BBC News reported (22 July 2019):
Read more via:
Download press release in full as a PDF online here
Download press release in full as a PDF online here
Read a letter to Police Scotland, SEPA, the Crown Estate, APHA and the Scottish Government re. drafting a protocol and guidelines for filming - online here
Scottish Salmon Watch was horrified to see dead and dying 'cleaner fish' floating on the surface of a salmon farm when they rowed out to the aptly-named Bagh Dail nan Ceann (Bay of the Dead Heads) located within the Argyll Coast & Islands Hope Spot earlier this month (2 July).
Disease-ridden Mowi (who controversially changed their name from Marine Harvest on 1 January 2019 due to "negative consumer perceptions") owns the salmon farm in the Sound of Shuna (Sound of Jura). Bagh Dail nan Ceann was rated as the third worst salmon farm in Scotland in a welfare report by OneKind in 2018 (Mowi's neighbouring salmon farm at Poll na Gille was rated the worst). Last year despite objections, Mowi won approval to expand the salmon farm from 2,500 to 3,500 tonnes making it one of Scotland's largest salmon farms.
Here's some of the gruesome images from our visit on 2 July 2019:
In Gaelic, Bagh Dail nan Ceann translates as 'Bay of the Dead Heads' and is recorded as an ancient battle site and "site of conflict" where 3,000 people died. According to local folklore, Bay of the Dead Heads was named after Viking raiders who slaughtered the native Scots and displayed their heads on spikes - like a scene from the 'Walking Dead' TV series or in medieval Britain.
As it happens, the owner of Mowi is Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen (worth £7.5 billion according to the 2019 Sunday Times Rich List; $11.3 billion according to the Forbes billionaires list and "the richest Norwegian who has ever lived" according to Tradewinds). Fredriksen goes by the nicknames 'Storeulv' (Big Wolf) and McFreddy (not after Freddy Krueger but after Marine Harvest's ill-fated product placement with McDonalds).
Mowi's owner (via Geveran Trading) has been described by Forbes as the 'Viking Raider', MoneyWeek as 'The Viking King' and The Guardian as 'The Volatile Viking of Shipping'.
Read more on how 'Scottish' salmon is now tainted with the genes of Norwegian farmed salmon via:
The Sunday Times: Scots fish are ‘Vikings with kilts on’
The Sunday Times: "‘Tartan imposters’ charge as fish egg imports hit 90%"
Mail On Sunday: "90% of Scottish salmon 'ISN'T' from Scotland' - 66m eggs shipped in from abroad"
Salmon Eggsclusive: Scotland's 'King of Fish' is Now Viking Not Scottish!
The scenes of death and disease did not fill Scottish Salmon Watch with much hope - even though the area was designated as Scotland's first 'Hope Spot' in May 2019.
Read more via The Scotsman: "Scotland's west coast named UK's first Hope Spot for rich marine life"
When approaching the salmon farm, Scottish Salmon Watch saw leaping salmon which is a sign of lice infestation according to peer-reviewed scientific research published in 2018 which reported how salmon leap to oust parasites.
Scottish Salmon Watch suspected Mowi was in breach of the Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 - specifically in relation to "Unnecessary Suffering", "Cruel Operations" and "Ensuring Welfare of Animals" - with potential welfare abuse similar to the gruesome photographic evidence obtained from the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate in 2018.
Read more via:
Mowi's Disease-Ridden Mortalities - 1.6 million+ in 101 incidents (2017-2018)
New Report: "The State of Scottish Salmon Farming in 2018"
Scottish salmon farms in disease hell row after tons of rotting fish dumped in skips
Consequently, Scottish Salmon Watch safely and taking appropriate biosecurity precautions boarded the nearest cage in order to gather video evidence to report to the appropriate authorities (Marine Scotland, the Animal & Plant Health Agency and Police Scotland's Wildlife Crime Unit - read initial report dated 18 July online here and a second submission dated 20 July online here).
Lumpsuckers - so-called 'cleaner fish' which are used to remove parasitic sea lice from farmed salmon - were seen in distress at the surface either close to death or dead in the water. Peer-reviewed scientific research has reported how cleaner fish can carry infectious diseases, pathogens and viruses.
Underwater video footage shows parasites infesting both lumpsuckers and farmed salmon within Mowi's salmon farm. Here's photo stills from the video footage taken on 2 July 2019:
Here's a summary video report on Scottish Salmon Watch's visit to Bagh Dail nan Ceann on 2 July:
And another video report featuring dead cleaner fish at Mowi's 'Bay of the Dead Heads' salmon farm:
Read more about welfare problems of cleaner fish on Scottish salmon farms via:
Cleaner fish welfare on Scotland’s salmon farms
Fish used to help clean salmon of sea lice are at risk, warn animal rights campaigners
Fish that eat lice off farmed salmon suffer, says report
Dirty Secrets Lurking Under Scottish Salmon's Lice Skirt
Cleaner fish hit by health problems
In 2018, Marine Harvest was given the green light for a £6 million lumpfish hatchery on the Kintyre peninsula with "the capacity to produce 800,000 of the cleaner-fish per year". Salmon Business reported in February 2018 that:
"Marine Harvest is also said to be overhauling another site in Wales to produce more cleaner fish. For now, the company gets it cleaners from Otter Ferry Seafish in Argyll and the Native Marine Centre in Weymouth."
In April 2019, Mowi reported that it has bought a lumpfish hatchery in Wales:
Ocean Matters "is proud to now offer Lumpfish Certification to promote sustainable salmon farming through co-habitation".
Read more on why co-habitation of cleaner fish and farmed salmon may lead to disease problems via:
The Sunday Times: "‘Clean fish’ bring danger of disease to salmon farms"
Tests show lumpsuckers can infect salmon with AGD
Cleaner fish hit by health problems
Piscirickettsia salmonis infection in cultured lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus L.).
First record of Tetramicra brevifilum in lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus, L.)
Bacterial Disease is Leading Cause of Mortality in Lumpfish
Risk assessment of fish health associated with the use of cleaner fish in aquaculture
Disease forces cull of 10,000 “cleaner” fish
In 2018, Scottish Salmon Watch took video footage of lice-infested and dead cleaner fish at other salmon farming facilities in Scotland.
Dead and dying cleaner fish was not the only welfare problem identified by Scottish Salmon Watch during our brief visit to Bagh Dail nan Ceann. A continuous clicking sound was being emitted by the Acoustic Deterrent Device employed on the Mowi salmon farm - an OTAQ Seal Fence.
Read more via "Sounding Off On Salmon Farms - Acoustic Deterrent Devices evade Marine Noise Registry" and SARF report 112: "Influences of lower-frequency Acoustic Deterrent Devices (ADDs) on cetaceans in Scottish coastal waters"
Sign a petition calling for a ban on ADDs!
Mowi Scotland's salmon farm at Bagh Dail nan Ceann has a history of disease and mortality problems - including "complex gill issues" and "Anemia" reported in November 2017 and 6,000 morts in October 2017 due to a chemical treatment with Azamethiphos.
In terms of toxic chemical use, the site reported the use of the lobster-killing Azamethiphos in March 2019.
And again at the same Mowi salmon farm in November 2018:
And lobsters in the vicinity of Mowi's salmon farm were subjected to another dose of the toxic Azamethiphos in October 2018:
As well as a dose of the toxic lobster-killer Emamectin benzoate in September 2018:
Read more on the toxicity and lethality of Azamethiphos and Emamectin benzoate via:
New salmon sea lice treatment threshold serves industry not oceans
Fish Farmageddon: Scottish Salmon's Lethal Legacy
Early the following day after filming at Mowi's Bagh Dail nan Ceann salmon farm a boat carrying huge tanks of the toxic chemical Hydrogen Peroxide (the same boat as the video below) was seen heading to the farm (3 July).
Read more on the use of Hydrogen Peroxide via:
All is not well with sick Scottish salmon
Sky-Rocketing Chemical Use on Scottish Salmon Farms
Mowi's Bagh Dail nan Ceann salmon farm was only stocked in September 2018 but rapidly reached a biomass of 2,027 tonnes by March 2019.
Even accounting for disease and mortality problems which could trigger early harvesting the average harvest cycle in the sea is ca. 16 months so the farmed salmon and cleaner fish at this site could be expected to remain until Xmas at least. How much more welfare abuse will be committed? How many more infectious diseases, pathogens and viruses will be reported? And how many more toxic chemicals will be used?
In terms of infectious diseases and Amoebic Gill Disease in particular, Mowi Scotland's Health Manager Sabina Maclean is expecting "a painful September and October for the salmon industry in Scotland".
Scottish Salmon Watch did not dive under Mowi's salmon farm at Bagh Dail nan Ceann but diver David Ainsley has dived under a nearby Mowi salmon farm at Poll na Gille.
Mowi's Poll na Gille salmon farm was assessed as the worst for welfare according to a report - "Fish Welfare on Scotland's Salmon Farms" - published by OneKind in August 2018 - with Mowi's Bagh Dail nan Ceann salmon farm ranked the third worst in Scotland.
BBC Panorama broadcast video footage of Mowi's dead salmon in May 2019:
Read more via BBC News: "Salmon farming giant Mowi probed over chemical use"
Watch a video report shot under the Mowi salmon farm at Poll na Gille:
Scottish Salmon Watch is calling for video surveillance of salmon farms - including CCTV.
Read more via:
Earlier this month, Mowi pledged to close down salmon farms in Loch Duich and Loch Ewe.
Mowi Scotland's Managing Director Ben Hadfield - who coined in over £800,000 in 2018 - said with a straight face earlier this month.
Read more via Fish Farmer (13 July):
Scottish Salmon Watch invites Mr Hadfield to visit his salmon farm at Bagh Dail nan Ceann to see for himself what Mowi's "success story" on cleaner fish looks like. Does this look like success to you?
The move to offshore salmon farms - where the currents are stronger and storms are the norm - is a recipe for further welfare disaster. Mr Hadfield would do well to remember what happened at Mowi's salmon farm at Carradale in Kilbrannan Sound in March 2018 when 300,000 farmed salmon were battered to death in heavy seas and gale force winds. Photos leaked by a whistleblower show how the farmed salmon were flayed to the bone.
Read more via Sunday Mail: "Gutted - 300,000 salmon are killed as storm batters fish farm" and "The State of Scottish Salmon Farming in 2018"
Sainsbury's (who supply exclusively from Mowi), Lidl and Aldi wouldn't even have had to take the skins off for their RSPCA Assured Skinless Scottish salmon fillets.
Watch a video report on Mowi's skinless Scottish salmon online here
Maybe Mowi and Sainsbury's will soon be launching a new range of "responsibly sourced" cleaner fish which can be marketed alongside their disease-ridden Scottish salmon?
Mowi - like its predecessor Marine Harvest - is fast building up a woeful track record of welfare, disease and environmental problems. Earlier this month, Scottish Salmon Watch exposed dead farmed salmon floating on the surface of Mowi Ireland's ASC-certified salmon farm in Lough Swilly - with wild fish pictured swimming close by the dead salmon.
Read more via Secret Filming in Ireland - Mowi Salmon is Dead in the Water!
In April 2019, Mowi Ireland had a salmon farm licence revoked followed a breach of biomass.
In Chile, Mowi risks a huge fine following an escape of farmed salmon - and risks losing their salmon farm licence at Punta Redonda following the escape of 680,000 fish.
Earlier this month, Scottish Salmon Watch lifted the lid on a cache of containers of the carcinogenic chemical Formaldehyde in Loch Arkaig.
Read more via EXPOSED: Mowi's Cache of Carcinogenic Chemicals On Conservative MSP's Estate
In May 2019, Scottish Salmon Watch exposed another cache of toxic chemicals used to kill sea lice on salmon farms across Scotland.
In May 2019, Scottish Salmon Watch filmed a 'Thermolicer' - a torture chamber for farmed salmon condemned by Compassion in World Farming - operating at Mowi's ASC-certified salmon farm in Loch Leven.
If Mowi was being honest with their customers then their marketing would be more X-rated.
Mowi's dubious attempts to re-write history require serious ground-truthing.
Scottish Salmon Watch hopes that "morally bankrupt and environmentally repugnant" Mowi will close down all their salmon farms.
Download a shorter version of this blog as a PDF online here
On 18 July 2019, Mowi's legal representative sent the following email:
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: McSherry, Euan <emcsherry@acandco.com>
Date: Thu, Jul 18, 2019 at 6:16 PM
Subject: Unauthorised intrusion at Bagh Dail nan Ceann (694168)
To: salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Mr Staniford
Unauthorised Access
This firm has repeatedly written to you on instruction of our client, Mowi Scotland Limited (Mowi) - formerly known as Marine Harvest (Scotland) Limited - asking you to remove defamatory material which you have communicated on public forums and to cease your unauthorised incursions and activities at Mowi’s fish farms and processing plants in Scotland. This email focuses on the latter in relation to the content of two online videos published by you and accessed via the following links:
These videos demonstrate that, on the evening of 2nd July 2019, you attended at Mowi’s Bagh Dail nan Ceann fish farm (the Farm) without authorisation. It is not known how you accessed the Farm but it is probable that you did so with the assistance of a fuel-powered vessel. Specifically, you are filmed (i) on the outer rim of one circular cage at the Farm, (ii) penetrating the above-surface netting of the cage with what appears to be an electronic device and (iii) inserting the said device below the water surface of the cage. Your incursion and activities occurred without obtaining the permission of Mowi or the relevant authorities. This incident has been reported to the police in line with Mowi’s policy for responding to intruders. In the circumstances detailed in this email, and in order to protect fish, visitors, staff and property, Mowi requires you to desist from taking any further unauthorised access to, or having any further unauthorised interaction with, it’s fish farm at Bagh Dail nan Ceann in the Sound of Shuna and requests that you provide an undertaking to desist in the terms contained in the undernote to this email.
Mowi has legitimate and grave concerns about this intrusion as it contravenes their biosecurity and health and safety policies and safe ways of working. All Mowi farms (whether aquatic or terrestrial) operated throughout Scotland need to ensure the highest standards of animal health and welfare, and of staff and visitor health, safety and wellbeing. All visitors need to comply with site specific protocols in order to protect fish, visitors, staff and property. As well as the risk to fish health and welfare, Mowi has duties to its staff, its regulators, the Crown Estate and the public to ensure that it prevents your potentially hazardous interference with Mowi’s sites. For those reasons, it will be forced to take further action unless you co-operate with its requests and desist from further unauthorised access at any of its sites. Further unauthorised activities and incursions will be reported to Police Scotland. Mowi reserves the right to take civil proceedings against you should you continue to pursue unauthorised activities on, over or at our client’s fish farms and processing plants across Scotland.
If you refuse or delay to confirm your undertaking in these terms Mowi will be left with no choice but to take steps to protect the Farm, and its rights in relation thereto, through the courts. No further warning will be given. We trust that will not be necessary and look forward to receiving the requested undertaking from you no later than 5pm on Monday, 22nd July.
Regards,
|
Euan McSherry |
Undernote:
I, Don Staniford, hereby undertake to Mowi Scotland Limited (the Company), that neither I, nor any person instructed on my behalf, will access or interfere with the Company’s fish farm at Bagh Dail nan Ceann in the Sound of Shuna, and for the avoidance of doubt neither I nor any person instructed on my behalf, will take, or cause to be taken on to the Company’s fish farm at Bagh Dail nan Ceann in the Sound of Shuna, any equipment, vehicles, vessels, goods, gear or other apparatus without the express written consent of the Company.
I replied later on 18 July 2019:
During 2018 and 2019 Scottish Salmon Watch has been filming secretly at salmon farms in Scotland and Ireland - with shocking video footage taken inside salmon farms owned by Mowi, Scottish Sea Farms and The Scottish Salmon Company.
The video footage is taken using a Go Pro camera (ca. £150 from Amazon) mounted on a 3.5m telescopic pole (£10.99 from Amazon).
STV News broadcast video footage taken by Scottish Salmon Watch at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm in Loch Shieldaig in June 2019:
The Sunday Mail newspaper featured video footage taken by Scottish Salmon Watch in November 2018 under the headline:
In October 2018, The Sunday Post published an article featuring Scottish Salmon Watch's underwater video footage:
Kayaks, canoes and rowing boats have all been used to visit the salmon farms - with biosecurity precautions and disinfection protocols adhered to prior to and following every salmon farm visit.
The vital importance of adhering to biosecurity precautions before, during and after filming at salmon farms cannot be stressed enough.
Read a profile published in The Shooting Times in October 2018:
Read more via Don Staniford's blog, Scottish Salmon Watch, Scottish Scamon, Salmon Pledge and Salmon Farming Kills
The use of a Go Pro camera inside a salmon farm was pioneered in 2016 by biologist Alexandra Morton in British Columbia, Canada.
Her video footage recorded the first 'hard evidence' of wild fish swimming inside salmon farms in addition to a raft of welfare and disease problems.
In 2017 and 2018 further damning video evidence was secured by the Sea Shepherd Society, Alexandra Morton and First Nations leaders filming inside salmon farms in British Columbia, Canada.
CBC News reported in 2017:
In 2017, Swedish film-maker Mikael Frödin swam out to a Grieg owned salmon farm in Altafjord armed with a Go Pro on an extendable pole.
His shocking footage of lice damage and welfare abuse was broadcast in 2018 on Swedish TV and on Norwegian TV.
"They're all sick, look at them," said Frödin as he filmed inside the cage:
Frödin's footage featured in the 2019 film 'Artifishal'.
Read more via:
Independent journalist faces court for trespassing at salmon farm
Norwegian filmmaker will risk prison to protect wild salmon
Mikael sentenced for encroachment in Alta district court
Scottish photographer Corin Smith also swam out to a salmon farm in August 2018 - his stomach-churning video footage of The Scottish Salmon Company's factory feedlot in Loch Roag and burial pits for dead farmed salmon opened the public's eye to the reality of modern battery salmon farming.
Corin Smith's damning video footage was broadcast by the BBC's The One Show in September 2018 and by BBC Panorama in May 2019.
The Daily Mail reported in September 2018:
In March 2019, Sir David Attenborough added his powerful voice to the plight of wild salmon and the threats posed by salmon farms.
Watch Sir David Attenborough's video message online here
Read more via:
Shocking Video Footage from Mowi's 'Bay of the Dead Heads' (Bagh Dail nan Ceann)
Campaigners call for urgent investigation of all Scottish salmon farms
Police Scotland Acting as Private Security Enforcement for Norwegian-Owned Scottish Sea Farms?
Secret Filming in Ireland - Mowi Salmon is Dead in the Water!
EXPOSED: Mowi's Cache of Carcinogenic Chemicals On Conservative MSP's Estate
The Scotsman: "Salmon farms targeted in environmental campaign"
'Salmonwatch' Launched in Scotland
Biosecurity Precautions for Filming Salmon Farms
EXPOSED: Scottish Salmon's Cascading Use of Cancer-Causing Chemical
Ground-Truthing Disease-Ridden Scottish Salmon
Scottish Salmon Exposed - Photos from Secret Filming on Arran & in Shieldaig
Gotcha: Wild Fish Caught on Camera Inside Scottish Salmon Farm
The Ferret: "‘Sick’ salmon film prompts government probe into Scottish fish farm"
Frankenfish Video - The Ugly Face of Lousy Scottish Salmon
Mass deaths: nine million fish killed by diseases at Scottish salmon farms
Disease-Ridden Scottish Salmon
Mowi's Disease-Ridden Mortalities - 1.6 million+ in 101 incidents (2017-2018)
The Sorry State of Scottish Salmon Farming in 2018
French & Latvian TV coverage of Scottish salmon
Scottish salmon farms in disease hell row after tons of rotting fish dumped in skips
Dirty Rotten Scottish Salmon - Videos lift lid on can of worms, beetles & maggots!
Photos: Dirty Rotten Scottish Salmon - Lifting the Lid!
Video Reveals Maggot-Infested Salmon on Scottish Farms
Underwater film reveals salmon with twisted spines as fears mount over cages
Shocking Video Exposes Cruel Salmon Farming in Scotland
Horrific Footage Exposes Factory Salmon Farming
The Secrets of Scottish Salmon Farming
BBC One Show on Lice-Infested Scottish Salmon
SSPCA under fire over lice-infested salmon filmed at fish farm
Dirty Secrets Lurking Under Scottish Salmon's Lice Skirt
Footage shows 'lice-infected wild salmon'
Secret Filming Reveals Shocking Images of Unhealthy Scottish Salmon
REVEALED: Photos Shot Inside Scottish Salmon Farms
WATCH: “Shocking” footage shows diseased and damaged fish on Scottish salmon farm
Sick salmon at Scottish fish farm revealed on film
Shocking images show parasite infested salmon as row over farming continues
Salmon firms bid to block diseased fish photos
Hard Evidence: Photos of Diseased & Deformed Scottish Salmon (August 2018)
New report exposes serious welfare issues on Scottish salmon farms
Revealed: the fish farms worst on animal welfare
Legal Complaint Vs Breaches of Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act
New photos expose shocking welfare issues on Scottish salmon farms
Hard Evidence: Photos of Diseased & Deformed Scottish Salmon (June 2018)
Horror photos of farmed salmon spark legal threat
Exposed: Gruesome photos of diseased and deformed Scottish salmon
The Sunday Times reported (21 July 2019):
Read more via:
EXPOSED: Mowi's Cache of Carcinogenic Chemicals On Conservative MSPs Estate
EXPOSED: Scottish Salmon's Cascading Use of Cancer-Causing Chemical
Pickled Scottish Salmon, Anyone?
Formalin: Scottish Salmon's Toxic Solution
Watch video reports here:
The Press & Journal reported (20 July 2019):
Sign the petition online here
Read more via:
"Campaigners call for urgent investigation of all Scottish salmon farms"
Next time you're in the supermarket and see salmon stamped with the ASC logo please think twice before falling hook line and sinker for their "sustainable" and "environmentally responsible" factory farmed salmon.
SeaChoice warned in a press release issued yesterday (16 July):
In other words, the industry-dominated ASC is moving the goalposts to allow more salmon farms to meet their ever weakening and widening salmon standard.
As SeaChoice explained, the watered down ASC standard will open the floodgates to more toxic chemicals which peer-reviewed science has shown to be lethal to lobsters and other shellfish:
In Scotland and Chile the ASC-standard permits a staggering NINE chemical treatments per harvest cycle - it's not clear how many dead lobsters and other shellfish that equates with but it's far from "environmentally responsible".
ASC-certified salmon should now be marketed with a side of dead lobster served on a devastated sea-bed.
Read more via Global Review of the ASC Salmon Standard
Given the toxicity and lethality of Emamectin benzoate it is not surprising that the Scottish salmon farming industry (aided and abetted by the Scottish Government, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and chemical giant Merck) attempted to bury the Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum (SARF) report cited above.
Read more via:
The Ferret reported in March 2017:
In June 2019, The Ferret reported:
Earlier this month, the ASC watered down the salmon standard to accommodate Mowi Scotland's freshwater salmon farms.
Read more via ASC salmon review tailored to Scottish farms
Fisheries Management Scotland reported in September 2017:
The ASC standard even permits to use of the carcinogenic chemical Formaldehyde - used by Mowi in Loch Lochy, Loch Garry and in Loch Arkaig.
Read more via:
EXPOSED: Mowi's Cache of Carcinogenic Chemicals On Conservative MSP's Estate
Sunday National: "Fears over toxic chemical approved for use in fish farms"
The Ferret: Scottish Fish Farms Using Cancer-linked Embalming Fluid as Disinfectant
EXPOSED: Scottish Salmon's Cascading Use of Cancer-Causing Chemicals
As the ASC explained last week:
From: Bertrand Charron <Bertrand.Charron@asc-aqua.org>
Date: Fri, Jul 12, 2019 at 3:21 PM
Subject: RE: ASC standard permits use of Formaldehyde?
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Hello Don,
Thank you for getting in touch and seeking some clarification re. whether the ASC standard permits use of Formaldehyde.
Whilst ASC cannot comment upon the practices of any non-ASC certified salmon farms, I can confirm that the ASC Salmon Standard provides a solid framework for an environmentally responsible management of diseases and parasites, as per the criteria and requirements listed under the Principle 5.
Notably, the ASC Salmon Standard does not permit the use of antibiotics or chemicals that are banned in any of the primary salmon producing or importing countries (for purposes of this standard, those countries are Norway, the UK, Canada, Chile, the United States, Japan and France). The Standard for instance also restricts the number of antibiotics treatment, and forbids the use of antibiotics listed as critically important for human medicine by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Certified farms are also requested to keep a a list of all potential therapeutants used in salmon production (including detailed information on all chemicals and therapeutants used during the most recent production cycle, the amounts used (including grammes per tonne of fish produced), the dates used, which group of fish were treated and against which diseases, proof of proper dosing etc.
Whilst there are no specific statements re. Formaldehyde (formalin), the Salmon Standard of course requests as a minimum that all farms operate within the regulatory framework, respect withholding periods etc. Not least does the standard also request that any/all (100%) of medication events be prescribed by a veterinarian (including Formaldehyde if used in that context/ as a therapeutant).
Furthermore, if you want to check which farms are currently certified by Name / Species / Country / Status, I encourage you to use the ASC website and the advanced Search facility: http://asc.force.com/Certificates/
Best regards,
Bertrand Charron
Science & Sustainability Communications Manager
Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC)
HNK, Arthur van Schendelstraat 650 |3511 MJ Utrecht, The Netherlands
E: Bertrand.Charron@asc-aqua.org
Web: www.asc-aqua.org
On Twitter: @ASC_aqua
In 2012, it was revealed that the ASC would be dead in the water without the revenue stream generated by farmed salmon.
Read more via:
The Abominable Salmon Council - Buyer Beware!
Pepé Le Pew Loves Farmed Salmon!
In 2013, WWF and Marine Harvest (re-named Mowi on 1 January 2019) issued a joint press release pledging to be 100% ASC-certified by 2020.
Read more via "WWF Greenwashes Marine Harvest"
Read more via WWF International accused of 'selling its soul' to corporations
Readers with a longer memory than a deaf farmed salmon will remember that the toxic relationship between WWF and Marine Harvest spawned the devilish ASC (aka the Abominable Salmon Council) in 2010 - with the 2010 documentary 'Salmonopoly' exposing how Marine Harvest paid WWF to use the Panda logo.
Read more via "EXPOSED: Scottish Salmon's Sustainability Scam"
A quick look at the make up of the ASC's governance and you can see how incestuous and corrupt the dirty business of salmon farming really is. Two of the industry representatives on the ASC are former Marine Harvest employees - Ally Dingwall (now with Sainsbury's - exclusive supplier of Marine Harvest/Mowi salmon) and Jose Villalon (now with former Marine Harvest-owner Nutreco and formerly with WWF).
Ally Dingwall is also on the Global Aquaculture Alliance's Global Seafood Assurances Board.
In 2013, the ASC's supervisory board looked like this:
Read more via "Panda Porn: WWF Leaps Into Bed With Salmon Giant Nutreco"
In 2016, Marine Harvest pledged to have 100% of their salmon farms ASC-certified by 2020.
In July 2019, Scotland lags behind in terms of ASC-certification with only one salmon farm (Mowi's Loch Leven site) certified by the ASC out of 282 currently listed.
There's 12 salmon farms currently listed as ASC-certified in Australia:
There's 30 salmon farms currently ASC-certified in Canada:
There's 49 salmon farms currently listed as ASC-certified in Chile:
Even three salmon farms in Ireland are currently listed as ASC-certified.
Including Mowi's Lough Swilly salmon farm - which Scottish Salmon Watch recently visited taking video footage of dead salmon floating on the surface next to wild fish:
Read more via Secret Filming in Ireland - Mowi Salmon is Dead in the Water!
Norway already has a staggering 171 salmon farms listed as ASC-certified:
Scotland's sole salmon farm currently ASC-certified is Mowi's Loch Leven salmon farm - a site assessed as "Poor" by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency:
Scottish Salmon Watch reported in July 2018:
Read more via Failing Fish Farms: Scotland's Worst Salmon Farms Named & Shamed
The Press & Journal reported in July 2018:
In May 2019, Scottish Salmon Watch filmed a Thermolicer washing Mowi's lice-infested ASC-certified salmon farm in Loch Leven.
Mowi is gearing up for further ASC certification. In July 2019, a Mowi press release announced:
So we can expect Mowi to be fast-tracking applications for ASC-certification at its 84 other salmon farms - here's the list of all Mowi's 85 salmon farms via Scotland's Aquaculture web-site:
Lobsters and other shellfish should be alarmed and would be advised to run for their lives.
Mowi and Marine Harvest have left a lasting legacy of chemical pollution across Scotland. In 2013, The Guardian reported:
Read more via:
Salmon farming in crisis: 'We are seeing a chemical arms race in the seas'
Mapped: the 45 lochs polluted by fish farm pesticides
Toxic Toilets: Salmon Farms Pollute Scotland's Lochs
Revealed: the dirty dozen salmon farms that contaminate lochs with pesticides
So when you see ASC-certified salmon on sale in the supermarket please stop to ask what toxic chemicals were used in the salmon farming process.
In the case of Mowi's ASC-certified salmon farm in Loch Leven we know from published data via Scotland's Aquaculture web-site that the lobster-killing chemical Emamectin benzoate was used in July 2018:
And more of the toxic lobster-killer was used in September 2018:
And we know that Emamectin benzoate was used at Mowi's salmon farm at Ardgour in Loch Linnhe in July 2018:
And again in August 2018:
And yet again in September 2018 at Mowi's Ardgour salmon farm in Loch Linnhe:
And just to mix it up Mowi used the lobster-killing chemical Azamethiphos at their Ardgour salmon farm in January 2019:
And again at the same Mowi salmon farm in November 2018:
And lobsters in the vicinity of Mowi's salmon farm were subjected to another dose of the toxic Azamethiphos in October 2018:
As well as a dose of the toxic lobster-killer Emamectin benzoate in September 2018:
Mowi's salmon farm at Creag an Sagairt West in Loch Hourn (famously promoted by Jamie "Whore" Oliver in a TV advert for Sainsbury's even though the farm was caught polluting the loch) reported the use of Azamethiphos in March 2019:
The same site in Loch Hourn reported the use of both Azamethiphos and Deltamethrin (another toxic chemical with impacts on marine life) in September 2018:
Mowi's Loch Hourn salmon farm also reported the use of both Azamethiphos and Emamectin benzoate in June 2018:
With yet more Emamectin benzoate reported as used in Loch Hourn in May 2018:
Read more via Fish Farmageddon: Scottish Salmon's Lethal Legacy and Silent Spring of the Sea
Data for April, May and June 2019 will sadly not be available until October 2019 (data for July, August and September 2019 will not be available until probably early 2020) and lice and mortality data for June and July 2019 will be available from Mowi online here. In the meantime, we know from published data that Mowi is experiencing huge mortality and disease problems.
Read more via Mowi's Disease-Ridden Mortalities - 1.6 million+ in 101 incidents (2017-2018)
Mowi is also under pressure following a damning documentary broadcast by BBC's Panorama in May 2019.
Read more via Salmon farming giant Mowi probed over chemical use
Watch more via Inside Room 101 - Scottish Salmon’s Cache of Toxic Chemicals
Speaking personally, I think people will have to be certified insane to buy "responsible" ASC-certified salmon.
When Scottish Salmon Watch filmed at a salmon farm operated by Scottish Sea Farms in the Sound of Shuna in Loch Linnhe in July 2019 they were paid a visit by Police Scotland. The sergeant from Appin police station claimed that Scottish Salmon Watch needed permission from the Norwegian-owned salmon farming company to be in the water near a salmon farm.
Police Scotland told Scottish Salmon Watch to leave even though the area they were filming in was public and navigable waters. Scottish Salmon Watch believe that they had every right to navigate and film in a public area - and that Scottish Sea Farms does not have exclusive jurisdiction of the area.
The sergeant, when pressed on what laws or regulations were being broken, claimed that Police Scotland had received a call suggesting a theft was taking place. Yet when Police Scotland first approached Scottish Salmon Watch they did not ask to search the boat or even question whether a theft was taking place. It appeared that Police Scotland's motive was primarily to force Scottish Salmon Watch from the public waterway, intimidate and stipulate that permission was needed from a Norwegian-owned private company to enjoy a public waterway in Scotland.
Scottish Salmon Watch contacted Police Scotland this morning:
Don Staniford Tweeted (15 July):
Howard Wood (Goldman Environmental prize winner in 2015) Tweeted in reply (15 July):
Don Staniford Tweeted (15 July):
Howard Wood posted on Facebook (15 July):
Russ Cheshire Tweeted (15 July):
Ewan Kennedy Tweeted (16 July):
Here's the FOI request to Police Scotland:
Read more on who controls Norwegian-owned Scottish Sea Farms - including "the world's youngest male billionaire" Gustav Magnar Witzøe - via 'Scottish Scamon':
Watch more via:
Read a briefing report on secret filming in Ireland (5-6 July 2019) online here
Watch more videos from Mowi Ireland's salmon farm in Lough Swilly via:
And here's video reports from Mowi Ireland's land-base servicing the Anny Point salmon farm in Lough Swilly:
The vital importance of taking strict biosecurity precautions including the disinfection of equipment prior to and after filming cannot be stressed enough:
As the video footage illustrates, Irish salmon farming is dead in the water. Fish Farming Expert reported in April 2019:
Read more via "Irish angered by salmon production nosedive"
Mowi's Loch Swilly salmon farm has elevated lice levels according to official data published by the Marine Institute:
Lice levels were high in March 2019 at Mowi (Marine Harvest) salmon farms in Lough Swilly and Mulroy Bay:
Mowi (re-named from Marine Harvest on 1 January 2019) reported lice problems in Donegal Bay in February 2019:
According to The Marine Institute the mortality rate on Irish salmon farms during 2018 was as high as 11.55% with various diseases listed as causes including Amoebic Gill Disease, Pancreas Disease and Cardiomyopathy Syndrome:
Read more on secret filming via:
Read more background on Irish salmon farming via:
Exposed: Ireland's Lice-Infested Farmed Salmon
Double Trouble: Ireland's Lice-Infested Salmon Farms Leap By Over 100%
44 sea lice per salmon at Marine Harvest Ireland farm
Local fish farms hit by sea lice
Watch RTE's Prime Time lifting the lid on Irish salmon farming in 2003:
Read how Mowi Ireland breached biomass at a salmon farm leading to the licence being rescinded in 2019 via:
Kerry fish farm licence discontinued after probe
Ireland discontinues Mowi site licence in unprecedented move
Scottish Salmon Watch have uncovered another cache of carcinogenic chemicals - this time stored on the shore of Loch Arkaig near Fort William at a salmon farm operated by Norwegian-owned Mowi (formerly known as Marine Harvest - the company changed their name in 2019 due to "negative connotations consumers associate with Marine Harvest" according to Mowi's CEO Alf Helge-Aarskog).
Mowi's Loch Arkaig operations are rented off the Achnacarry Estate which is owned by Conservative MSP Donald Cameron (the current Chief of the Cameron clan known by the title 'Cameron of Lochiel'). Donald Cameron is also the Lord Lieutenant of Inverness-shire - the British monarch's personal representative in an area which has been defined since 1975 as consisting of the local government districts of Inverness, Badenoch and Strathspey, and Lochaber, in Scotland.
The Chiefs of the Cameron clan would surely be turning in their chemically embalmed graves if they saw the quantities of carcinogenic Formaldehyde used in Loch Arkaig.
Perhaps Donald Cameron MSP is wanting to turn Loch Arkaig into an art work along the lines of Damien Hirst's shark pickled in Formaldehyde (although Donald freely admits he is scared of sharks and "was traumatised by watching all the Jaws movies")?
Data obtained from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) via Freedom of Information revealed that Marine Harvest (re-named Mowi on 1 January 2019) used 8,081,250 grams (8,081 kg) of Formaldehyde in 2017 and 2018 in Loch Arkaig.
Loch Arkaig should display a 'Toxic' hazard warning.
Scottish Salmon Watch reported last month:
Maybe the clan Chief Cameron - "one of the proudest and most romantic clans in Scotland" - has consumed too much toxic farmed salmon that it has pickled his Harrow and Oxford University educated brain?
Donald Cameron MSP - described in The Daily Record as "Ruth Davidson's chief policy coordinator" - told the Scottish Parliament in February 2019 during a debate on salmon farming:
Donald Cameron MSP's vested financial interest in supporting Marine Harvest (re-named Mowi on 1 January 2019 despite objections from the Mowinckel family) appears to trump his Parliamentary interests. The ECCLR (Environment, Climate Change & Land Reform) Committee report (March 2018) which Donald Cameron MSP refers to above (and which he was a member of) included the following concerns on chemical use on salmon farms:
Even the pro-industry REC (Rural Economy & Connectivity) Committee report on salmon farming (November 2018) reiterated the ECCLR Committee's concerns regarding toxic chemical use on salmon farms.
Donald Cameron MSP - currently the shadow cabinet secretary for the rural economy for the Scottish Conservatives - will no doubt have watched the BBC Panorama investigation in May 2019 which featured concerns over the misreporting of chemicals by Mowi and other salmon farming companies.
Now that Mowi is seeking to move away from the West coast, perhaps their landlord in Loch Arkaig will ask them to take their containers of carcinogenic chemicals with them?
Mowi is certainly not the only salmon farming company dependent upon toxic and carcinogenic chemicals. In May 2019, Scottish Salmon Watch filmed rows upon rows of chemical containers to used on salmon farms across Scotland.
Last month, Scottish Salmon Watch uncovered a stash of Formaldehyde at The Scottish Salmon Company's operations at Russel Burn Hatchery on the shore of Loch Kishorn.
In 2018, Scottish Salmon Watch published video footage of vats of Formaldehyde at Kames Fish Farming near Loch Melfort in Argyll.
Read more via:
Scottish Salmon Watch wrote to SEPA (copied to Donald Cameron MSP) on 12 July 2019:
From: McSherry, Euan <emcsherry@acandco.com>
Date: Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 1:31 PM
Subject: Unauthorised intrusion at Loch Arkaig and urgent request to move online material – July 2019 (694168)
To: salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Mr Staniford
We act on behalf of Mowi Scotland Limited (Mowi), formerly known as Marine Harvest (Scotland) Limited. We had cause to write to you in (i) November 2017, (ii) October 2018 and (iii) June 2019. On each occasion we requested that you delete identified, offending material and to confirm that said material would not be more widely disseminated. You complied with the November 2017 request. You removed two of the three offending online videos identified in our October 2018 request. You have removed none of the offending online videos in our June 2019 request. On each occasion you have refused to provide the requested confirmation. On each occasion, our client asked you to cease your unauthorised activities at Mowi’s fish farms and processing plants. However, such unauthorised intrusions continue.
The content of the published online video - accessed via this link: https://vimeo.com/347341760 - demonstrates that you attended at Mowi’s Loch Arkaig fish farm in July 2019 without authorisation. Our client has legitimate and grave concerns about this intrusion as it contravenes their biosecurity and health and safety policies and safe ways of working. All Mowi farms (whether aquatic or terrestrial) need to ensure the highest standards of animal health and welfare, and of staff and vistitor health, safety and wellbeing. All visitors need to comply with site specific protocols in order to protect fish, visitors, staff and property. Our client is not going to allow its staff, product or reckless third parties to be exposed to the risk of unauthorised activities which pose a clear and present danger to is biosecurity and health and safety policies and safe ways of working. Further unauthorised activities and incursions will be reported to Police Scotland. Further, our client reserves the right to take civil proceedings against you should you continue to pursue unauthorised activities on, over or at our client’s fish farms and processing plants across Scotland.
The Loch Arkaig site was fallow at the time of your filming. Contrary to the your statements, some of intermediate bulk containers (IBCs) filmed held formaldehyde, some did not. Many IBCs were holding net ropes and other equipment. Products using formaldehyde are used, with the approval of the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, for dis-infection, fumigation and foot bathing purposes in the farming of fish, poultry, sheep and cattle. Our client’s use of such products is licensed and permitted.
The following content of the video is defamatory of Mowi. You rightly state that Sainsbury’s supermarkets sell Mowi/Marine Harvest farmed salmon. You go on to state, or infer, that (i) our client is not a responsible retailer, (ii) that its salmon product is toxic and (iii) that it is releasing toxic chemicals into the marine environment. You ask the public not to buy Scottish salmon and say that it is toxic. Through the proximity of your statements, the inference is that our client’s farmed salmon, if eaten, is hazardous to the health of the public at large. I take from your involvement in litigation proceedings in British Columbia in 2012 and 2013 that you are aware of the distinction between subjective and objective standards of assessment. As under Canadian law, under Scots law the test to be applied to the defamatory statements brought to your attention is an objective one, and an objective approach is also taken when asking whether statements found to be defamatory will lower the reputation of a legal person in the eyes of right thinking members of society generally. The fact that you may believe something to be true is, with respect, not a relevant defence. It is irrelevant in law if you believe that something which conflicts with your views and vision is wrong. These matters are set out more eloquently in the trial judge’s opinion in Mainstram Canada v. Staniford 2012 BCSC 1433, in particular paragraphs 186 to 188, and the Honourable Mr. Justice Tysoe’s written reasons in Mainstream Canada v. Staniford 2013 BCCA 341, in particular paragraphs 24 to 48.
Your statements are false, defamatory and, viewed objectively, they lower the reputation of Mowi in the eyes of right thinking members of society generally. Your entreaty to the public is founded on the falsehoods you have advanced and seeks to cause Mowi economic loss.
As noted previously, my client does not seek to stifle free speech or debate but it will act to protect its reputation. Mowi has asked that we provide you with 48 hours to remove the identified video and to confirm that the original videos, or any versions or copies of them, will not be disseminated more widely. We trust that this matter can be resolved amicably and without having to have recourse to the courts. If the identified, offending material is not removed by the expiry of the stated period for removal, our client will consider approaching the courts to have you ordained to do so. However, as stated, our client would prefer to see the permanent deletion of the identified, offending material via this approach
The objects of this correspondence are the removal of the offending material and the cessation of the unauthorised activities at Mowi’s business premises. It is not to set out the precise terms of any subsequent litigation which is necessary. This email is accordingly without prejudice to our client's whole rights and pleas and may not be referred to in any future court, alternative dispute resolution or tribunal proceedings whatsoever without the express and written consent of our clients or at their instance.
Yours faithfully
Euan McSherry
Partner | Aberdein Considine
The Mail On Sunday reported (7 July 2019):
The Press & Journal reported (8 July 2019):
Read more via:
Salmon Eggsclusive: Scotland's 'King of Fish' is Now Viking Not Scottish!
Easter Egg Ban for 'Scottish' Salmon?
The Ferret: "Deadly virus outbreak prompted fears over import of fish farm eggs to Scotland"
Game Ova for Scottish Salmon - Deadly disease delays egg imports from AquaGen in Norway
Concerns raised over Scottish salmon roe imports
Government 'failing to protect Scottish salmon'
Imported eggs ruling 'makes a mockery of Scottish salmon'
Norway keeps ban on import of Scottish roe
Tartan imposters’ charge as fish egg imports hit 90%
Fish farms are ‘wiping out Scotland’s wild salmon’
'Norwegian' genes found in wild salmon populations in Wester Ross
Download a press release with a media backgrounder as a PDF online here
Download a press release with a media backgrounder as a PDF online here
SumOfUs Tweeted (1 July):
The vital importance of adhering to biosecurity precautions before, during and after filming at salmon farms cannot be stressed enough.
Prior to filming in 2018, Scottish Salmon Watch sought advice from the Scottish Government on 'Biosecurity & Disinfection':
The Scottish salmon farming industry's 'Code of Good Practice' was consulted - including:
And:
As per the advice of the Scottish Government, Scottish Salmon Watch uses Virkon S disinfectant before and after filming.
Virkon S is purchased as a powder to which water is added.
More details from Don Staniford on the importance of taking biosecurity precautions:
Scotland On Sunday reported (30 June 2019):
Watch a video report from Don Staniford in front of Mowi's monstrous fish feed factory on the Isle of Skye - online here
Watch The Ecologist's 'Greed of Feed' online here
Read more on how salmon farming is draining our global oceans via a letter to Kofi Annan from the Green Warriors of Norway.
Read more via The Ferret: "Fishing to feed salmon farms is emptying the seas, claims report"
Read article in full online here
The Sunday National newspaper (in conjunction with The Ferret) reported (30 June 2019):
Here's a Tweet:
Read more via: EXPOSED: Scottish Salmon's Cascading Use of Cancer-Causing Chemical
Watch Don Staniford reporting on The Scottish Salmon Company's stash of Formaldehyde at their Russel Burn Hatchery on the shore of Loch Kishorn - online here
Read more via: Ground-Truthing Disease-Ridden Scottish Salmon
A petition launched only yesterday has already attracted over 18,000 supporters. The petition, organised by SumOfUs, calls on Marine Scotland to "conduct immediate, unannounced on-the-spot inspections of all Scottish salmon farms to assess fish welfare". The petition showcases shocking video footage of welfare abuse at a salmon farm in Loch Shieldaig obtained earlier this month by Scottish Salmon Watch and published by The Ferret.
In October 2018, a Scottish Parliamentary Reply by Fergus Ewing (Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy) conceded that there had been only two unannounced site inspections of fish farms "in the last year".
Corin Smith posted on Facebook (19 June):
Here's the Scottish Government's FOI reply in May 2019:
The Scottish Government does have powers to enforce unannounced inspections of salmon farms.
Why the Scottish Government is not carrying out inspections of salmon farms is a question for Scotland's Minister for the Promotion of Norwegian-owned Salmon Farming (Fergus Ewing):
Read more via the report 'Scottish Scamon'
Nor is the Scottish Government alone in having a salmon pink tainted view of salmon farming.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) testified to the Scottish Parliament's salmon farming inquiry in February 2018 that 15% of inspections of salmon farms in 2017 were unannounced but later had to correct the information reducing the figure to 9%.
Shock, horror - the SEPA representative who testified to the Scottish Parliament's salmon farming inquiry in February 2018 (Anne Anderson) subsequently left to join the salmon farming industry's lobby group the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (as revealed by The Ferret in September 2018).
I think you can safely say that the salmon farming industry see SEPA's inspectors coming a mile away.
Read more via "The Scottish Environment Pollution Agency" and "SEPA's Shame on Salmon Farming"
Last year, another SumOfUs petition called on SEPA and the Scottish Government to test effluent from salmon farming operations for deadly viruses. Signed by over 43,000 supporters it was delivered by Scottish Salmon Watch to the Scottish Government (via the Scottish Parliament) in May 2018.
Photo: Mark Ruskell MSP with Don Staniford
Read more via:
42,000 sign petition for tougher Scottish salmon farm testing
Salmon farms are turning Scotland's seas into an open sewer, claim campaigners
Scottish salmon farming petition signed by 30,500
Another SumOfUs petition featuring horrific video footage of lice-infested farmed salmon shot by photographer Corin Smith in Loch Roag attracted over 33,000 supporters.
Another SumOfUs petition in Canada in 2017 was successful in forcing the Minister of Fisheries to make amendments to the Fisheries Act.
Scottish Salmon Watch has been campaigning for the Scottish Government to tighten the net on salmon farms in Scotland too.
Earlier this month (17 June), Scottish Salmon Watch called for video surveillance inside salmon farms to ground-truth what was happening in the cages.
Scottish Salmon Watch filmed inside a salmon farm in Loch Shieldaig on 8 June 2019 - watch video report via STV News:
The Scottish Salmon Company issued the following statement to STV News.
Scottish Salmon Watch has published photos and made available video footage via Google Drive.
The Ferret reported (13 June 2019):
Read article in full online here
Read more via: Frankenfish Video - The Ugly Face of Lousy Scottish Salmon
This is not the first time, shocking welfare abuse of farmed salmon has been captured on camera. The BBC's One Show broadcast gruesome video footage shot by photographer Corin Smith in September 2018 (also broadcast by BBC Panorama in May 2019).
Download photos and footage made publicly available by photographer Corin Smith online here
The BBC's One Show broadcast the video footage on 10 September 2018 (also broadcast by BBC Panorama in May 2019).
The trade publication Salmon Business lambasted the "own goal" by The Scottish Salmon Company's and their PR consultants:
The Scottish Salmon Company (a company registered in the tax haven of Jersey, floated on the Norwegian stock exchange and whose largest shareholder is an anonymous Swiss bank account believed to be controlled by Ukrainian banker Yury Lopatinskyy) is now culpable of the same PR "own goal" by denying the painfully obvious welfare abuse at their salmon farm in Loch Shieldaig.
When questioned by STV News, The Scottish Salmon Company once again questioned whether the video footage and photos were from their site.
The same line was given to The Ferret (13 June 2019):
STV News (19 June 2019) featured video footage from Scottish Salmon Watch - watch online now
Scottish Salmon Watch's video footage prompted a complaint to Police Scotland, the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate and the Animal & Plant Health Agency re. breach of the Animal Health & Welfare Act (Scotland) 2006.
Scottish Salmon Watch's complaint enclosed photos and video evidence and detailed how a Volt de-louser (and other boats) were at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm in Loch Shieldaig.
Video footage of the de-bugging operation was posted online.
Scottish Salmon Watch's press release (13 June 2019) included the following quote from a kayaker who acted as a safety 'buddy' during filming in Loch Shieldaig.
Scottish Salmon Watch invite readers (including journalists, salmon farmers and politicians) to view the photos and video footage for yourselves and judge whether it was shot at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm in Loch Shieldaig.
The photos and video footage have been made publicly available via Google Drive.
The Daily Mail reported (5 September 2018):
The Mail On Sunday reported in March 2019:
Watch Sir David Attenborough's video message online here
Here's another report from Don Staniford on the trail of the elusive Lochmuir:
And a report from last year:
Read more on M&S's fake label 'Lochmuir' via:
M&S fakes loch to launch salmon
M&S Lochmuir salmon... only Lochmuir doesn't exist
Anyone know the way to Lochmuir?
More on fake labels via:
Tesco faces legal threat over marketing its food with 'fake farm' names
Supermarket 'fake farms' to look out for
The Supermarket Swindle Of Fake Farms
Read more on the Norwegian owners (Leroy & SalMar) behind Scottish Sea Farms via:
Read more on how 'Scottish' salmon is imported from Norway & Iceland as eggs:
Salmon Eggsclusive: Scotland's 'King of Fish' is Now Viking Not Scottish!
Read more on how supermarket salmon is a scam online via Scottish Salmon Watch
Read about welfare problems on Scottish salmon farms - including M&S supplier Scottish Sea Farnms via:
Named: supermarkets selling salmon from ‘poor’ welfare firms
Watch video footage inside salmon farms operated by Scottish Sea Farms on the Isle of Mull:
Here's photos of lice-infested farmed salmon and cleaner fish (and wild fish swimming inside the salmon farm) taken inside salmon farms on the Isle of Mull operated by M&S's exclusive supplier of Lochmuir Scottish salmon (Scottish Sea Farms):
Read more via a press release online here
Read a letter to Scottish Ministers, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Veterinary Medicines Directorate (26 June 2019) calling for an immediate ban on Formaldehyde use on salmon farms online here
Watch other videos of toxic chemicals - including vats of Formaldehyde at Kames Fish Farming:
Vats of toxic Hydrogen Peroxide at Loch Duart:
And the use of the toxic Hydrogen Peroxide at Wester Ross Salmon:
And tankers of Hydrogen Peroxide at Ferguson Transport:
Read more news via:
The West Highland Free Press reported (24 June 2019):
Read article in full online here
Read more via:
When photographer Corin Smith swam out to a salmon farm in Loch Roag on the Isle of Lewis armed only with a Go Pro video camera in August 2018 he was probably not prepared for the shit-storm he would be faced with.
In response to the publication of his shocking images of lice-infested and welfare abuse by The Ferret in September 2018, The Scottish Salmon Company's first reaction was to question whether the video footage was taken at their Vacasay salmon farm. The BBC reported (4 September 2018):
The second response was for The Scottish Salmon Company to claim a breach of biosecurity (even though their salmon farms are discharging untreated effluent directly into Scottish waters including infectious diseases, pathogens and viruses such as Piscine Reovirus). Fish Farming Expert reported (4 September 2018):
The Scottish Salmon Company's tactics of deny, delay and distract prompted Corin Smith to post on Facebook (10 September 2018):
Download photos and footage made publicly available by photographer Corin Smith online here
The BBC's One Show broadcast the video footage on 10 September 2018 (also broadcast by BBC Panorama in May 2019).
The trade publication Salmon Business lambasted the "own goal" by The Scottish Salmon Company's and their PR consultants:
The Scottish Salmon Company (a company registered in the tax haven of Jersey, floated on the Norwegian stock exchange and whose largest shareholder is an anonymous Swiss bank account believed to be controlled by Ukrainian banker Yury Lopatinskyy) is now culpable of the same PR "own goal" by denying the painfully obvious welfare abuse at their salmon farm in Loch Shieldaig.
When questioned by STV News, The Scottish Salmon Company once again questioned whether the video footage and photos were from their site.
The same line was given to The Ferret (13 June 2019):
STV News (19 June 2019) featured video footage from Scottish Salmon Watch - watch online now
Scottish Salmon Watch's video footage prompted a complaint to Police Scotland, the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate and the Animal & Plant Health Agency re. breach of the Animal Health & Welfare Act (Scotland) 2006.
Scottish Salmon Watch's complaint enclosed photos and video evidence and detailed how a Volt de-louser (and other boats) were at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm in Loch Shieldaig.
Video footage of the de-bugging operation was posted online.
Scottish Salmon Watch's press release (13 June 2019) included the following quote from a kayaker who acted as a safety 'buddy' during filming in Loch Shieldaig.
Scottish Salmon Watch invite readers (including journalists, salmon farmers and politicians) to view the photos and video footage for yourselves and judge whether it was shot at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm in Loch Shieldaig.
The photos and video footage have been made publicly available via Google Drive.
To further ground-truth the filming in Loch Shieldaig, Scottish Salmon Watch has made further video evidence available online.
Watch Don Staniford, Director of Scottish Salmon Watch, explaining the importance of biosecurity and disinfection before and after filming at salmon farms (recorded on 8 June 2019 in Loch Shieldaig):
The following day (9 June 2019), Scottish Salmon Watch filmed inside The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm in Lamlash Bay (a Marine Protected Area) on the Isle of Arran.
Does The Scottish Salmon Company deny they have lice problems and wild fish swimming inside their cages at their salmon farm on the Isle of Arran?
Or will The Scottish Salmon Company issue more denials to the welfare problems which are staring them in the face?
In July & August 2018, Scottish Salmon Watch filmed inside The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Quarry Point in Loch Fyne.
The Sunday Post reported in September 2018:
Prior to filming Scottish Salmon Watch took bio-security and disinfection precautions recommended by the Scottish Government and in the salmon farming industry's Code of Good Practice:
Scottish Salmon Watch revealed in August 2018 that lawyers acting for The Scottish Salmon Company and Scottish Sea Farms tried to block the publication of gruesome photos of disease-ridden Scottish salmon obtained via Freedom of Information from the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate surveillance of salmon farms.
Here's some of the photos - obtained by Scottish Salmon Watch via Freedom of Information - The Scottish Salmon Company did not want the public the see (published in June 2018 by The Ferret).
And more photos (sourced from Scottish Government Fish Health Inspections in 2017 and 2018) published by Scottish Salmon Watch in June 2018 and in August 2018):
And here's more stomach-churning photos of diseased salmon at The Scottish Salmon Company in 2016 (published by Scottish Salmon Watch in August 2018 - and sourced from the Scottish Government Fish Health Inspectorate surveillance):
Read more via:
Scottish Salmon Watch published further 'Case Information' in March 2019 sourced from Fish Health Inspectorate visits to disease-ridden Scottish salmon farms. Infectious diseases, viruses and pathogens officially reported by The Scottish Salmon Company to the Scottish Government in 2017 and 2018 included: Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD), Salmonid Alphavirus (SAV), Pancreas Disease (PD), Haemorrhagic Smolt Syndrome (HSS), Cardiomyopathy Syndrome (CMS), Anaemia, Fungus, Vibrio anguillarum, Proliferative Gill Disease (PGD) and Enteric Redmouth Disease (ERM).
Download Excel spreadsheet in full online here
Read more on diseases, viruses and pathogens reported on Scottish salmon farms during 2018 via: New Report - "The State of Scottish Salmon Farming in 2018"
Scottish Salmon Watch has also filmed inside the skips containing disease-ridden Scottish salmon - watch videos of disease-ridden mortalities at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Quarry Point in Loch Fyne:
And at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Strondoir Bay in Loch Fyne:
Read more background on the murky waters of The Scottish Salmon Company via: Media Backgrounder: "The Scottish Scamon Company" (13 June 2019)
Watch a video report from The Scottish Salmon Company's processing plant at Cairndow on Loch Fyne online here
Faced with a mountain of damning evidence of mass mortalities, welfare problems and infectious diseases it is difficult to fathom how the Scottish Government and 'Scottish' salmon farming industry (it's actually 99% foreign controlled/owned) can seriously talk of the success-story of Scottish salmon. Yet here we see the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, claim earlier today that Scotland's food and drink sector (led by farmed salmon exports) is a "massive success story".
Maybe the First Minister of Scotland has been schmoozed by her next door neighbour in Charlotte Square, Yuri Lopatinsky (the shady owner of The Scottish Salmon Company)?
"Salmon is Scotland’s biggest food export and in the top-three of UK food exports too," opines Hamish Macdonell (director of strategic engagement at the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation and formerly a journalist with the Times newspaper) in today's Scotsman newspaper. "It is, quite clearly, a hugely successful product. It is renowned globally for its quality and regularly comes top of surveys rating the best salmon in the world."
Maybe Hamish was away from his desk when The Sunday Times reported how Scottish farmed salmon ranked the worst (even lower than Norwegian, Chilean and Canadian farmed salmon)?
Hamish's puff-piece, which reads like a paid advertorial rather than a critical piece of reporting (e.g. read an article Hamish Macdonell wrote for The Times in 2018 on the "huge risk to the environment" posed by salmon farms), emphasizes Scottish salmon's positive message on "animal welfare":
I'm sorry but I'm going to have to call bullshit.
Do you really think Scottish salmon has a positive message to tell on animal welfare? OneKind, for one, may take issue with that statement.
It seems that, unlike salmon farmers (and their PR people), the camera never lies. Sir David Attenborough, a man well used to the camera, seems to agree that salmon farming is more pariah than panacea with the 'King of Fish' reduced via battery salmon farming to a leper not a leaper.
Watch Sir David Attenborough's video message online here
Read more via:
STV News featured shocking video footage from Scottish Salmon Watch on the 6pm evening news (19 June 2019) - watch online now
Scottish Salmon Watch's complaint enclosed photos and video evidence and detailed how a Volt de-louser (and other boats) were at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm in Loch Shieldaig.
The Scottish Salmon Company issued the following statement to STV News.
Scottish Salmon Watch has published photos and made available video footage via Google Drive.
Janene Waudby, a potter whose home overlooks the loch, told STV News (19 June 2019): "This isn't a campaign against fish farming generally. The community's concern has been about the fact that it's not suitable site for further expansion and the community's concerns have been limited to that, until now.
"This footage has come out which shows some welfare issues on fish. Some photos show some serious welfare issues."
John Robins of Animal Concern told STV News (19 June 2019): "They want to double the number of farms within two years. They can't cope with the number they've got. There's been extreme cruelty, terrible pollution and it's not economic. Millions, tens of millions of fish, are dying a cruel death every year."
Watch online via STV iplayer (only available for 24 hours) online here (news report starts at 7 minutes 13 seconds)
Watch via You Tube (outside Scotland viewers) online now
Read more via:
STV News reported (19 June 2019):
Watch video footage shot at The Scottish Salmon Company's farm in Loch Shieldaig (Loch Torridon) on 8 June 2019 online here
Video and photos are available via Google Drive online here
The Ferret reported (13 June 2019):
Read article in full online here
Read more via:
Channel 5 News reported (17 June 2019) on "furious" local opposition to The Scottish Salmon Company's expansion plans on the Isle of Arran:
"They're open cages so everything is released to the sea, wild fish interact with them, diseases gets passed on, pollution passes out, so that's the fundamental issue," said Paul Chandler of Community Arran Seabed Trust (COAST).
Watch video footage captured by Scottish Salmon Watch of wild fish (probably juvenile herring or sprats) swimming INSIDE the salmon farm operated by The Scottish Salmon Company in Lamlash Bay (within a Marine Protected Area) on the Isle of Arran earlier this month (9 June 2019).
Channel 5 News captured a reluctant Fergus Ewing (Scotland's Fisheries Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy) on camera as he came out of a heated meeting on Arran:
Scottish Salmon Watch also published photos from inside The Scottish Salmon Company's Lamlash Bay salmon farm showing lice-infestion (9 June 2019):
Here's photos from secret filming inside salmon farms operated by The Scottish Salmon Company in Loch Shieldaig (8 June) and in Lamlash Bay on the Isle of Arran (9 June).
Lamlash Bay, Isle of Arran (9 June 2019):
Wild fish (thought to be juvenile herring or sprats) swimming inside the salmon farm alongside a 'cleaner-fish' (a lumpsucker):
Watch a short video clip of a shoal of wild fish swimming inside the Lamlash Bay salmon farm online here
Lice-infested farmed salmon in the Lamlash Bay salmon farm (located within a Marine Protected Area):
'Cleaner-fish' (lumpsuckers):
Other photos inside the Lamlash Bay salmon farm:
The Lamlash Bay salmon farm is in the shadow of sacred Holy Isle.
But there's nothing sacred about a salmon farm which employs noisy Acoustic Deterrent Devices (ADDs) and which is a disease-ridden nightmare.
Aird Ardheslaig, Loch Shieldaig (8 June 2019):
Welfare problems including damage to snouts, tails, flanks and eyes:
Watch video footage online here
Last year, Scottish Salmon Watch published photos inside salmon farms operated by The Scottish Salmon Company at Quarry Point in Loch Fyne and Scottish Sea Farms in Loch Spelve and in Scallastle Bay in the Sound of Mull.
Scottish Salmon Watch also obtained photos via Freedom of Information from the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate in June 2018 and August 2018 (photos which lawyers acting for The Scottish Salmon Company and Scottish Sea Farms tried unsuccessfully to block):
In November 2018, Scottish Salmon Watch published photos of a mass mortality at Marine Harvest's salmon farm at Carradale in the Kilbrannan Sound leaked by a whistleblower:
Photographer Corin Smith also captured shocking images of welfare abuse inside The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Vacasay in Loch Roag in August 2018:
Video footage was broadcast by the BBC One Show in September 2018:
And by the BBC's Panorama show in May 2019:
The shocking footage also prompted reaction from Sir David Attenborough:
Read more via:
Download press release in full as a PDF online here
Here's video footage of a shoal of wild fish swimming inside a salmon farm operated by The Scottish Salmon Company at Lamlash Bay on the Isle of Arran in June 2019:
Here's video footage of wild fish (probably saithe, pollock or cod) swimming inside a salmon farm operated by Scottish Sea Farms at Scallastle Bay in the Sound of Mull in August 2018:
Here's a photo:
Read press release in full online here
The Ferret reported (13 June 2019):
Read article in full online here
Read more via: Frankenfish Video - The Ugly Face of Lousy Scottish Salmon
Watch video footage shot at The Scottish Salmon Company's farm in Loch Shieldaig (Loch Torridon) on 8 June 2019 online here
Video and photos are available via Google Drive online here
Download press release in full online here
Watch video footage shot at The Scottish Salmon Company's farm in Loch Shieldaig (Loch Torridon) on 8 June 2019 online here
Video and photos are available via Google Drive online here
Watch video shot on 12 June 2019 of the Artic Sea Service "debugging" at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Aird Ardheslaig in Loch Shieldaig (NG78945605).
Read Scottish Salmon Watch's complaint dated 11 June 2019 to Police Scotland's Wildlife Crime Unit, the Animal & Plant Health Agency and the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate online here
Read an Addendum dated 13 June 2019 online here
Download press release in full online here
Read more via: Media Backgrounder: "The Scottish Scamon Company" (13 June 2019)
Watch Don Staniford, Director of Scottish Salmon Watch, explaining the importance of biosecurity and disinfection before and after filming at salmon farms:
Watch videos of disease-ridden mortalities at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Quarry Point in Loch Fyne:
And at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Strondoir Bay in Loch Fyne:
Download press release with Notes to Editors in full as a PDF online here
Download the letter from the Scottish Government dated 3 June 2019 online here
Download the Excel spreadsheet in Annex 1 online here
Press release with Notes to Editors available in full as a PDF online here
