AN Ullapool fish farming company has been suspended from Scotland's premier farmed salmon quality organisation.
Wester Ross Salmon Hatcheries Ltd now faces an independent investigation by Food Certification Scotland. The inquiry will report to
the main board of Food Certification Scotland in November.
The firm, which produces and grows young salmon, was dropped by Scottish Quality Salmon (SQS) from its Tartan Quality Mark scheme after causing pollution in a fresh- water loch that is popular with anglers.
Wester Ross Hatcheries has the same owners as Wester Ross Salmon - a prominent salmon farmer in the district that has its headquarters in Inverness.
The SQS is the premier industry organisation and insists on high standards of welfare, environmental responsibility and food quality.
Last month, at Dingwall Sheriff Court, the Ullapool firm was fined (pounds) 12,000 by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency for overproducing - said to be up to six times - the legal amount of smolts at its Loch Tollaidh fish farm.
The incident happened over a four-month period in 2003.
Don Staniford, the managing director of the Salmon Farm Protest Group, said the suspension of Wester Ross Salmon Hatcheries sets a ''dangerous precedent'' for the entire Scottish salmon farming industry.
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