Posts by Dr Martin Jaffa
Sense and sentinels
I have always been sure that it was unnecessary for Scottish Ministers to appoint a regulator to manage sea lice. As the weeks go by, I am also increasingly convinced that the appointment of SEPA to this role was a major mistake.
Having watched their efforts from the outset, I firmly believe that SEPA have little understanding of sea lice and the interactions with wild fish. I suspect that SEPA have simply listened to a narrative promoted by Scottish Government scientists based on mathematical modelling and have adopted the narrative as their approach to regulation but critically, without any real understanding of what it means.
Read MoreFact-free campaigns
The reputation of salmon farming has suffered as a result of criticism that does not have much to back it up, says Martin Jaffa.
Read MoreA load of cods?
Norway’s Institute of Marine Research is highly critical of cod farming but its views are not backed by evidence, argues Dr Martin Jaffa.
Read MoreBig fish, little fish
The salmon sector in Norway appears to be embarking on a journey that Scottish producers took many years ago – the journey of evolving from being an industry of many producers to just a handful.
Read MoreOne sided
A new podcast on the future of wild salmon features numerous guests, but only one narrow viewpoint, argues Dr Martin Jaffa.
Read MoreCounter argument
An article in the Guardian newspaper looked at why people reject so much of the bountiful catches from the sea in favour of the same few species. The article asks how reliance on just a handful of popular fish species can be changed.
Read MoreBuilding up an appetite
How to persuade UK consumers to eat more seafood was a key issue at the Norway-UK Seafood Summit, reports Dr Martin Jaffa At the end of February, Norway came to London in the form of the Norway-UK Seafood Summit, organised by the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC). I have attended these summits since NSC decided to…
Read MoreBut where are the lice?
Modelling for the supposed prevalence of sea lice is not backed up by samples taken in the field, says Dr Martin Jaffa Congratulations to the Fish Farmer magazine team for hosting their first Aqua Agenda webinar, which took place in January. The subject was fish health (see the report starting on page 46 of this…
Read MoreFish, feasts and fasting
Carp for the table is a niche market in the UK, writes Dr Martin Jaffa, but it has a long history The article in the last issue of Fish Farmer about a carp at Christmas brought back a lot of memories for me because I was involved in a major carp farming venture in the…
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