SEA TROUT FARMS AROUND BUTE AND CUMBRAES 2021

SEA TROUT FARMS AROUND BUTE AND CUMBRAES 2021 What are we allowing in the Clyde? What is the reality? Why am I interested? Sally Campbell

COMPLEXITY Everything affects everything "The Infinite Cosmos -- where absolutely everything affects everything else. " William Blake

COMPLEX SYSTEMS THINKING In the Marine Environment of the Clyde • Salinity and its variations with tides and river run off • Tides and wave action with storms • Currents • Seabed sediments • Day length • Climate: rainfall, temperature throughout the year, sun and warmth • Fauna including zooplankton and fish spawning grounds • Flora including phytoplankton, with spring and autumn blooms • Invasive species • Human activities and disturbance - fisheries, tourism, boating, swimming, cruise ships, commercial shipping etc. • Economic activities using water as effluent dispersant, such as 16 salmon and now proposed 3 trout farms • Influence of EU Water Directive 1998 resulted in cleaning up of Clyde and stopping dumping of Glasgow waste from 1904 -1998 • The three mile limit was in place for the bulk of the 100 years preceding 1984. Then opened up to mobile fisheries. • Waste. . effluent, chemical runoff, pesticides, diesel, air pollution, plastics etc • Who has the POWER? Government versus Community and more centralization may make this worse, then there are SEPA, Local Authority, Nature. Scot, Marine Scotland, Crown Estate Scotland. Do not forget the aquaculture companies, lobbying. • CLIMATE CHANGE for example the Clyde waters have warmed by 1 degree in 10 years

FISHERIES AQUACULTURE as practiced in Scotland, open cage aquaculture • Low capital costs • Maximise short term profit by not cleaning up its environmental impact • Food, faeces, disease control chemicals in bath treatment, escapes and interaction with wild trout or salmon • Sea lice are small crustaceans, same group as crabs, prawns, lobster, that shed exoskeletons to grow, and pesticides in bath treatment interferes with new shell growth • Cumulative impact of waste below farms and in marine waters • Political will, in the SNP Manifesto, to double aquaculture biomass by 2030 • Never underestimate the power of industry to influence • BUT never underestimate the POWER of the people, and communities and interest groups to create change in regulation, and change history.

SEA LICE Life Cycle and EFECTS on FISH Use of 3 pesticides to combat sea lice infestations: cypermethrin, deltamethrin, azamethiphos. Toxic to aquatic life with long term effects. Reduced zooplankton biodiversity. ‘The body of scientific information indicates that there is a risk that sea lice from aquaculture facilities negatively affect populations of salmon and sea trout on the west coast of Scotland’ Marine Scotland Science March 2021. However it also hedges its bets: ‘In view of uncertainties in available information, it is not a straightforward task to ascribe impact from a single farm to a specific wild salmonid population’.

EMISSIONS for 16 CLYDE SALMON FARMS 2019 LOCH FYNE Company Name of Farm Production in last 3 years Licence active at time max biomass last 3 years tonnes Receiving water Year Loch Fyne Total copper from Name of Farm feed and nets (kg) Ardcastle, Crarae, Furnace SSC Yes CAR/L/1010775/C 1/V 7 1753 Loch Fyne 2019 Ardcastle Ardgadden, Tarbert Road Ardrishaig SSC Yes CAR/L/1010817/V 6 2381 Loch Fyne 2019 Ardgadden Furnace Quarry, Upper Loch Fyne SSC Yes CAR/L/1003090/V 7 Glenan Bay, Portavadie SSC Yes CAR/L/1010474/V 8 Gob a Bharra, Loch Fyne Kilfinan SSC Yes Meall Mhor, Loch Fyne, N of Tarbert SCC Quarry Point, Crarae Furnace SSC Rubha Stillaig, Portavadie Zinc from feed(kg) Nitrogen kg Phosphorus Total organic Receiving kg carbon (kg) water 898. 88 113. 74 40286. 32 5563. 32 129251. 18 Loch Fyne 1124. 84 168. 17 59562. 47 8225. 29 191096. 25 Loch Fyne 450 Loch Fyne 2019 Furnace Quarry 0. 17 3. 63 1285. 20 177. 48 4123. 35 Loch Fyne 1220. 4 Loch Fyne 2019 Glenan Bay 478. 74 127. 66 45216. 01 6244. 12 145068. 02 Loch Fyne CAR/L/1010773/C 1/V 2 1072 Loch Fyne 2019 Gob a Bharra 562. 67 89. 32 31636. 58 4368. 86 101500. 71 Loch Fyne Yes CAR/L/1015860/V 7 1345 Loch Fyne 2019 Meall Mhor 542. 53 49. 53 17543. 53 2422. 68 56285. 51 Loch Fyne Yes CAR/L/1003088/C 1/V 7 1061 Loch Fyne 2919 Quarry Point 785. 40 76. 17 26978. 72 3725. 63 86556. 72 Loch Fyne SSC Yes CAR/L/1000891/C 1/V 3 840 Loch Fyne 2019 Rubha Stillaig 2. 57 53. 80 19056. 59 2631. 62 61139. 90 Loch Fyne Strondoir Bay, Loch Fyne SCC Yes CAR/L/1003721/V 7 1767. 4 Loch Fyne 2019 Strondoir Bay 897. 71 89. 32 31634. 97 4368. 64 101495. 53 Loch Fyne Tarbert South, Tarbert SCC Yes CAR/L/1010476/V 6 1568 Loch Fyne 2019 Tarbert South 613. 30 117. 57 41641. 64 5750. 51 133600. 26 Loch Fyne TOTAL LOCH FYNE kg 5906. 81 888. 91 314842. 03 43478. 15 0. 00 TOTAL FOR LOCH FYNE tonnes 13457. 8 KYLES OF BUTE West Kyles (Caladh), Tighnabruaich 1010117. 43 KYLES OF BUTE SSC No CAR/L/1015866/V 3 250 Kyles of Bute 2019 West Kyles kg. 0. 00 Kyles of Bute No production since 2012 LOCH STRIVEN Ardyne, towards Dunoon SCC Yes CAR/L/1003268/V 10 1198. 3 Loch Striven 2019 Sgian Dubh, towards Dunoon SCC Yes Ardyne 898. 67 109. 49 38778. 36 5355. 11 124413. 92 Loch Striven CAR/L/1108041/V 4 2437 Loch Striven 2019 Sgian Dubh 1804. 07 359. 78 127426. 87 17597. 04 408827. 89 Loch Striven Strone Point, towards Dunoon SCC Yes Loch Striven CAR/L/1003718/V 6 1986 Loch Striven 2019 Strone Point 1125. 22 176. 21 62410. 12 8618. 54 200232. 46 Loch Striven 3827. 96 645. 48 228615. 35 31570. 69 TOTAL LOCH STRIVEN tonnes 5621. 3 TOTAL LOCH STRIVEN kg. KILBRANNAN SOUND Eilean Grianain (Carradale South) Carradale North (Licence 2015) KILBRANNAN SOUND MH (Scot)Yes MH (Scot) Data 2016 CAR/L/1078064/V 4 Kilbrannan 2500 Sound 2019 Eilean Grianain kg. 11. 98 250. 70 88793. 60 12261. 97 Kilbrannan 284879. 47 Sound Kilbrannan CAR/L/1131788/V 3 Kilbrannan 2500 Sound 2019 Carradale North 10. 73 224. 47 79501. 67 10978. 80 255067. 88 Sound St Molios kg. 142. 88 164. 09 58117. 50 8025. 75 186460. 31 Lamlash Bay TOTAL FIRTH OF CLYDE 9900. 36 2173. 65 769870. 15 106315. 36 2469999. 36 9. 90 2. 173 769. 87 106. 315 2469. 99 LAMLASH BAY ISLE OF ARRAN St Molios, Kingscross LAMLASH BAY SSC Yes CAR/L/1015850/V 7 TOTAL FIRTH OF CLYDE tonnes 1154 Lamlash Bay 25483. 1 2019 tonnes 2019 SSC The Scottish Salmon Company Ltd 733474. 27 MH (Scot) Marine Harvest (Scotland) Ltd data from www. aquaculture. scotland. gov. uk Mowi Total copper from Zinc from feed(kg) Nitrogen Phosphorus Total organic

EMISSIONS CLYDE 2015 -2019 CUMULATIVE IMPACTS 16 SALMON FARMS TOTAL EMISSIONS 5 YEARS changed to tonnes Total copper from feed and nets Zinc from feed(kg) Nitrogen Phosphorus Total organic carbon tonnes 2015 10. 55 1. 53 540. 11 74. 59 1732. 86 tonnes 2016 10. 97 3. 24 1688. 98 158. 67 3686. 31 tonnes 2017 0. 74 1. 36 482. 05 66. 57 1546. 58 tonnes 2018 4. 334 4. 785 1695. 009 234. 072 5438. 153 tonnes 2019 9. 90 2. 17 769. 87 106. 32 2469. 99 TOTAL 2015 -2019 36. 49 13. 09 5176. 02 TONNES data from www. aquaculture. scotland. gov. uk 640. 22 14873. 89

SEA TROUT LIFE CYCLE Natural Life Cycle • Spawning in rivers, gravel beds Farmed Life Cycle • Eggs hatch into alevins in few months depending on water temperature • Managed egg production, stripped from female, often triploid made infertile after fertilization, hatching in dark • Grown into tiny fry, territorial grow into parr, territorial and solitary • Kept in incubators, once fry swimming, fed • Managed growth, specialist feed • After 1 -3 years turn into smolts and adapt for seawater • When fry 4 -5 gm into outside tanks • Migrate to sea in shoals often and night • Adults feed in sea, return to river April-Sept • May return to sea after spawning again and again. • Vaccination against Vibriosis 3 weeks before seawater transfer • Juvenile fish (50 -350 gm). Into sea water with fast adaptation. Automatic feeding, disease control • Sterile sea trout up to 4 kg in 22 months

Difference between SEA Trout and WILD Salmon • SEA TROUT • WILD SALMON • Salmon trutta • Salmon salar • Fertilised eggs in gravel high up rivers • Goes to sea but stays closer to home river to feed and mature. • Goes to sea but heads to North Atlantic to grown and mature over time • Returns to home river to spawn. May repeat these journeys several times over life • Returns to home river after 2 -3 years, spawns and dies. Occasionally, return to local seas…called ”slops” in the “old days” Data from www. aquaculture. scotland. gov. uk shows that between 2000 -2020 no less than 196, 309 farmed salmon escaped in the Clyde. 64, 848 in total from two breakouts from the Mowi farm at North Carradale in Kilbrannan Sound. The area is a high energy area for tides, wind, and waves. The other 15 salmon farms in The Clyde, lost 131, 461 over 20 years. If they survive and reach streams and rivers, they eat juvenile natural salmon and sea trout(parr) due to their lack of manufactured food.

SEA TROUT FOOD in FARMS • Some of the contents of trout feed: Grains (Rape meal, distillers grains, Soya, wheat), Fish Meal, Prairie Meal (Corn gluten meal, maize gluten meal), Rape seed oil, Fish oil, permitted Porcine (pig) blood cells, Hydrolysed Feather meal (HFM) plus minerals & Vitamins. Astaxanthin pigment can be added to Trout feed, for flesh colouration if required. Choose your colour!

For Isle of Bute farm south of Kilchattan Bay • Ref: A&B Council planning 19/00233/SCRSCO • 10 X 120 metre cages. Maximum 2500 tonnes per cycle • 22. 5 month cycle of production followed by harvesting of fish • 6 week recovery period for environment and then start the cycle again • Use of automatic feed barge • Bath treatments for disease and sea lice All three farm proposals are of a similar size and biomass 19/00086/EIA Biomass 2500 tonnes 10 pens Great Cumbrae 19/00087/EIA Biomass 2243. 8 tonnes 10 pens Little Cumbrae These Cumbrae farms under North Ayrshire Planning

Inevitably there are consequences of siting industrial factory farming in the sea without containing pollution

DISEASE MANAGEMENT AREAS CLYDE (DMAs)

Particle tracking model results developed to represent Nephrops larvae. But can just as well reflect any passive material released into the water. Red dot shows the release location of a bunch of particles. Yellow area are habitat where Nephrops larvae can settle Click on the image to run an animation of where they all go over time. We can do these sort of runs for any start location and date.

CLYDE TIDAL STREAMS FROM EAST AND WEST Picture: Colin Cowley - North coast of Arran

North Arran Mixing of water from east and west and feeding frenzy Picture: Colin Cowley- North coast of Arran

Three new Dawnfresh Sea Trout farms in the Clyde

BEWARE THE GREENWASHING “FEED THE WORLD” “HEALTHY, LOW FAT” “SCOTTISH PRISTINE WATERS”

Citizen Participation - a vital asset

SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT VIEW Environment Climate Change and Land Reform Committee The recent ECCLR Committee report from the Scottish Parliament on the environmental effect of fish farming confirmed that: 'Scotland’s public bodies have a statutory duty to protect biodiversity and this must be to the fore when considering the expansion of the sector. ’ under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004.