It was argued that there was no connection whatsoever between the welfare of those rural activities and what was going on at sea in the salmon fish farms. Every scientific argument put forward to show a connection between the demise of the sea trout and fish farming was repudiated, even though some very eminent scientists put forward plausible reasons. At this stage, perhaps the argument is irrelevant. We have moved on from it other than to say "if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck".