An apology for ‘management’ – Untreated distillery waste & fish farms waste continue to pollute
A Report on Untreated Waste in the Kilbrannan Sound
From – Voice for Arran, Issue 89 31st July 2018
Dr Sally Campbell, local resident and marine scientist, reports on the plans by Marine Harvest to establish a new salmon farm and the problem of untreated waste going into the Kilbrannan Sound.
‘It must be nearly ten years ago since Arran defeated a Marine Harvest proposal for a huge 2500 tonnes max biomass fish farm for a site north of Lamlash Bay and Hamilton Rock. It involved a very committed effort by those in the community concerned about the proposal. So why is there not outrage on Arran about the disposal of untreated waste into Kilbrannan Sound, by both salmon aquaculture and our own island distillery?
Marine Harvest Scotland has applied for a licence this month to establish a new salmon farm of nearly 2,500-tonnes in the Kilbrannan Sound. The proposal, which has been submitted to SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) this month, seeks permission to hold a maximum biomass of 2,475 tonnes of salmon in a dozen 120m circumference pens, which would later allow for up to 3,600 tonnes of salmon to be produced per year. The company also intends to establish a new shore base in the area, approximately 11 km north of Carradale Harbour, which is between Arran and the Kintyre Peninsula. The company already has two existing 2,500-tonne capacity sites at Carradale. These have now been given permission to increase their biomass on each farm by 50% to 3750 tonnes of maximum biomass. At North Carradale and South Carradale the number of open cages will increase and be located 75 metres further east into deeper water. To give you an idea of the discharges from such farms into what were pristine waters around Arran, the combined untreated quantities of waste from just these two Marine Harvest salmon aquaculture farms in Kilbrannan Sound in 2016 were as follows:
Copper from nets: 1.409 tonnes
Zinc from feed and nets: 0.956 tonnes
Nitrogen as ammonia and urea: 33.875 tonnes
Phosphorus from food and faeces: 46.785 tonnes
Organic carbon from waste food and faeces: 1,086.936 tonnes
Further, antibiotic use in salmon aquaculture both as a prophylactic and for disease treatment is increasing. For example, we already know that in just 2017, 108kg oxytetracycline and almost 29kg tetracycline, two broad spectrum antibiotics active against a wide range of infections in fish and humans, were used in the Carradale salmon farms. The larger the total tonnage of biomass and stocking density in a salmon farm the greater the risk of infections, whether by viruses or bacteria or parasites such as sea lice, all of which drive treatments potentially serious for the ecosystem and those that depend on it, be it microfauna, shellfish, dolphins or us.
Along with salmon farms we have the example of SEPA granting a licence to the Arran Lochranza Distillery to discharge up to 60,000 litres per day of mixed untreated distillery effluent over two 3- hour periods each day into Kilbrannan Sound. This effluent from the distillery will be transported to the outfall head by road tanker. This is located at Rubh Airigh Bheirg, an important geological area, 2.5km SW of Catacol on scenic, unspoilt coast. SEPA decided that the “relative remote isolation”, “relatively small volume” and “lack of protected areas” are good enough reasons to conclude that formal consultation with external organisations was unnecessary. The works are underway at present.’ Click here to read more
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