A CALL for one marine act for Scotland came today at the Aquaculture Today 2005 conference in Edinburgh.

Laura Bateson, the joint marine programme officer for WWF Scotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust said she wanted to achieve a truly sustainable Scottish aquaculture industry, balancing economic stability with best environmental practice, and considering the social aspects of location and operation.

She said that aquaculture injected £1millon a week into the Scottish rural economy and she wanted the aquaculture sector to survive.

But there were problems, including fish escapes, feed, biodiversity, planning, governance and legislation.

On governance, she criticised the fact there was no leading body and therefore no way of balancing the concerns of all interests.

She said that there were at present 82 separate pieces of legislation governing aquaculture, which should be replaced by a single Marine Act for Scotland.

*A POLL carried out today at the conference shows that improvements in feed efficiency is the main environmental success of the aquaculture sector in the view of delegates.

Participants also felt that current knowledge on environmental issues should be applied more consistently.

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