Fish quarantined as boat salvage fails and oil spill continues

The Julie Anne, a landing craft used by Scottish Sea Farms (SFF) at its Fiunary site near Lochaline in Morvern, sank on July 4, with no-one on board. SSF’s immediate priority was to seal fuel leaks, then remove the fuel before refloating the vessel for inspection.

 

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), which oversees the disposal of all waste such as fuel, stated on July 8: “The operator placed booms in the water to contain any potential pollution and prevent dispersal and divers have been monitoring the vessel to check for and plug leaks. While a small fuel leakage was initially observed, this has been contained and no further pollution has been recorded.”

 

But, as we reported last week, a campaigner published drone footage, videoed, he said, on July 14, of an oil slick spreading beyond the boom. 

 

Jamie Moyes, a former salmon farmer turned environmental activist and head of the organisation ’Abolish Salmon Farming’, said the "shocking" footage revealed "SSF’s pathetic attempt to hide ongoing oil pollution in the Sound of Mull by dispersing it with a speedboat. Twelve days after the sinking of the Julie Anne on July 4, pollution is still visibly present and getting worse."

 

SSF told us that during ’air lancing’ of the sunken vessel on July 14, in preparation for refloating, around 20 litres of oil leaked from the compressor housing and, due to the strength of the tide, some seeped under the boom. "As is accepted practice for small quantities of light oil, a polar boat was used to help natural dispersal of the sheen," a spokesperson explained.

 

Then, on July 16, Mr Moyes claimed "millions of pounds worth" of farmed salmon had been “quarantined and prevented from entering food chain over diesel pollution fears".

 

"The quarantine of these salmon is a clear indication of the severity of this environmental disaster," he said. "It raises serious questions about the initial claims the fuel was contained."

 

Argyll and Bute Council told us: "The council’s environmental health service is working closely with other agencies and SSF, which implemented its emergency application. There is no immediate risk to food safety as the fish have been quarantined by the fish farm, according to its standard operating procedure, pending the outcome of analysis which takes around 10 days at the laboratory. Fish will not be placed on the market until the result of tests are known and actions agreed with the council."

 

The retailer Marks & Spencer, which usually takes a third of the salmon from the Fiunary site, said: “While our supplier follows all industry procedures, we are not taking from this site and customers can be reassured we carry out safety and quality testing on all our salmon.”

 

SSF’s Head of Technical, with responsibility for food safety and quality, Andy Gourlay responded: "We made the decision to keep the fish on farm the minute the incident was reported on the morning of July 4. It’s due diligence and what any responsible food producer would do. 

 

"The focus, in the days since, has been on containing and removing the fuel on board and, with that now done, re-floating the vessel.

 

"Once achieved, we will, without question, test the fish on farm to ensure they meet all food safety standards – this testing being in addition to the robust testing regime we uphold on all our fish, all year round."

 

Further footage from Sunday July 21, Mr Moyes said, showed "the dramatic and life-threatening moment the attempt to raise the Julie Anne failed. Fortunately the diver who’d been working on the sunken vessel got out of the water minutes before the flotation devices failed. The video clearly captures the failure and shows other workers jumping and running for cover."

 

But SSF hit back at the video editing, saying "the diver was safely out of the water minutes before the lift bags were inflated – as stipulated in the Recovery Procedure, approved by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) – and subsequently surfaced.

 

"The diver’s log shows that the time lapsed between the diver getting out of the water (5.17pm), diving operations ending (5.20pm) and the lift bags surfacing (5.31pm) as 14 minutes."

 

SSF’s head of health and safety Gerry McCormick added: "Despite everyone’s hard work, that first attempted recovery failed.

 

"Additional environmental mitigation measures are being put in place to contain the small seepages of oil on the water’s surface."

 

Mr Moyes added on Monday: "Government and official agencies should be all over [this], yet they are sitting behind their desks drinking coffee while wildlife drink diesel. 

 

"Oil is visibly spreading along the coastline, severely impacting marine life, mammals and birds. We have to ask: where is SEPA in all of this?"

 

SEPA told us: "SEPA officers have not been on site, as SEPA are not the authority in charge of the incident response. The MCA has remit over marine pollution and is closely monitoring the incident response."