ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners are preparing to target supermarkets in the region in a protest against factory fish farming.

Stores throughout the area will be the focus of demonstrations later this month to highlight the damage the intensive form of farming allegedly causes Scottish wild salmon and sea trout.

Big supermarket chains are expected to have protestors outside their stores in Darlington, Bishop Auckland, Newcastle and York on Saturday, October 26.

Campaigners from the Farm Salmon Protest Group say they will be handing out leaflets to make people aware of the suffering farm fish experience.

John Young, of Middleton St George, near Darlington, is planning to stage a protest outside the Morrisons store at the town's Morton Park.

"There is widespread support in the North-East and down through the country," he said.

"What we are up against is a reactionary Government, which says it wants to help the environment, but things are being done so slowly that some form of protest needs to be made.

"The conditions are terrible. There is such a high volume of fish in such a small amount of water."

Earlier this year, the Compassion in World Farming Trust published research showing that each farmed salmon was allocated the equivalent of a bathtub of water.

Mortality rates among farmed salmon and trout were said to be very high, with fish being starved for up to ten days before being slaughtered.

The protest later this month will extend nationwide, with campaigners distributing material outside 200 supermarkets, urging shoppers not to buy farmed salmon.

Backing the move, Lord Thurso, MP for Caithness and Sutherland, said: "Wild salmon, trout and sea trout are among the finest game fish in the world - delicious to eat and offering unrivalled sport.

"They are one of Scotland's great natural resources. Conservation work to allow them to flourish is a high priority."