Dr. Cecil Beamish:

What the Deputy is saying reflects the way different interest groups read the science on this. The last thing this debate needs is more energy. It probably needs calm observation. I can only read what the report says. We did not produce the report; we are advised by it. It was a study of 352,000 migrating salmon over nine years. I will quote from it. I do not take a view. The report concludes:

The results of a meta-analysis of the combined data suggest that while sea lice-induced mortality on outwardly migrating smolts can be significant, it is a minor and irregular component of marine mortality in the stocks studied and is unlikely to be a significant factor influencing conservation status of salmon stocks.