Opinion
Evolution of an industry
Given the importance of salmon farming to Scotland, it is hard to believe that just 50 years have passed since the first harvest of farmed salmon. It wasn’t until 1979, that the Scottish Government started to officially record and publish production, and, in that year, it had grown by 15% on the previous to a…
Read MoreTime for a lighter touch
Right in the middle of February, six weeks after the new Brexit rules came into effect, a lorry full of Scottish salmon was stopped at the border control post in the main French fish market of Boulogne-sur-Mer. The customs officials refused to let the lorry travel the short distance to the market where buyers were…
Read MoreThe Old Man and the Sea
Such is the title of a magnificent book by Ernest Hemingway. For those who haven’t read it, it details the story of an old man who catches a huge tuna, which is slowly eaten by sharks as he tries to get it home. It is a triumph of human endeavour – and a bit like…
Read MoreWhy I am still an unrepentant Leaver
OK, as a Brexiteer I accept this is all my fault. I mean, the chaos for exporters and difficulty getting into Europe. But seriously, was no one expecting this? Hands up all those who weren’t expecting border difficulties as soon as Brexit occurred. What would be more interesting is to ask those who did nothing…
Read MoreMussels and Brussels
I generally class myself as an optimist, but Brexit has rather soured my thinking, and on this subject at least, I have become a fully paid-up member of the pessimistic society. Let me be clear about this: I did not vote for it! We had long anticipated problems in getting mussels to our continental customers,…
Read MoreThe Brexit fallout
We thought we knew what it would look like. The queues of trucks would stretch back from Dover through the Kent countryside, massive lorry parks would be full and there would be scuffles between angry hauliers and the police. We did see these things but only before Christmas, after the French shut the border claiming…
Read MoreAs others see us
One of the benefits of coming towards the end of one’s career is the ability to look back at how the industry has performed. For a change, I’m not talking about farm performance but about how well we respond to some of the reasonable – and unreasonable – criticism that we face as an industry.…
Read MoreComment: Leave our farms alone
It’s time for government to protect workers’ rights from protesters, argues Mowi Scotland\’s director of communications. AS activists continue to sidestep the democratic process in favour of interrupting work spaces, governments must step up to protect the health and safety of employees working within the laws of the country. A recent court decision in Scotland…
Read MoreComment: Why Changing Markets must change their tune
THE sensationalist headlines above a new report from a lobbying group called the Changing Markets Foundation ran alarm bells in the Fish Farmer newsroom yesterday. If the organisation’s marketing team hadn’t taken the trouble to call before sending their press release, I probably would have ignored it, along with all the others that arrive from…
Read MoreTrudeau farm ban plan ‘nonsense’ say farmers
SALMON farmers in Canada have one word for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to ban open net pen production in British Columbia: nonsense. In their manifestos for the forthcoming federal elections, the Liberal Party and Green Party have included a pledge to move all ocean based salmon farms in British Columbia to land based closed…
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