Earlier this month, Scottish Salmon Watch asked Folketrygdfondet to investigate the Norwegian Government Pension Fund's investments in Scottish salmon farming:
From: Don Staniford<salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com> Date: Fri, Nov 13, 2020 at 12:02 PM Subject: The Scottish Salmon Company To: <folketrygdfondet@ftf.no> Cc: <marika.burvald@ftf.no>
Would it be possible for you to "stay vigilant" on The Scottish Salmon Company?
As the largest shareholder in Bakkafrost surely Folketrygdfondet must ensure that their investments are ethical and environmental?
Scottish Salmon Watch would like to brief you on ongoing welfare abuse, disease problems and mass mortalities at The Scottish Salmon Company (your investments in Mowi, Leroy, SalMar and Grieg Seafood have similar problems).
Scottish Salmon Watch believes that Folketrygdfondet's investment in salmon farming in Scotland is bringing the Norwegian Government's Pension Fund into disrepute and asks you to divest from The Scottish Salmon Company.
At the very least, Scottish Salmon Watch encourages Folketrygdfondet to investigate ongoing problems at The Scottish Salmon Company.
Updated information is published regularly by the Scottish Government and video footage inside salmon farms has shown ongoing welfare abuse.
Scottish Salmon Watch would be only too happy to update you via Zoom.
From: Marika Burvald <Marika.Burvald@ftf.no> Date: Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 2:07 PM Subject: RE: The Scottish Salmon Company To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com> Cc: Arkiv <arkiv@ftf.no>
Dear Mr Staniford
Thank you for your questions and for offering to share your views on The Scottish Salmon Company. Please do so by e-mail to me and I will be happy to forward it to my colleagues for their information. As you might know, as a large owner Folketrygdfondet cannot comment on individual companies.
You also sent a separate question on why Folketrygdfondet's shareholding in Bakkafrost is registered in Sweden, not Norway. I am afraid I do not know the reason for this, and the question should rather be directed to the company.
Kind regards
Marika Burvald
Communications Manager, Folketrygdfondet
From: Don Staniford<salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com> Date: Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 4:04 PM Subject: Re: The Scottish Salmon Company To: Marika Burvald <Marika.Burvald@ftf.no> Cc: Arkiv <arkiv@ftf.no>
Simple questions then:
Why does the Norwegian Government Pension Fund support welfare abuse, mass mortalities and infectious diseases via their shareholding in The Scottish Salmon Company?
Similarly, via the Norwegian Government Pension Fund's shareholdings in Mowi, Grieg Seafood and Leroy/SalMar (joint owners of Scottish Sea Farms) why are you condoning welfare abuse and environmental problems?
Scottish Salmon Watch would be happy to expand upon our concerns via Zoom and/or an in-person meeting.
Takk,
Don Staniford
Director, Scottish Salmon Watch
From: Don Staniford<salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com> Date: Sun, Nov 29, 2020 at 4:25 PM Subject: Letter to Ministry of Finance re. Mowi, Bakkafrost, Grieg, Leroy & SalMar To: <nils.bastiansen@ftf.no>
Nils,
Here's a letter to the Minister of Finance which Folketrygdfondet are copied into: online here
You may remember meeting over a decade ago in Oslo when the Pure Salmon Campaign briefed Folketrygdfondet on salmon farming issues.
I've enclosed below correspondence with Marika.
If you had time to meet in person or via Zoom it would be much appreciated.
Takk,
Don
Director, Scottish Salmon Watch
From: Don Staniford<salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com> Date: Sun, Nov 29, 2020 at 4:42 PM Subject: Letter re. Mowi, Bakkafrost, Grieg, Leroy & SalMar To: <postmottak@etikkradet.no>
Please pass onto the members of the Council on Ethics.
Would it be possible to arrange a meeting or Zoom call to discuss how companies invested in via the Government Pension Fund are breaching the 'Ethical Guidelines' in Scotland?
Now it seems the foreign control of 'Scottish' salmon is extending to the Netherlands where Visscher Seafood (part of the Brouwer Food Group) is now a part-owner of 'Organic' Sea Harvest.
Organic Sea Harvest's web-site makes no mention of the Dutch connection - only stating that "Villa Seafood UK is a joint venture between Villa Seafood Group in Norway and the principals of Dom International in Canada":
Dig deeper in the Companies House web-site and you will see that Villa Seafood is controlled by Visscher Seafood in the Netherlands, Villa Seafood in Norway and an anonymous company (Dom International) in Canada:
How the use of lobster-killing chemicals, infectious diseases and mass mortalities (not to mention yesterday's planning refusal) fits in Visscher Seafood's "all natural" branding is unclear.
In addition to being owned by Dutch, Canadian and Norwegian interests, 'Organic' Sea Harvest source their 'Scottish' salmon from imported salmon eggs (ova) from Norwegian-owned Mowi in Ireland and Stofnfiskur in Iceland (a subsidiary of Norwegian-owned Benchmark who was caught importing virus-laden ova into the United States). A Freedom of Information disclosure by the Scottish Government in February 2020 revealed that Organic Sea Harvest imported 584,000 salmon eggs in February 2019 from Mowi Ireland to be on-grown by Landcatch Natural Selection Ltd at their Ormsary Hatchery in Argyll with another 675,00 salmon eggs imported in November 2019 from virus-laden Stofnfiskur in Iceland (read more online here).
🎣 Nederlanders eten graag een portie zalm om gezonde vetten binnen te krijgen. Maar sinds 2011 is de hoeveelheid omega 3 in kweekzalm gehalveerd. Hoe kan dat?
Councillors Alex MacInnes @iasgairmuir and Alister Mackinnon are both elected members of Highland Council and are pushing through their own salmon farm under the misleading and false "Organic" name.
Next time the foreign investors in 'Organic' Sea Harvest from the Netherlands, Canada & Norway fly into Scotland you should check their luggage pic.twitter.com/XUU0cLjaxo
"We are only at the beginning..." of trashing Scotland's seas and #biodiversity? Not to mention ignoring local community wishes or degrading an NSA and SLA. What gall! Cooncillors on #profit trail, rather than representing their communities. #NoShame#NoIntegrityhttps://t.co/ThssZBBLdy
Thanks to a hugely significant planning decision yesterday (26 November), Skye's disease-ridden salmon farming industry will not be having yet another salmon farm to pollute and blight the seascape.
Mass mortalities of cleaner fish and farmed salmon were reported by the Fish Health Inspectorate at Organic Sea Harvest's Invertote salmon farm off North East Skye.
Councillors Alex MacInnes @iasgairmuir and Alister Mackinnon are both elected members of Highland Council and are pushing through their own salmon farm under the misleading and false "Organic" name.
Alarming scenes captured at Scottish salmon farms supplying Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Aldi & Morrisons reveal putrid conditions that lead to invasions of flesh-eating parasitic sea lice.https://t.co/8Syk2GdxNr@NadaFarhoudpic.twitter.com/B4zPWWAAYV
How is the use of a toxic neonicotinoid (Imidacloprid) - banned for use in terrestrial agriculture in Europe in 2018 - in salmon farming "sustainable" or indeed "ethical" in any way? @FerdOwner
Mass mortality data published earlier this month (6 November 2020) by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate reveal the scale of Grieg Seafood's disease problems on the Isle of Skye as well as in Shetland - including 146 'Mortality Event Reports' totaling 1.7 million dead salmon since reporting began in January 2017 (1.2 million have been reported in 2020). Here's the latest mortality reports (data up to the end of September 2020) with Complex Gill Disease, Cardiomyopathy Syndrome, Treatment losses (Salmosan/Hydrogen Peroxide), Pancreas Disease, Bacterial Challenge, Heart & Skeletal Muscle Inflammation, Physical Damage from Optilicer Treatments, Winter Ulcers, Bacterial Infection (Moritella & Vibrio), Amoebic Gill Disease, Damaged Gills - Bleeding, Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis and Anaemia cited as reasons for deaths:
In September 2019, Scottish Salmon Watch reported on welfare problems at Grieg Seafood's North Papa salmon farm in Shetland including physical damage is "attributed to a recent Optilicer treatment".
As much as 99 per cent of farmed salmon production from Scottish-branded companies is controlled outwith Scotland. Most of the industry is Norwegian, and one major parent company is registered in Jersey, an offshore tax haven.https://t.co/vxzBIgSWYy
Despite Bakkafrost's geographical "mistake" of identifying Sweden not Norway as the source of the money behind Folketrygdfondet it is clear that Bakkafrost's largest shareholder is the Norwegian Government with other investors hiding behind a world's who's who of banks and trusts.
In August 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch revealed that imports of Norwegian salmon eggs - banned in May 2019 due to the risk of Infectious Salmon Anaemia - had re-started in April 2020 to be used as 'elite' broodstock for 'Scottish' salmon.
Of 234.7 million salmon ova imported into Scottish salmon farms via 213 consigments since 1 January 2016 (data up to 2 July 2020), 146. 3 million (62%) via 125 consignments were sourced from Norway, 60.2 million (26%) via 60 consignments were sourced from Iceland and 28.2 million (12%) via 28 consignments were sourced from Ireland.
The list of companies importing ova since 1 January 2016 (data up to 2 July 2020) was headed by Mowi with 41 consignments totaling 74.8 million followed by The Scottish Salmon Company with 45 consignments totaling 37.7 million; Scottish Sea Farms with 30 consignments totaling 36 million; Grieg Seafood with 16 consignments totaling 25 million and Cooke Aquaculture with 24 consignments totaling 16.9 million.
Download collated ova import data (2016 to July 2020) online here
Norwegian-owned Mowi changed their name from Marine Harvest in January 2019 due to "negative consumer perception" despite objections from the Mowinckel family - from which the name Mowi is derived. Norway's Financial Times (Dagens Naringsliv) reported in December 2018:
John Fredriksen's twin daughters are now too old as they are in their late 30s to be included in the Forbes World's Youngest Billionaires List but these A-list billionaires look set to be presiding over Mowi when their father retires.
"A virulent variant of Infectious Salmon Anaemia (ISA) virus has been detected in broodfish from a Norwegian sea site operated by AquaGen, which supplies many of the eggs used in Scottish salmon farming," reported Fish Farming Expert in July 2017.
"We have found another solution. We lost the one export permit to Scotland and found another solution this year with a partner that delivers to Scotland," AquaGen’s Nina Santi told SalmonBusiness in January 2018. "We’ll be back with deliveries to Scotland in mid-2018."
AquaGen chairman Odd Magne Rødseth, speaking to Fish Farming Expert in November 2017, said "the move to start egg production in Scotland would help serve the Scottish industry better and was also a precautionary measure against any ban on the import of eggs. “You never know whether will find some reason to close the border,” he said (predicting the ban on ova imports from Norway in May 2019). A few months before the ban on exports of ova from Norway due to Infectious Salmon Anaemia, Insider reported in March 2019:
Salmon farming companies started flooding Scotland with foreign-sourced salmon eggs (ova) decades ago. FOI data disclosed by the Scottish Government in November 2018 reveal how the genetic integrity of 'Scottish' salmon has been eroded by ova imports from Norway, Iceland and Ireland.
It is obvious that foreign investors are abusing Scotland's high quality reputation and iconic history of wild Atlantic salmon to make money. The Q3 2020 presentation of The Scottish Salmon Companu included reference to the "strategic rationale" of Scotland including the claim that it is a region characterised by "high quality salmon from Scottish Provenance priced at a premium" (i.e. foreign companies like Bakkafrost can exploit Scotland's image to make more profits):
In appropriating the good name of Scottish salmon, foreign-owned companies have turned Salmo salar (the Latin name for Atlantic salmon - the leaper) into a leper.
Salmo domesticus has turned Salmo salar - the Leaper - into a leper. Salmon farming is a pariah not a panacea pic.twitter.com/UCfhXT0HhR
Data published by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate on 6 November 2020 reveal that The Scottish Salmon Company has officially reported a staggering 590 'Mortality Events' since February 2017 (data up to the end of September 2020) totaling 5.3 million dead salmon (94 cases did not provide/disclose numbers so that figure will be significantly higher). Here's the top 20 (i.e. worst in terms of numbers of morts) 'Mortality Event Reports':
Mass mortalities and infectious diseases are sadly nothing new at The Scottish Salmon Company. Seafood Source reported in November 2016:
Shocking video footage of welfare abuse inside a salmon farm operated by The Scottish Salmon Company in Loch Roag and a burial pit for mass mortalities was broadcast by the BBC One Show in 2018:
Who owns The Scottish Salmon Company? You'd be forgiven for thinking it was a Scottish company but dare to peek under the tartan kilt and look past the 'Scottish Provenance' advertising and you'll find Norwegian, Swedish* and Faroese investors along with a shady history involving a Ukrainian banker, an anonymous Swiss bank account and an office in the tax haven of Jersey.
Whilst out walking the dog last month I came across an old box for transporting salmon with the logo of Bakkafrost - the owner of The Scottish Salmon Company - still visible under the pile of poo bags. In order to discover the money men behind this foreign-owned company, you need to dig deep and need a strong stomach!
Spotted on our beach walk today - the piles of dog poop are collected in an old farmed salmon box. Very apt since Bakkafrost (owners of The Scottish Salmon Company) are used to dealing in complete crap! @salmon_scottish@Folketrygdfondpic.twitter.com/e6my7ikgvG
Search The Scottish Salmon Company's web-site and you will struggle to discover who is lurking under the tartan kilt of this "Scottish standard bearer".
Hi Will. Native Hebridean Salmon is bred from wild Hebridean Salmon and farmed only in Hebridean waters. It has complete traceability to the Scottish Hebridean Islands. - Mark
The Q3 2020 presentation included reference to the "strategic rationale" of Scotland including the claim that it is a region characterised by "high quality salmon from Scottish Provenance priced at a premium" (i.e. foreign companies like Bakkafrost can exploit Scotland's image to make more profits):
Bakkafrost's largest shareholder is Folketrygdfondet - described on their web-site as "professional investment manager whose main task is to manage the Government Pension Fund Norway on behalf of the Ministry of Finance".
In June 2019, lawyers representing The Scottish Salmon Company's controlling shareholder Yuriy Lopatynskyy threatened legal action against Scottish Salmon Watch for publishing information via 'Scottish Scamon'. Here's the legal threat served in June 2019:
Read the section of the report on The Scottish Salmon Company which lawyers for Yuri Lopatinsky objected to (Scottish Salmon Watch did not remove the offending report and stands by the published information).
Salmon Business reported earlier in September 2019 that the 'Ukrainian investor' selling his stake in The Scottish Salmon Company to Bakkafrost was Yuri Lopatinsky:
Yuri Lopatinsky has registered businesses in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, next door to the First Minister of Scotland (according to Insider he owns Bute House, the residence of the First Minister of Scotland).
From: Don Staniford<salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com> Date: Fri, Nov 13, 2020 at 12:02 PM Subject: The Scottish Salmon Company To: <folketrygdfondet@ftf.no> Cc: <marika.burvald@ftf.no>
Would it be possible for you to "stay vigilant" on The Scottish Salmon Company?
As the largest shareholder in Bakkafrost surely Folketrygdfondet must ensure that their investments are ethical and environmental?
Scottish Salmon Watch would like to brief you on ongoing welfare abuse, disease problems and mass mortalities at The Scottish Salmon Company (your investments in Mowi, Leroy, SalMar and Grieg Seafood have similar problems).
Scottish Salmon Watch believes that Folketrygdfondet's investment in salmon farming in Scotland is bringing the Norwegian Government's Pension Fund into disrepute and asks you to divest from The Scottish Salmon Company.
At the very least, Scottish Salmon Watch encourages Folketrygdfondet to investigate ongoing problems at The Scottish Salmon Company.
Updated information is published regularly by the Scottish Government and video footage inside salmon farms has shown ongoing welfare abuse.
Scottish Salmon Watch would be only too happy to update you via Zoom.
From: Høgni Dahl Jakobsen <hodj@bakkafrost.com> Date: Fri, Nov 13, 2020 at 12:13 PM Subject: RE: Komið umvegis heimasíðuna To: dstaniford@gaaia.org <dstaniford@gaaia.org>
Thank you for your question. This is clearly a mistake from our side – apologies for that. Folketrygdfondet is Norwegian and this will be corrected on our webpage.
From: Don Staniford<salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com> Date: Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 11:43 AM Subject: Folketrygdfondet registered in Sweden not Norway? To: <folketrygdfondet@ftf.no>
Is there a reason why Folketrygdfondet's shareholding in Bakkafrost is registered in Sweden not Norway?
How many salmon die each year on Scottish salmon farms? Now that may sound like a straightforward question with a simple answer. Like 42 being the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. As it happens the estimate for the number of farmed salmon mortalities in Scotland in 2019 is an eye-popping 42 million - with ca. 20 million dying in freshwater hatcheries and farms and ca. 20 million in sea cages and via transfers by wellboat (working is shown below).
We're therefore left with data up to only 2012 and are faced with mind-bending extrapolation and interpolation to arrive at answers for the years 2013 to 2019. At least the data from 2010 to 2012 gives actual numbers of mortalities which along with data on weight of mortalities gives an indication of the ratio of mortalities by number to mortalities by weight. Roughly speaking one thousand tonnes of mortalities = 700,000 dead salmon but this will obviously depend on the stage of salmon farming production (with mortalities in the hatchery when the fish are much smaller weighing less and mortalities in the sea phase of production weighing much more).
Pythagoras, Einstein, Tao as well as Matt Damon in the film 'Good Will Hunting' would all struggle to decipher the conundrum that is Scottish salmon's mortality problem.
We also have data on mortalities published by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate - but this incomplete data set only relates to mortality events which are greater than 1% (i.e. it does not capture all mortalities) and 16% of cases have missing figures.
In order to pick through the white noise, we have to channel Matt Damon's mathematical genius and use all available data. Our ballpark answer suggests mortalities in the sea phase of salmon farming production to be as low as 10 million and as high as 25 million per year since 2012 (when data is last publicly available) but then you have to factor in another 18-25 million morts per year in the freshwater phase of production.
If we want to calculate total mortality of farmed salmon then we need to go back to imports of ova (eggs) and follow the life-cycle of salmon from hatch in the hatchery to on-growing as smolts in sea cages. For that we have a useful data set in the shape of an annual fish farm production survey published by the Scottish Government.
Data junkies and geeks will love the information presented in the latest survey for 2019 published in October 2020 - with 63 million to 71 million ova laid down each year leading to 38.5 million to 53 million smolts put to sea (a mortality figure ranging from 18 million to 25 million per year):
So you have something like 70 million ova laid down to hatch each year leading to the annual production of ca. 50 million smolts (i.e. ca. 30% annual mortality during the hatchery phase of salmon farming production).
Mortality data published by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate (data published on 4 November 2020 up to the end of September 2020) details mass mortalities in the hatchery with 118 'Mortality Event Reports' for freshwater salmon farms reported since January 2017 totaling 6.6 million dead salmon. Here's the top 10 biggest mortality events for freshwater hatcheries since 2017 with Mowi's 1.5 million morts at Lochailort heading the list of shame:
If you look at mortality in the sea phase of salmon farming production there's been a staggering 1,509 'Mortality Event Reports' since February 2017 (data up to the end of September 2020) totaling 13.2 million (with 200+ events not disclosing/reporting numbers). Here's the top 20 biggest mortality events for sea cage salmon farms since 2017 with Scottish Sea Farms at Snaraness in Shetland heading the list of shame:
If you look just at the data for September 2020, there were 78 'Mortality Event Reports' totaling close to 1 million dead salmon (965,020) - here's the top 10 with mortality rates up to a whopping 43%:
Mortality data for August 2020 was also close to 1 million with 996,329 farmed salmon officially reported as dying due to Pancreas Disease, Anaemia, Cardiomyopathy Syndrome, Gill health, complex gill disease, post treatment mortality, post-physical delicing, Sea lice (Caligus) grazing damage, treatment losses and other issues.
In August 2020, nearly one million (996,329) farmed salmon were reported as dying due to Pancreas Disease, Anaemia, Cardiomyopathy Syndrome, complex gill disease, post treatment mortality, post-physical delicing, Sea lice (Caligus) grazing damage etc https://t.co/jI6ajOUOS9pic.twitter.com/jFTvCuEQSa
And expect mortalities in October 2020 to be well over 1 million since it is statistically-speaking the worst month for mortalities accounting for 14% of the year's dead salmon. Scottish Salmon Watch warned in October 2018:
Here's the worst mortality rates at most of Scotland's salmon farms during July 2020 (not all salmon farming companies - e.g. Kames - are members of the SSPO):
Of the salmon farms harvesting out in May 2020, the cumulative mortality ranged from 5% to 42%:
Of the five salmon farms which harvested out in April 2020 the cumulative mortality ranged from 10% to 31%.
Only four salmon farms were harvested out in March 2020 with cumulative mortality ranging from a high of 39% to a low of 12%:
Cumulative mortality at salmon farms which harvested out in February 2020 ranged from a high of 39% to a low of 8.5%:
Cumulative mortality ranged from a high of 40% and a low of 8% at salmon farms harvested out in January 2020:
There's obviously a range of mortality rates between years, sites and even regions but an industry-average mortality rate in excess of 20% would seem accurate with mortality rates rising over the last decade.
The 2019 Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey published in October 2020 reported survival rates of 73.8% (i.e. 26.2% mortality) for 2017 (the last year available). Here's the crucial data which can assist in our calculations.
You can see from the above table that data for 2018 and 2019 is not yet published but the survival rate ranges between a low of 71.8% (i.e. 28.2% mortality) in 2007 and a high of 85.4% (i.e. 14.6% mortality) in 2012. The survival rate drastically differs between regions too with survival in in 2017 as low as 58.2% (i.e. 41.8% mortality) in the North West and as high as 80.8% (i.e. 19.2% mortality) in the South West:
From the data published by the Scottish Government in October 2020 we know that anywhere between 38 million and 52 million smolts are put to sea each year so a survival rate of say 75% (i.e. 25% mortality) would therefore equate with between 9.5 million and 13 million morts.
If 13,627 tonnes of morts equates with 8.5 million farmed salmon (as was the case in 2012) then 25,772 tonnes of morts (as reported in 2019) equates with 16.5 million morts
Or if 9,717 tonnes of morts equates with 6.8 million farmed salmon (as was the case in 2011) then 25,772 tonnes of morts (as reported in 2019) equates with 18 million morts
Or if 7,159 tonnes of morts equates with 5.5 million farmed salmon (as was the case in 2010) then 25,772 tonnes of morts (as reported in 2019) equates with 19.8 million morts
Data for the first six months of 2020 is also published via 'Scotland's Aquaculture' web-site with 9,930 tonnes reported compared to 8,610 tonnes in the first six months of 2019. Here's the top 20 worst salmon farms for morts (up to June 2020):
Since we know mortalities in the second half of the year are significantly higher than in the first half of the year (in 2019 there were 17,162 tonnes of morts in the second half of the year compared to 8,610 tonnes in the first - roughly double) then we could realistically assume there will be perhaps 20,000 tonnes of mortalities in the second half of 2020 with 30,000 tonnes in total. If so, we could expect maybe 24 million mortalities in the seawater phase of salmon farming production in 2020. Video evidence certainly suggests that 2020 is another annus horribilis for Scottish salmon.
Scottish Salmon Watch has given it our best shot and invites anyone else to come up with an answer which is until there is full disclosure by salmon farming industry will have to remain guesswork.
Scottish Salmon Watch reckon ca. 20 million farmed salmon die each year in the sea phase of production with another 20 million fish dying each year in hatcheries and freshwater farms. So from hatch to catch (i.e. from import as eggs into the hatchery to harvest out of sea cages for processing to supermarkets) there could be ca. 40 million morts (maybe even 42 million).
If you have a better guesstimate or an inside track on mortality numbers please do meet the maths challenge. You never know - the weight of public pressure may force disclosure!
Scottish Salmon Watch invites other answers and hopes a Will Hunting or Beth Harmon steps up to the challenge.
Calling all Math geeks, Big Bang nerds & Brainboxes: Please help calculate how many salmon die each year on Scotland's disease-ridden farms! Desperately seeking Will Hunting or Beth Harmon to decipher the conundrum that is #Scottish#salmon Details via https://t.co/jRQzhgWI5wpic.twitter.com/rp85nlO0ht
So instead of taking Scottish Salmon's pledge why not join Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion In World Farming, and others all over the world in taking the pledge not to eat farmed salmon.
Not everyone agrees that salmon farms in Scotland are good neighbours:
Nice to see the toxic #salmon industry bowing to public pressure. Sad to see such little backbone from @scotgov to enforce meaningful regulations. And unsurprising to see the continued ploy of the industry to bribe communities into submission:https://t.co/rfx097MFiF
And we'll scream and shout and yell at us if you get too close - we might even hit you and report you to @FergusEwingMSP. The salmon industry talks utter shite about everything, apart from their own utter shite. https://t.co/TvSUKGuPq1
SEPA takes on new powers to regulate chemical treatment residues from wellboats, adding to existing regulation of in-pen treatments, streamlining regulation and making it easier to ensure discharges meet environmental standards.
“Transfer of powers streamlines regulation and makes it easier to ensure combined discharges from fish farms and wellboats are........ pic.twitter.com/I7O5npfKNS
Scottish Salmon Watch has previously expressed concern that the transfer of regulatory powers from Marine Scotland to SEPA has already resulted in more and more toxic chemicals slipping through the net.
Why is Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory data on use of Azamethiphos & Deltamethrin via well boats still not published for 2019 when data on use of toxic chemicals via salmon farms is now available up to March 2020 via Scotland's Aquaculture? @ScottishEPA@marinescotlandpic.twitter.com/8wrMq7yTkR
The @SSPOsays, @ScottishEPA, @marinescotland and salmon farmers have been working on ways to keep salmon alive during COVID-19 with "due regard to the environment"🙄
The 'Schedule to Notification of Variation' dated 3 July 2020 included the statement that: "the Licensee must provide evidence to the Licensing Authority that plumes from wellboats at fish farm sites will not reach an active shellfish farm":
"Licensee must provide evidence that plumes from wellboats at fish farm sites will not reach an active shellfish farm" @marinescotlandhttps://t.co/xHNLUqPp80 What about toxicity of Azamethiphos, Deltamethrin & Hydrogen Peroxide on creels, wild lobsters, scallops etc? @CreelScffpic.twitter.com/8GjBG2WOSS
The temporary marine licence variation dated 8 April 2020 ended by stating that "Licensees must provide confirmation that there is no growing of shellfish for production taking place within 2.5 km of the site at any shellfish harvesting areas":
A scientific paper published in September 2020 detailed environmental risks of Azamethiphos and Deltamethrin (toxic chemicals used via wellboats and on the farm via tarpaulins):
Scottish Salmon Watch has asked SEPA and Marine Scotland why data on the use of toxic chemicals such as Azamethiphos, Deltamethrin, Hydrogen Peroxide and Imidacloprid via well boats is not publicly available.
During "streamlining" will you please publish data on the use of Azamethiphos, Deltamethrin, Hydrogen Peroxide & Imidacloprid via wellboats? Data for use on salmon farms is published up to July 2020 but wellboat data is still not available for 2019! https://t.co/ylOo17mBulpic.twitter.com/Pfq9fGygWd
Scotland's Aquaculture web-site is an excellent resource but data on the use of toxic chemicals via wellboats is not available.
Click on 'Fish Farm Monthly Biomass and Treatments' are you will read the devil in the detail - "This dataset does not include treatments carried out on wellboats. The full annual SPRI data returns inclusive of wellboat information can be found here":
Deltamethrin - a toxic chemical shown by a recent scientific paper to be "a significant risk to lobster larvae living near fish farms" - was used by the following sites in 2018 via wellboats.
Thank you for your request, received by SEPA on 08/07/2020. Please see the enclosed response and accept my apologies for the delay in response to your enquiry.
If you are not satisfied with our response below, you have 40 working days from the date of this letter to request a formal review from SEPA at:
Access to Information SEPA Strathallan House Castle Business Park Stirling FK9 4TZ Email: foi@sepa.org.uk
If you are still not satisfied, you can appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner.
From: Don Staniford<salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com> Date: Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 1:47 PM Subject: Re: SEPA Response - [F:0192092] To: FOI Helpdesk <FOI.Mail@sepa.org.uk>
I have a quick query re. the data disclosed via F019209.
If you look at the two Excel spreadsheets dated 2018:
Why are there discrepancies between the file titled "MCFF-Wellboat Treatments 2018" and "Wellboats - Treatments 2018"?
For example, in the Excel spreadsheet headed "Wellboats - Treatments 2018" the use of Azamethiphos by Cooke in 2018 at Djubawick appears to add up to 300g and Bastaness appears to add up to 1.2 kg:
However, in the Excel spreadsheet headed "MCFF-Wellboat Treatments 2018" it is listed as 0.6 kg and 0.15 kg:
Presumably, Salmosan is 50% Azamethiphos?
That would make sense - but if you look at Grieg Seafood's data entry in the Excel spreadsheet headed "Wellboats - Treatments 2018":
It does not tally with the Grieg data entry via "MCFF-Wellboat Treatments 2018:
Hydrogen Peroxide is not even included for example.
An explanation of the data sets would be much appreciated.
Finally, could you please provide data on chemical use via well boats for 2019?
An email disclosed via F019209 dated June 2020 indicates that SEPA should now have the data:
Please provide this information and consider this a new FOI request under the relevant FOI and Environmental Information regulations.
Thank you for your email relating to your recent request F0192092.
We passed your query to the relevant team who advise
The spreadsheet "Wellboats - Treatments 2018" was sent to SEPA by Marine Scotland.
SEPA extract the quantities of azamethiphos and deltamethrin, for the SPRI team.
SEPA created the spreadsheet “MCFF-Wellboat Treatments 2018”.
Salmosan is 50% azamethiphos so the 1.2kg of Salmosan in the "Wellboats - Treatments 2018" sheet equates to 0.6kg azamethiphos in the “MCFF-Wellboat Treatments 2018” sheet.
Grieg’s entry on the "Wellboats - Treatments 2018” totals 34640g of Salmosan. This equates to the 17.32kg entered for Grieg’s azamethiphos use in the “MCFF-Wellboat Treatments 2018” sheet.
We hope this is helpful
If you are not satisfied with our response previously provided for F0192092 you can request a formal review from SEPA at:
From: Don Staniford<salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com> Date: Thu, Oct 29, 2020 at 11:21 AM Subject: FOI re. well boat use of chemicals by salmon farms in 2018, 2019 & 2020 To: <ceu@scotland.gsi.gov.uk>
Please provide information on the use of chemicals by salmon farms via well boats in 2018, 2019 and 2020 (including the use of Hydrogen peroxide).
Please provide Excel spreadsheets, data and any emails to SEPA in relation to the data disclosed.
Please include any emails and any other information since July 2020 in relation to the transfer of regulatory powers from Marine Scotland to SEPA (a previous FOI request was denied on 31 August 2020 but it was stated that 2019 data "should be completed by the end of September").
Please include any data analysis where total chemical use via well boats has been collated including any breakdown of chemical use via well boats vs chemical use via tarpaulins at the salmon farm.
