MP denies telling people not to eat salmon Scottish farms
Benyon called on to make public statement on his position
EMBATTLED UK Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon denied last night that he had urged consumers not to eat salmon from Scottish fish farms and to consume other, exotic species of fish instead.
A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said Mr Benyon had backed his department’s Fishing for Markets project to establish why people are not buying other species to reduce the waste of perfectly good fish being thrown away at sea. He said that was particularly in relation to endangered cod and haddock. He added: “The minister did not say people should not eat salmon or look for alternatives. We want to see the salmon industry grow and we are fully supportive of it.”
He said Mr Benyon did, however, urge the industry to do more to reduce the amount of fish meal from other species required to feed to salmon.
Mr Benyon was earlier under fire from the industry – worth £500million a year to Scotland – which accused him of being “ill-informed and irresponsible”.
Last night Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil, SNP fisheries spokesman, said he was “very, very pleased” Mr Benyon was not opposed to Scottish-farmed salmon and called on the minister to make a public statement on his position.
He said: “I will be putting a question to the minister in the Commons to give him the opportunity to clear up the confusion.”
He said he had regarded earlier reports of Mr Benyon’s comments “with dismay”.
Mr Benyon said the problem was that just 10 species of fish made up 74% of the market.
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