Scottish salmon prices hammered
salmon imports from Norway, which rose last year from 277,000
tonnes to 307,000 tonnes. Fish farmers in the highlands and islands
are so worried about the effect this is having on prices that they
have brought in the EU to examine the practice.
The UK has now asked for quotas that would limit Norway's access to the EU market to be introduced. "The Scottish farmed salmon industry is on its knees, they have been pressing the government to take action to give them a breathing space," a spokesman for the UK's Department of Trade and Industry told the Times.
The European Commission, which says that any inquiry, would take up to nine months to complete, is looking into the case. "The European Commission has decided to open a safeguard investigation into imports of farmed salmon," commission trade spokeswoman Arancha Gonzalez told a news conference.
"We have been given sufficient evidence to open the case. There has been a sudden increase from all sources. The UK and Irish goverments have quoted a rise of 14 per cent in input."
An influx of cheap imports is the latest blow to fish farming in Scotland. A US scientific journal recently suggested that farmed salmon contained toxins linked to cancer. Since the article appeared in the American journal Science, four Scottish fish farms have been forced to close and the price per kilo of farmed salmon has slumped from £1.70 to £1.45.
The Scottish salmon industry has accused the American researchers of being 'deliberately misleading'. Dr John Webster, a technical consultant for the industry body Scottish Quality Salmon, said that the research had ignored all the benefits of eating oil-rich farmed salmon on a regular basis.
The controversy is not the first to raise questions about the safety of farmed salmon. A year ago the European Commission moved to reduce the amount of one additive, canthaxanthin, which can be used to exaggerate salmon's pink colouring. That followed evidence that high intake of the chemical could affect human eyesight.
Such health scares have undoubtedly taken their toll on public confidence. But the biggest threat to fish farming in Scotland remains more efficient competition. The Scottish sector is being overtaken by highly automated Norwegian producers, which has helped to turn a food that was once considered a rare delicacy into an every day product.
Norway is the main non- EU competitor to Scotland, accounting for 60 per cent of all salmon imported into the UK.
