2,500 Scottish jobs go in salmon farming

[Hoppy]

The Salmon Farm Protest Group
An ruda na bo bhroin, cha bhi e na do thmhnadh
‘That which you have wasted will not be there for future generations’

2,500 Scottish jobs go in salmon farming

Figures released by the Scottish Executive on 15th June disclose that 1,500 production and processing jobs have been lost in salmon farming in Scotland since 2002 following the dominance of the industry by foreign-owned companies.

SFPG chairman Bruce Sandison wrote to First Minister Jack McConnell in May asking if the Scottish Executive (SE) had adjusted its assessment of job numbers supported by the industry in line with recent failures and amalgamations of farms in the West Highlands and Islands.

Responding for Jack McConnell, Paul Haddon of the SE’s Marine Group said, “In 2001-02 it was estimated that there were about 10,000 jobs in Scotland generated by the production & processing of salmon. The latest figures currently available are for 2004 when it was estimated that the equivalent figure was about 8,500 jobs.”

Since 2004, fish processing plants have closed in the Outer Hebrides and a number of fish farms and smolt-rearing facilities have closed in Wester Ross, Inverness-shire, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides. Scotland’s largest fish farmers, Marine Harvest and Stolt, have amalgamated and have since been acquired by the Norwegian multi-national, Pan Fish.

Pan Fish has a controlling interest in Fjord Salmon, another Norwegian company that operates in Scotland, and the new group will give Pan Fish over 65% control of Scottish salmon farming, providing that the UK office of fair trading approves the deal. The Pan Fish amalgamation is being vigorously supported by the Scottish Executive.

SFPG chairman Bruce Sandison said: “We estimate that 500 jobs have been lost since 2004 because of closures. If the Pan Fish deal goes through, another 500 jobs could go, bringing the total number of jobs shed in the past four years to around 2,500. During that time the industry has received millions of tax-payer funds, the result of which has been to destabilise rural communities and inflict pain and hardship on those who have lost their jobs.”

UK imports of Norwegian farm salmon are increasing. So far this year 15,000 tons have been received compared to 9,000 tons last year. Bruce Sandison commented, “I believe that the support given to Norwegian fish farmers by the Scottish Executive, both financially and morally, is disgraceful. The Executive has sold the right of future generations of Scots to enjoy a clean coastal and freshwater environment to satisfy the whims of foreign investors.”

For more information about the work of the SFPG see

www.salmonfarmmonitor.org
Hysbackie, Tongue, by Lairg, Sutherland IV27 4XJ, Scotland
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