Addressing environmental concerns in Scottish salmon farming

The Best Fishes project is run by environmental charity Fidra. The project aims to address concerns surrounding salmon farming in Scotland. The vision of the project is to improve transparency across the sector and encourage best practice to minimise its environmental impacts.   

Fidra’s approach

Fidra actively working to alleviate the current impacts, of the salmon industry, on the environment. We are aiming to ensure supply chain traceability is at the forefront of aquaculture practices with the long-term goal of full transparency in the industry. To achieve this, we are asking for:

• The creation of sustainability ‘Dashboard’

By working with a variety of stakeholders we hope to facilitate the development of an online dashboard which will provide detailed and clear information on the environmental impacts of individual salmon farms in Scotland.

• Retailers to improve the level of information on the packaging of products

We have collected evidence from the public showing there is an appetite for more transparency to help customers understand the individual environmental impact of the salmon products they consume.

• Best practice to be followed across the industry

Liaising with salmon producers and asking them to hold their practices to the highest of standards it will reduce the impacts on the local environment and improve long-term environmental sustainability.

• Government and regulators to adopt robust legislation based on best practice

Strong regulations and effective enforcement will create accountability across the industry which will lead to lasting positive effects on the environment.