Under the guise of the Coronavirus crisis, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has opened the floodgates to the use of toxic chemicals (including the lobster-killing pesticide Emamectin benzoate which SEPA proposed to be banned back in 2016 before lobbying by the Scottish Government, salmon farmers and the chemical company Merck staved off a ban).
Fish Farming Expert reported (8 April 2020):
The Fish Site reported (8 April 2020):
Fish Farmer reported (9 April 2020):
A press release issued by the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation on 7 April 2020 stated:
SEPA's web-site explains:
SEPA's temporary regulatory position statement for the use of sea lice medicine at marine finfish farms dated April 2020 includes:
And:
The 20-page 'Temporary Regulatory Position Statement' continues:
And:
With respect to Emamectin benzoate (the lobster-killing pesticide which SEPA proposed to be banned back in 2016), SEPA states:
Read SEPA's 'Temporary Regulatory Position Statement' (April 2020) in full online here
SEPA's web-site also reads in relation to Emamectin benzoate:
The Ferret has reported on the scandal dubbed 'Slicegate' since 2017:
A review of 'Slicegate' was published in 2017 via Slicegate: Anatomy & Chronology of an Environmental Lobotomy - How the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency was Sliced to death by the Scottish Government and salmon farming lobby.
Last month, Scottish Salmon Watch revealed that SEPA had blocked the disclosure of documents relating to the use of the toxic neonicotinoid Imidacloprid (marketed by Benchmark as BMK08 & Ectosan).
The Ferret reported (17 March 2020):
"SEPA are permitting salmon farmers to pollute with impunity," said Don Staniford, Director of Scottish Salmon Watch in response to relaxed rules announced in March 2020. "Turning a blind eye to breaches of environmental rules is one thing but giving the salmon sector a special exemption is beyond the pale. What other sectors have been given a free pass to pollute with immunity from prosecution? Welfare abuse on salmon farms was shameful during 2019 and now SEPA is promoting conditions which serve only to exacerbate disease and mortality problems during 2020."
In other Coronavirus news, it seems that the toxic pesticide Ivermectin (used by salmon farmers in the 1990s to kill sea lice) could be rearing its ugly head as a treatment for Covid-19.
The Conversation reported (6 April 2020):
The Fish Site reported (6 April 2020):
Two decades ago the use of Ivermectin caused controversy with supermarkets refusing to sell farmed salmon treated with the dangerous pesticide.
In 2017, documents obtained from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate via Freedom of Information revealed that the Scottish Salmon Company breached safety levels for Emamectin benzoate in the flesh of Scottish salmon three times in 2016 at two salmon farms in Loch Roag on the Isle of Lewis (Vacasay and Taranaish) due to an "overdose".
Emamectin contamination of Scottish farmed salmon has occurred at least eight times with other cases reported by the VMD in 2012 (Scottish Salmon Company), 2010 (Lakeland Marine), 2009 (Skelda Salmon), 2006 (Scottish Sea Farms) and 2005 (Marine Harvest, re-named Mowi in 2019 due to negative consumer perception).
Read more via:
6 green rules that have been relaxed in response to Covid-19
The Ferret: "Environmental rules for salmon farming industry relaxed"
SEPA relax environmental controls during Coronavirus crisis
Rules relaxed for fish farmers due to Covid-19
2019 Salmon Farming Data Online Now!
Shame on SEPA the Laggard not Leader (even the sloths at SSPO are quicker at publishing data)!
ENDS Report: "Calls for greater transparency over ‘toxic’ new fish farm product"
Letter to SEPA: Please Come Clean on Imidacloprid!
Follow the Salmoney - the Norwegian tobacco billionaire behind the Neonicotinoid Imidacloprid
The Ferret: "Fish farm companies ‘bidding to use bee-harming pesticide’"
Revealed: Toxic Neonicotinoid Insecticide Used to 'CleanTreat' Lousy Salmon
Media Backgrounder: Chemically Embalmed Scottish Salmon
Sunday Times: "Official fears revealed over toxic threat of salmon trade"
Cleaning Tox-Sick Scottish Salmon
CleanTreat FOI Disclosures by the Scottish Government to Scottish Salmon Watch
The Sunday Times: "Chemical fears at Scots fish farms"
EXPOSED: Scottish Salmon's Cascading Use of Cancer-Causing Chemical
Salmon farming giant Mowi probed over chemical use
Leading fish farm watchdog joins fish farm industry
Fish farming industry bids to relax limits on toxic pesticide
All is Not Well With Sick Scottish Salmon
The Scottish Environment Pollution Agency
SEPA's Shame on Salmon Farming
How the Scottish Government ‘nuanced’ away fish farm pesticide ban
Pesticide report suppressed after freedom of information warning
Scottish Government under fire for helping block pesticide ban
Revealed: secret role of US drug company in fish farm pesticide row
Ban on polluting pesticide dropped after complaint from fish farmers
Mapped: the 45 lochs polluted by fish farm pesticides
The Sunday Times: "Salmon industry toxins soar by 1000 per cent"
Scottish Salmon's Lethal Legacy - Ten-fold Increase in Toxic Chemical Use in Ten Years
Scientific Backgrounder: Ecotoxicity & Chemical Resistance
Media Backgrounder: Scotland's 'Silent Spring' of the Sea
Daily Mail: "The toxic chemicals in farmed salmon straight from the loch"
Scottish Salmon Overdoses on Toxic Chemical
Read more on toxic chemicals used by salmon farms online here