'Oysters dont like soft sediment.' they say, 'They are very fussy about what they settle on....' 🤔

“The #salmon industry has been talking about risk + resilience for years, but if your entire business model is based on a disappearing input, thats not resilience, thats denial.'' @mairigougeon.bsky.social @gillianmartin.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/felici...

''Sea-based salmon farming is highly destructive. With staggering mortality rates and significant environmental cost, farmed salmon falls far short of the fresh fillet of omega 3 we believe we’re feeding our families. So, what’s the answer?'' #OffTheTable livefrankly.co.uk/sustainable-...

Thank you to Sunna Van Kampen in @thetimes.com for highlighting this. We should all be questioning a food system that uses more, better, protein than it produces, impoverishing coastal communities that rely on the fish pelletised to feed sad factory farmed #salmon in the global north.

When you consider that every farmed salmon is fed hundreds of fish before it too is eaten by humans, it’s painfully clear that #Scottishsalmon farming is far from luxurious + nowhere near sustainable.” www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2148583/shocking-truth-behind-15-billion-uk-salmon-industry

It is disappointing to see how many celebrity chefs blindly promote factory farmed #ScottishSalmon at this time of year. This is an extractive polluting industry that does more harm than good. Read this if you are interested in the facts. #Offthetable www.desmog.com/2025/12/16/

AI gets it right. 'The Scottish Government, led by @snp.org, has experienced significant and repeated delays in implementing fisheries management measures for its network of MPAs and for protecting Priority Marine Features (PMFs) outside those areas.' www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLxm...

Again @snp.org booted the marine protection can down the road with @gillianmartin.bsky.social blaming 'contractors' for yesterdays news that moves towards protecting our seabed will be delayed AGAIN. Please read the below blog. www.openseas.org.uk/news/a-decade-of-political-delay-for-our-seas/

Worth listening to why one of the Mowinckel family - responsible for the biggest salmon farming company in the world 'Mowi' - is doing everything in his power to get open cage #salmon farming out of the water. thelastsalmonpodcast.com/episodes/bre...

A good news story, genuine success in seagrass restoration, not just a lot of press around planned success! #MarineLife www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT-R...

First Garfish I have found washed up on the shores of Loch Broom. #MarineLife

Encouraging read, been going on for a while in NZ & Nordics “The high-level math that we’ve come up with is a financial break-even point of ​about 4 to 5 years, over a 10-year time span, you’re definitely coming out way ahead" @ailsamcl.bsky.social www.canarymedia.com/articles/ele...

Another example of the stranglehold the foreign owned #Salmon industry has over the @snp.org This contentious site was given the go ahead despite overwhelming objections. #regulatorcapture www.salmonbusiness.com/first-semi-c...

Rhetoric V Reality. 5% of the #salmon died at this WRS (a.k.a Mowi) site in June. That equates to thousands of fish suffering and dying, they are also forgetting the infernal 'hum' of the feed barge. Nothing traditional or peaceful about this 'blue revolution'. #Offthetable

Well done Greece, not putting profit above all else as is the case with Scotland's unethical foreign owned farmed #salmon industry.

Lovely bright butterfish in the oyster hoisters today. #marinelife

We are very grateful to the Loch Broom and Ullapool Community Trust for part funding oyster cages with a larger mesh than the ones we had. Bigger mesh makes for easier cleaning and more water flow, which equals happy cage scrubbers, and happy oysters! #Seawilding #MarineLife

1/4🧵The Scottish Government are proposing a 'Good Food Nation' Plan. As usual, when it comes to the #Salmon part, it is warped in the extreme, and heavily leans towards supporting this foreign owned industry. www.gov.scot/publications...

If you are exposed to Roundup you should watch this. When Glyphosate is mixed with 'co formulants' to make 'Roundup it becomes much more toxic. The research is solid, it causes cancer. Councils must stop spraying it where the public are exposed. @highland.gov.uk www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbOm...

A lovely palaemon shrimp in the oyster hoisters today. #marinelife

Beautiful wrasse in the oyster hoisters on Ullapool pontoons today. I see a male frequently here, they are very territorial so it could well be the same fellow, if it is, he clearly doesn't mind being taken on board and ogled on a regular basis.

Lots of lovely moon jellies in Loch Broom at the moment.

I want to see the material that is being shown to these kids @highland.gov.uk Is it balanced? This is a contentious industry with many known impacts, who is providing the other side of the story? fishfocus.co.uk/hundreds-of-...

More than a national scandal, it's verging on corruption by senior civil servants who have allowed Regulatory Capture by big fishing trade bodies. Time for a full independent Inquiry. Happy to provide reams of evidence. @johnswinney.bsky.social @mairigougeon.bsky.social www.itv.com/news/2025-05...

LESS THAN 1% OF SCOTLAND'S seas are fully protected. 87% of inshore Marine Protected Areas allow Scallop Dredging & Bottom Trawling. @johnswinney.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Yet more impacts from the fin fish aquaculture industry, making money for foreign owned multinationals whilst leaving Scotland a legacy of pollution. No one seems to be measuring the cost, in real terms to our environment. #Offthetable @mairigougeon.bsky.social theferret.scot/fish-farms-f...

A further 3,000 native oysters released in Loch Broom, still way off our targets due to continuing spat shortages, but we have kept these oysters in the cages for longer than normal, so they are spawning size + safe from most predators. Fingers crossed for spawning! #Seawilding

We have had a fun couple of days in Ullapool helping local kids understand that to get cool stuff at the top of the food chain, you need to look after the hard working habitat builders at the bottom. They get it, lets hope our politicians do too🤔

Scottish fisheries management is a case study in failure. Politicians say we have 37% protection - this is a lie 🤥Most of our MPAs are paper parks, reality = <5% protection. @snp.org politicians continue to facilitate the destruction of our seabed. theconversation.com/david-attenb...

A beautiful wrasse in an oyster hoister. Hopefully Scottish Gov are reviewing the wrasse fishery in light of the science on the breeding season. #Wrasse are caught to service #salmon farms who use this 'keystone species' to eat their lice before discarding them.

If you are eating Scottish #Salmon, it is farmed, and with salmon farming the product is not worth the impacts. #Offthetable wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/features/wl-...

𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. "Ocean with David Attenborough" - available globally from 8th May. We're delighted to share that we had the great honour of working with the incredible production teams behind this movie and can't wait for the official release.

🧵Open season for trapping wild wrasse starts tomorrow in Scotland (in no way avoiding the breeding season), purely to supply the #salmon farming industry. Removing wrasse damages our coastal environment because of their vital role in the food chain. Its also incredibly cruel.

Short film just released that shows the reality of tiny Scottish communities - in this case #Ullapool - having to try and coexist alongside massive Norwegian #salmon factory farms. They exact a huge cost on our people + environment. @mairigougeon.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=An60...

I have never seen a situation so dismal that Tony Blair couldn't make it worse.

We at @seawilding.bsky.social deployed an array of 'oyster hoisters' on the #Ullapool Harbour pontoons at the weekend, they will permanently house a gang of hard-working native #oysters capable of filtering around 240 litres each per day, and hopefully spawn if the water gets warm enough this year.

Two young guys getting off their bums and taking positive action for change! Check out their @justgiving.bsky.social page and please donate if you can. Thank you. #JustGiving www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding...

Watch this to understand why the foreign owned #Salmon farming industry removing wrasse from Scotland's marine environment is awful for the productivity of our marine environment, and the welfare of these incredible fish. @mairigougeon.bsky.social vimeo.com/1039630453

Excellent news, this fishery is an environmental and welfare nightmare. We would not tolerate the same situation with birds. @mairigougeon.bsky.social news.stv.tv/scotland/min...

First barrel jellyfish of the season (for me). Summer must be coming.

Great to hear Wild Fish puncturing Mowi's waffle around their Colonsay site. 73600 escaped #ScottishSalmon, elevated sea lice numbers, and 202000 dead fish in a week do not equate to a good example of animal/fish husbandry. #Offthetable www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0029ygl

Love a low spring tide.

Fat farmed rainbow trout caught in the River Add, Argyll where they are NOT meant to be. They compete with - and eat the juveniles of - native species, and are potential disease vectors. Nearest farmed rainbows are at a Mowi site in Loch Craignish. @theferret.scot

These farms are foreign owned, + consistently lobby against rules meant to regulate their impacts in Scotland. They are given more public money than they pay in tax, whilst leaving us a legacy of pollution + despoilation. What is the true cost of #Scottishsalmon? theferret.scot/salmon-farms...

This is why it is vital to discuss 'passive' restoration alongside 'active' restoration. Many species + habitats can recover if we remove the pressures that are driving biodiversity loss. @seawilding.bsky.social @scottishgreens.org @snp.org @ourseas-scot.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Well knock me down with a feather. bylinetimes.com/2025/03/18/k...

'Salmon farming companies enjoy more funding from the government than they pay in tax.' @mairigougeon.bsky.social - Not better spent on small locally owned businesses than vast foreign multinationals? 'Salmon firm netted £5 million in government handouts' www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2025/03/12/s...

Shocking use of tax payers money, money better spent on Scottish locally owned businesses than foreign multi national salmon farms who's activities impact coastal communities and the environment. @mairigougeon.bsky.social

We've launched our #DivedNotDredged campaign to celebrate the best of #Scottishseafood and encourage food influencers like #Michelin and #AAawards to champion sustainability! Please take action here >> www.openseas.org.uk/dived-not-dr...