Growing fears over the use of chemicals in the aquaculture industry will be one of the main issues at this year's Scottish fish farming conference and exhibition which opens on Tuesday in Glasgow.
The first session of the three-day event at the SECC focusing on environmental safety will be chaired by William Crowe, chief executive of the Scottish Salmon Growers' Association (SSGA), which fears fringe conservation groups are threatening the industry, expected to be worth ú160m this year.
Salmon farming maintains 6,300 jobs in Scotland with 170 companies, operating 360 farms, producing over 40,000 tonnes a year.
However, the industry is in danger of becoming a victim of its own success. Fears of a food scare were raised last October when a salmon bought in a London supermarket was discovered to contain traces of dichlorvos, a toxin contained in the Aquaguard chemical used to combat sealice.
The SSGA said the polluted fish was a rogue and sales of fresh salmon leapt to a record ú12.5m in December - a jump of 40 per cent on the previous month.
The association will spend ú1.2m on research this year into cage hygiene improvements, up from ú610,000 last year. And 13 per cent of the budget will be allocated to investigating environmentally friendly alternatives to Aquaguard.
Crowe said: "Our members are certainly not complacent and are well aware that in order to sell a prime quality product, we have to have a clean industry behind us."
Dr Jim Buchanan, technical director of the SSGA, added: "No salmon farmer is going to deliberately put excess chemicals into the water, as it would simply kill his biggest asset - the fish."
