In early March, 4,000 2.5kg rainbow trout escaped from the Scot Trout farm at Ardchatten on Loch Etive, north of Oban, following mechanical failure during a storm.

According to the wild fish interests, the majority then entered the River Awe, Argyll’s premier salmon river. Their presence in the river has "serious implications including predation on juvenile salmon," the groups contend.

"The incident was the latest in a series of escapes from Scot Trout farms affecting the Awe system and consequently the Argyll Salmon Fishery Board contacted Scot Trout’s major customer – Tesco," a statement issued by the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards said. "The supermarket giant undertook to carry out an investigation into possible breaches of its code of practice for trout farming. Since then, all requests by the Argyll District Salmon Fishery Board to meet the Tesco investigator have been ignored. Furthermore, a Tesco spokesman has refused to confirm if it had begun or completed the investigation, maintaining that it was an internal matter between them and the supplier."

Andrew Wallace, managing director of the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards, commented: “It is extremely disappointing that Britain’s major supermarket appears determined to draw a veil of secrecy over this investigation. Unless we see Tesco taking meaningful action against Scot Trout, then we have to draw the conclusion that the codes of conduct on fish farming that Tesco have with their suppliers amount to no more than lip-service. If Tesco’s environmental credentials are to have any credibility with Scotland’s wild fish sector, then investigations into serious breaches by fish farmers of their codes of practice need to be transparent.”

Mr Wallace continued: “Tesco’s behaviour in this instance makes a mockery of their commitment on the ‘Sustainable Seafood’ page of their website where they undertake to play their ‘part in protecting the long term future of wild fish populations and work with the fishing industry and NGOs towards greater sustainability’."

Roger Brook, chairman of the Argyll District Salmon Fishery Board, added: “How sad it is that Tesco, an organisation that claims to care about the environment, will not even engage with the body that is responsible for conserving wild salmon in Argyll, which are being put into jeopardy by the activities of Tesco’s supplier. It is worth remembering that it was the Argyll Board that alerted Tesco to the major escape of large rainbow trout and its consequences – thus triggering their investigation”.

Mr Brook continued: “Tesco are forthright in saying that they only buy sustainable fish and that they are committed to preventing damage to wild stocks. However what they fail to appreciate is that by buying from poorly run rainbow trout farms they are actually having the opposite effect – because it is the activities of such farms, particularly their dismal record on retaining their stock, that are damaging the very species that Tesco claim they are trying to protect."

Following the escape, Scot Trout expressed regret and said it was bringing forward plans to invest £150,000 in new cages. It said the new cages will be “much more secure” and the tensioning will also give greater protection against seals.

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.

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