Current status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 September 2017
To ask the Scottish Government what research it has carried out or plans regarding the impact that escaped farmed Atlantic salmon might have on stocks of native wild salmon.
Scottish Government, through Marine Scotland Science, has developed and published a theoretical modelling framework that might be used to consider genetic impacts of farmed salmon and is currently part of a consortium developing new genetic tools for assessing the degree to which genetic material from escaped farmed salmon may have become incorporated into wild populations. SG previously funded development of genetic tools through Rivers and Fisheries Trusts and has conducted experiments to examine the dispersal of farmed fish escapees on the Scottish west coast.