ASC-Certified Shellfish Killers (not to mention seals, diseases, lice, pollution etc)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, Jul 12, 2019 at 3:21 PM
Subject: RE: ASC standard permits use of Formaldehyde?
To: Don Staniford <[email protected]>

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: [email protected]

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.

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.

I reported at the time:

Read more via "WWF Greenwashes Marine Harvest"

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.

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:

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:

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:

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:

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:

Mowi also reported the use of the lobster-killing chemical Azamethiphos at their salmon farm at Bagh Dail nan Ceann North and South in the Sound of Jura 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:

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:

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.