THE claim by salmon netsman George Pullar (“Coastal netting ban could take wild salmon off menu”, The Herald, July 30) that Scottish consumers will be denied the opportunity to buy wild salmon in future is poppycock. The truth is that for many years now wild salmon has only been available in Scotland in a handful of elite hotels and food emporiums. One never, ever sees wild Scottish salmon on supermarket shelves.
Wild salmon is now a very high-price luxury item and as such virtually all the fish caught are destined for the exclusive restaurants and hotels of foreign capitals such as Paris and Moscow – to satisfy the gastronomic whims of the mega-rich and oligarchs.
Credit is due to Scottish Government for its proposals to stop indiscriminate coastal netting of wild salmon. Stocks have crashed in the last 50 years and conservation of this iconic species surely must take precedence over narrow-minded commercial interests who seek to supply establishments that only the world’s fat cats and moguls can afford.
Daniel Hunter,
West Laga, Ardnamurchan, Argyll.
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