"What we do have, however, in the West Highlands and Islands of Scotland, are mass-produced farmed salmon from factory fish farms.
"

3) "Disease and pollution from these farms, and escapes, is driving West Highland and Island wild fish to the point of extinction. "

Three very important statements of fact.

And may I humbly add, that, as a very regular visitor to scotland I do not visit in the hope and expectation of being fed farmed salmon.

And I am very much aware that the wild fish resources in scotland are the bedrock of an important segment of the scottish tourism industry of which I am a paying client. Fish farming-in its current form- is killing those resources and thereby that industry.

Thats not good news for anyone.

We could have had salmon from the rivers once upon a time,sadly,the fish farming industry has put an end to to that.I'm not entirely happy about eating shellfish from waters near to fish farms either :(