News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
Salmon farm divides community
Water flow cleans wreck site
Antarctic shark
ENVIRONMENT
Protect Our Seas
News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
Salmon farm divides community
Controversial plans for the UK’ s largest salmon farm have been approved by the Shetland Islands Council. The move has deepened a rift between the farm’ s owners and the Shetland fishing community, who say the farm’ s location represents a threat to the scallop industry. The site, next to Fish Holme on Shetland’ s East Coast, has long been regarded as one of the archipelago’ s most fruitful scallop beds. The Shetland Fishermen’ s Association( SFA), representing 450 members, says the company running the planned site, Scottish Sea Farms( SSF), has not considered the environmental impacts on fish and shellfish nursery grounds. SFF in turn says it has taken account of the fishing body’ s demands by making the site smaller.
Water flow cleans wreck site
Divers have helped to raise the cargo of an ancient wreck from Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland. Recovered items include a 600-piece haul of 2,000-year old ceramics, weapons and tools, all preserved by sediment recently washed clean by water flow projects. The recovery operation was funded by the Swiss non-profit Octopus Foundation, which teamed up with local archaeological groups. Founder Julian Pfyffer said it is a once-in-a-lifetime find.“ Usually, objects found in the ground were used, sold, broken, trashed, or buried with the dead,” he said.“ Here, the accident is providing us brand new objects that very probably will become a reference for [ this ] specific time period.” SSF is expanding the farm at Fish Holme
CREDIT: SCOTTISH SEA
Antarctic shark
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PHOTO: MINDEROO-UWA DEEP-SEA PROJECT
Researchers have captured what appears to be the first confirmed footage of a shark in Antarctic waters. The sighting was made at 490 metres by a baited deep-sea camera in a January 2025 expedition to the South Shetland Islands off the Antarctic Peninsula. Although the exact species has not been confirmed, the shark is believed to be a member of the sleeper shark family, most likely a southern sleeper shark, Somniosus antarcticus. While Southern sleeper sharks have been recorded in subantarctic regions of the Southern Ocean, such as South Georgia, Macquarie Island and Southern Chile, there have been no confirmed reports of the sharks in Antarctic waters prior to last year’ s sighting.