Public kept in the dark for two years over mass escape of farmed salmon into sea while being transported from Sutherland
A huge escape of farmed salmon has only just come to light, almost two years after it happened.
Nearly 80,000 fish escaped into the sea while being transported by boat from Sutherland to the Orkneys, it has emerged.
It is reported that the fish were able to make their way out of the boat through an unsecured hatch on the ship’s tank.
Escaped farmed salmon can pose a number of threats to wild salmon populations, including the spread of disease, genetic interbreeding and competition for resources.
The 12-month-old fish, which weighed an average of 100g, belonged to Cooke Scotland, a Canadian company that raises young fish from eggs to smolts in freshwater hatcheries across Scotland.
It is understood the fish came from a fish farm at Loch Shin and had been taken to Lochinver for transportation to Orkney.
The escape - the largest such event in the country for nearly a decade - happened in February 2023, and was only revealed following a Freedom of Information request made by the Green Britain Foundation.
Officials only record escapes linked to specific farm sites, leaving transport-related incidents outside the monitoring framework.
A spokesperson for the Green Britain Foundation said: “This loophole has allowed one of Scotland’s largest salmon escapes to go unnoticed for for over a year.
“The fact that officials are only considering changes to reporting requirements nearly two years after such a signifiant escape occurred is deeply concerning.
“The escape starkly contradicts recent salmon industry asserst. In October Ben Hadfield, the chief operating officer for salmon farmer Mowi Scotland,told a Scottish Government inquiry that ‘escape levels have dropped massively - to one fish out of all the fish held in Scotland’.
“The revelation of 80,000 escaped salmon thoroughly debunks this statement, once again raising serious questions about the accuracy of industry-provided information.”
The spokesperson added: “The escape raises significant environmental concerns, particularly regarding the potential for hybridisation between farmed and endangered wild Atlantic salmon populations, which would alter the genetic makeup of wild populations.
The Green Britain Foundation is now calling for the immediate revision of reporting requirements to include all salmon escapes, regardless of location.
The foundation also wants to see the implementation of stricter regulations for fish transport and containment. And in addition is is urging that comprehensive environmental impact assessments of all aspects of salmon farming operations be undertaken.
