Ecohustler’s underwater discoveries

A Scottish man watches anxiously as a fishery vessel motors towards a freediver observing the nets beneath the surface, muttering, “He’s in real danger now.”

The scene unfolding paints a worrisome picture of the salmon farming industry in Scotland. While legal...mostly, the ramifications of the fishery have been vastly underestimated and underreported. As environmentalists Ruby Reed and Matt Mellen look through other marine areas in Scotland, they find an oyster introduction program that plans to seed over a million oysters into the environment within five years. They also freedive for scallops in Ullapool, an activity that shows a careful and deliberate interaction between humans and nature. All of this is threatened by farmed salmon and fisheries that take over beaches. 

Effective and righteous without behind preachy, director Eoghan McDonaugh captures the expansive rivers and loch of Scotland, showing off the country’s beauty. Loch, Stock, and Salmon, produced by ecohustler, is a tribute to the land, and a call to preserve it.