Opinion
Selective science
Readers of my reLAKSation blog will know that I have repeatedly referred to the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Economy committee meeting of 18 November 2020 in which SEPA’s Head of Ecology said that sea lice from salmon farms are not responsible for the decline of wild fish. I keep mentioning this because the wild fish sector…
Read MoreHome truths
Sometimes you can just see it when the penny drops. I was with an MSP on an island salmon farm not so long ago. The MSP – it would be unfair to name them – had listened politely to all the talk about salmon farming health and welfare, rearing and harvesting without really engaging. But…
Read MoreThe price of everything…
The saying goes that there are many people who know the price of everything but the value of nothing. At a time when prices are rising and everyone foresees trouble ahead, this seems true of so many of us. Salmon prices are at an all-time high, along with so many other costs rising. I will…
Read MoreStemming the tide
I recently participated in the Seafood Matters meeting held at Stirling University and co-hosted by Lancaster University and the University of Aberdeen. I was specifically asked to answer the following question – recognising salmon’s successes at reaching more consumers, why is seafood consumption still declining? What are we doing wrong? And have we broadly failed…
Read MoreMessage in a box
Tucked away in the corner of one of the bigger barns at Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Show was a three-metre cube with three simple words on it: “Scottish Salmon Experience.” It could have been described as a small cinema but, really, it was much, much more than that. Inside, visitors were transported to a salmon farm…
Read MoreTrade travails
The final leg of their journey was undertaken in a pair of six-seater taxis from Edinburgh but, given the distances they had travelled just to get to that point, they probably would have travelled by horse-drawn trap had that been the only means available. These were vets, customs officials and government employees from Mongolia. They…
Read MoreThe big picture
Online meetings may have kept the shellfish industry in touch over the past two years, but it was a relief to everyone to be able to attend the 52nd Annual Conference of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain (SAGB) in person this year. The conference covered both farmed and fished shellfish. This report does not…
Read MoreNo-show at the trade show
Since writing my contribution last month, I have been travelling, including a short visit to the Aquaculture UK event in Aviemore. There was a real buzz about the place, not just because of the ability to meet friends old and new but because the new organisers had much improved the visitor experience. I have heard…
Read MoreInnovation vs the hive mind
How wonderful to have a show again! Aquaculture UK was a chance to meet old friends or in my case very old friends. It’s been so long since I have met so many people I know in such a short time who I haven’t seen for years. One or two of my friends even admitted…
Read MoreIt’s an ill wind…
At the New Year I wrote about the possibility of Ukraine being invaded. How much I wish the sources I had been reading were wrong! That such a proud and resourceful people should be put through such a pointless and vicious war is a tragedy akin to Greek mythology rather than our times. I have…
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