Marine Harvest (who changed their name to Mowi on 1 January 2019 due to negative connotations from consumers) officially reported over 1.6 million mortalities in Scotland between March 2017 and November 2018 in 101 separate incidents - including 520,171 dead salmon at Marine Harvest's Inchmore Hatchery in August 2018 and 140,488 dead salmon at Marine Harvest's salmon farm at Eilean Grianain (Carradale) in Kilbrannan Sound in March 2018.
The mortality data published by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate is available online here - and details 101 mortality events for Marine Harvest sites including reports of Cardiomyopathy Syndrome (CMS), Anaemia, Piscine Reovirus (PRV), Pasteurella skyensis, Proliferative Gill Disease (PGD), Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD), Pancreas Disease (PD), complex gill issues and deaths due to lice infestation, physical damage, handling, oxygen supply failure, chemical treatments (Hydrogen Peroxide/H202, Azamethiphos/Salmosan and Deltamethrin/Alphamax) and Thermolicer mechanical treatments:
In view of such horrific disease problems it's not surprising that Mowi's salmon farming production fell 36% in 2018 (from 60,186 tonnes in 2017 to 38,444 tonnes in 2018).
Photos of Marine Harvest's diseased salmon are available online here
Mowi is all too aware of the risks of diseases writing in their Integrated Annual Report 2018 (published on 27 March 2019) that "continued disease problems may also attract negative media attention and public concerns" .
Read a new report including Fish Health Inspectorate 'Case Information' on Marine Harvest salmon farms during 2018:
Little wonder that Marine Harvest changed their name to Mowi on 1 January 2019 (despite objections from the Mowinckel family in Norway and indigenous artist Ernie Smith - whose tradition name is Mowisaht - in Canada). As Intrafish reported in March 2019:
As the mass mortalities pile up at its door, Mowi looks set to encounter the same branding problems and negative consumer connotations as Marine Harvest.
"You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter" as the saying goes.
Later today (29 March 2019), Mowi Scotland's Operations Director Gideon Pringle will be speaking on 'Farm Sea Lice' at a conference in Edinburgh.
Press Release: "The Sorry State of Scottish Salmon Farming in 2018"
Scottish salmon farms in disease hell row after tons of rotting fish dumped in skips
Whistleblower photos of Marine Harvest
Off the Scale - Air system failure killed £15m worth of salmon farm stock
Gutted - 300,000 salmon are killed as storm batters fish farm