Conservationists in Scotland are sounding the alarm about the country's underwater biodiversity, saying it's disappearing at an alarming rate. 

What's happening?

According to The Ecologist, Scotland's coastal waters are losing their "wilderness," showing a drop in the amount of plant and animal life present in them. Conservationists are scrambling to try to fix the damage, blaming both commercial fishing and pollution for the sudden dip in life. 

"It would have been like the ancient forests covering Scotland. It would have been that level of wilderness under the sea," said Philip Price, communications outreach officer for Seawilding, a group working to solve the problem. "I think that's the thing you realise really quickly when you start working underwater. We've lost the wilderness undersea. It's gone. It's a very flat monoculture now and that's as a result of pollution." 

Conservationists cite plummeting numbers of oysters, trout, and salmon in Scotland's waters as proof that things are getting worse. 

Why is loss of biodiversity important?

The loss of undersea wildlife in Scotland is part of a bigger pushback taking place against commercial fishing, specifically salmon fish farming being done by a company named Mowi. 

The community group Friends of Loch Hourn (FOLH) have been pushing back against the fishery and its commercial salmon farm, claiming the fish it releases into the wild have been spreading lice, weakening the fish as they try to swim north to breed. 

On top of that, the groups say the toxic chemicals used to treat the lice are further harming the diversity in the area, and they have seen dead fish being dumped into the loch after failed attempts to treat amoebic gill disease, furthering the spread of the illness. 

With changing global temperatures already threatening these sensitive environments and weakening the populations of wildlife, the addition of lice and gill disease have had a cascading effect on the native populations. Mick Simpson, a member of FOLH and local fisherman, highlighted the difference from 40 years ago. 

"They were easily caught and put on the table," Simpson said. "It's kind of impossible now — even with sea trout which is very noticeable."

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What's being done about wildlife loss?

Groups like Seawilding are working to address the loss of life in the region, making inroads to repopulate oysters in the area, while organizations like FOLH are working to fight back against the commercial farms and their harmful practices. 

However, both groups face uphill battles; Seawilding has said it's playing catchup in trying to repopulate oysters and has faced shortages in young oysters at a time when it needs to be placing at least 1 million per year. 

Meanwhile, FOLH says it has seen the government side with Mowi, and it is trying to find other ways to convince them to take action. Elsewhere, restoration efforts have restored commercially beneficial fish populations, so it's possible a similar program could be successful here as well.

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