Cut through for story highlights growing scrutiny and challenges faced by the aquaculture industry, as incidents attract national attention and amplify concerns from environmental activists.
A recent incident involving the sinking of the Julie Anne workboat near the Fiunary salmon farm has made headlines in the UK’s national press,.
On July 4, the 15-meter vessel sank 20 meters to the seabed in the Sound of Mull.
No one was aboard the vessel at the time of the sinking, which occurred just minutes after SalMar-backed Scottish Sea Farms (SSF) was alerted by a member of the public that the Julie Anne was listing.
The company has implemented quarantine measures and installed floating barriers to contain the leaks.
But despite the removal of five tons of diesel from the vessel, campaigners from Abolish Salmon Farming claim an oil slick stretching one kilometre has emerged, raising concerns about environmental impact.
These concerns have now made national news with the Daily Mail, the UK’s largest online newspaper, picking up the story on Monday.
SSF stated that additional environmental mitigation measures are being implemented to contain small seepages of oil on the water’s surface as preparations continue for another attempt to salvage the boat.
Gerry McCormick, SSF’s head of health and safety, said: “After extensive planning and preparations that continued well into the weekend, appointed salvors Jifmar attempted to raise the vessel on Sunday afternoon. Despite everyone’s hard work, that first attempted recovery failed. The salvors are now reviewing and revising the recovery procedure and, once approved by the lead agency, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), will resume operations to recover the Julie Anne.”
The MCA has conducted several surveillance flights over the site.
“As expected, a small amount of pollution is still being observed,” a spokesperson said.
“However, volumes are small and dispersing. This does not currently pose a significant or long-term pollution risk. Given the current flow in the area, small quantities lost from containment are inevitable, which is why oil removal from the wreck has been prioritized. We are aware that the lifting operation planned for Sunday, July 21, did not succeed and that further work is underway by SSF and their salvors to prepare for a second attempt. This is likely to be attempted later this week.”
The Scottish Government has stated that it understands all fuel has now been removed from the vessel and that the limited pollution is dispersing and is not considered to pose a significant or long-term pollution risk.
The cause of the sinking is not known. Jifmar divers could see no obvious cause, and the vessel was fully certified by the Marine Engineers Certifying Authority (MECAL), having passed an inspection just a month ago, on June 7.
