Mowi denies Blar Mhor was source of river spill
Salmon producer Mowi has denied that its Scottish processing plant was responsible for an apparent pollution incident in the River Lochy, near Fort William.
On Sunday, local people noticed what appeared to be blood and fish scales, as well as a number of dead fish, in the river, coming from a waste pipe at the Lochyside flood defences.
BBC News quoted activist Jamie Moyes, who campaigns with the group Abolish Salmon Farming, as saying the incident was “nothing new” and locals see blood in the river “all the time”.
Mowi’s processing plant at Blar Mhor is situated nearby. The company has responded in a statement that declared: “Mowi has undertaken its own investigation into the incident at the River Lochy where local people reported a red discharge. Mowi is confident that the discharge did not come from its facility at the Blar Mhor Industrial Estate.
“Mowi has checked all its operating procedures as well as the effluent system and CCTV. The effluent is cleaned onsite by a water treatment process that removes contaminants from water. Following this process, the effluent is only discharged to the Scottish Water treatment works at Caol Point.
“Mowi is not the only business which processes this type of material on the Blar Mhor Industrial Estate but is the only one regulated by SEPA under IPPC regulations.”
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Water are investigating the incident and Mowi said the company would co-operate with the authorities in that process.
