The recent warnings about the dangers of eating salmon should come as no surprise. As recently revealed in the report "Global Assessment of Organic Contaminants in Farmed Salmon", Scotland and Faeroe Islands are world leaders having the most contaminated farmed salmon population. These contaminants, carcinogenic dioxins, are linked to cancer and exist in significantly higher levels in farmed salmon compared to wild.

 
There is no question that this industry supports the economies of our rural communities. We just need stricter guidelines and policies to safeguard the environment, the future of the fish farming industry and the quality of its products.

Instead of extensive and intensive salmon farming, the government should follow the Green Party policy to encourage economic diversification of rural areas, through smaller -scale integrage, organic aquaculture ststems which uses organically grown fish food along with appropriate waste treatment and effluent controls.

James Hepburn