What the impact will be on wild salmon and the wider marine environment of 73,000 farmed salmon escaping from the Mowi fish farming site of…

The Scottish Government was disappointed by the reported escape of farmed salmon at a Mowi Scotland site near Colonsay in January 2020. We are clear that the containment of farmed fish in Scotland is of crucial importance in minimising the potential impact of aquaculture on the marine environment.
The main risk posed by escaped farmed salmon is introgression with wild salmon, a species in decline across the North Atlantic, though there are other important considerations such as disruption of the local ecosystem and competition with wild salmonids.
Through the Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture and the considerations of the Salmon Interactions Working Group, we are reviewing the regulation around containment in order to better mitigate the risk from farmed fish escapes.