Major salmon escape denied by fish farmers
(From The Orcadian dated September 21, 2000)

Local fish farmers dismissed reports this week that large numbers of farmed salmon escaped from sea cages in the Bay of Firth area.

Reports have been recently made of a large shoal of fish lying under the brig near the Firth School. The occurrence has also been reported to the Fisheries Research Laboratory at Torry in Aberdeen.

But the administrator for the Orkney Fish Farmers Association, Maureen Spence dismissed the claims. She said that during the last few days her members examined their cages with underwater cameras, walked the shoreline in the area, and checked with local folk, finding no basis to back up the reports.

The Scottish Fisheries Minister, Mr John Home Robertson, indicated on a fact-finding visit to Orkney in April this year, that the Government wanted to move towards a compulsory reporting scheme for fish farm escapes. At the time, the Minister mentioned the investigation carried out by the working group on fish farm escapes.

They had recommended the need for site-specific containment measures and contingency plans; the replacement of traditional wooden cages with modern robust structures, and that it should be a statutory requirement to notify the authorities of fish escapes.

They added that the Scottish Executive should authorise the emergency use of nets where appropriate and that the cost of providing these nets and dealing with escapes should be borne by the fish farm concerned.