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02/24/2021

Nasty Neonicotinoid Plagues Salmon Farming in 2021

 



 

When the European Union announced a ban on neonicotinoids - including Imidacloprid - in 2018 you would be forgiven for thinking that the net was closing on their use in terrestrial agriculture and that their use in salmon farming was just another nasty nightmare. 

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #1

 

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #2

 

 

Three years later, however, and the use of neonicotinoids in farming - including the spectre of salmon farming - is a toxic reality with the alarming prospect of the floodgates being opened to the use of Imidacloprid by salmon farms in Norway, Canada, Chile and Scotland during 2021. 

 

 

 

The story of how the toxic neonicotinoid Imidacloprid is being deployed in salmon farming with field trials already taking place in Norway, patents filed in Canada and secret trials probably conducted already in Scotland (perhaps as early as 2013 at Benchmark's Ardtoe marine laboratory) is a horrible history to make your flesh crawl.  

 

 

 

 

How powerful corporate interests have lobbied against a ban on neonicotinoids could have been lifted straight out of Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' (60 years old next year).  In the context of salmon farming, how the Norwegian-owned Benchmark (controlled by Tobacco billionaire Johan Andresen) could be an epilogue to 2004's 'Silent Spring of the Sea'. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In June 2020, Farmers Weekly reported:

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #3

 

 

Greenpeace reported in July 2020 (also reported by The Daily Telegraph):

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #4

 

 

Last month, The Guardian reported:

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #5

 

The Guardian reported in November 2020:

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #7

 

 

In the murky world of salmon farming - every bit as intensive as terrestrial farming but 'out of sight and out of mind' so it risks slipping through the net of public scrutiny - the use of toxic chemicals to control diseases and parasites such as sea lice is endemic.   The Guardian's John Vidal reported in 2017:

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #6

 

 

And so we get to the use of Imidacloprid in salmon farming which is so secret it was originally known as D10 Aquatic Blast when it was first publicly pitched by patent holders in 2014:

 

 

 

When Norwegian-owned company Benchmark unveiled Imidacloprid to the salmon farming sector in 2017 it was branded as 'Ectosan'.

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #8

 

 

Even industry insiders appeared to be in the dark about the toxic ingredient in Ectosan - speculating in an email disclosed via FOI that it could be the toxic organophosphate Azamethiphos.

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #12

 

 

When The Sunday Times wrote about Benchmark's 'CleanTreat' technology - the vehicle with which Imidacloprid is used in salmon farming - in December 2019 it was still not publicly known that Ectosan/BMK08 was in fact Imidacloprid.

 

 

 

 

 

Benchmark quietly rebranded Ectosan as BMK08 in late November 2019 with the trade press and the public (perhaps even investors) still unaware that BMKo8 was in fact the toxic neonicotinoid Imidacloprid. 

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #9

 

 

When Scottish Salmon Watch filed Freedom of Information (FOI) requests on Ectosan and BMK08 with the Scottish Government, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate in 2019 we were still unaware that BMK08/Ectosan was Imidacloprid. 

 

 

 

 

Even when Scottish Salmon Watch filed an appeal with the Scottish Information Commissioner in February 2020 seeking to overturn SEPA's refusal to disclose information we did not know that Imidacloprid was the chemical in question.

 

 

 

 

 

The big reveal only occurred on 17 March 2020 after Scottish Salmon Watch received a tip-off prompting the revelation via The Ferret.

 

 

 

 

 

On 20 March 2020, Benchmark publicly revealed for the first time that BMK08 was in fact Imidacloprid.

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #10

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #11

 

In May 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch revealed that Norwegian salmon giant Mowi had lobbied SEPA to support a field trial of Imidacloprid in Loch Ailort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Times reported in June 2020:

 

Sunday Times 14 June 2020 #1

 

 

 

The Scottish salmon farming lobby denied the use of Imidacloprid.

 

 

 

 

 

In June 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch solicited scientific support for a ban on the use of Imidacloprid in salmon farming and shared a scientific dossier - "Imidacloprid - A Neonicotinoid Insecticide Toxic to Aquatic Life" - detailing environmental impacts of Imidacloprid on aquatic ecosystems.

 

Imidacloprid scientific titles #1Imidacloprid scientific titles #2

 

 

 

 

 

The scientific dossier included a peer-reviewed scientific paper published in the prestigious Science magazine in November 2019.

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #13

 

Hakai magazine reported in May 2020:

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #14 Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #15

 

 

 

In June 2020, SEPA repeated their refusal to disclose documents on BMK08/Imidacloprid citing commercial confidentiality admitting that they "have not conducted any modelling of environmental impacts or ecological risk assessments of Imidacloprid use in salmon farming".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whilst SEPA and the Scottish Government stone-wall attempts to secure information, Scottish Salmon Watch unearthed patent information on the use of Imidacloprid in salmon farming.

 

 

 

 

Scottish Salmon Watch revealed in June 2020 how Benchmark-owned Fish Vet Group (based in Inverness) filed a patent in Norway in 2011. 

 

Imidacloprid Norwegian Patent 2011

Imidacloprid Norwegian Patent 2011 in full

 

A patent filed in Canada (CA3045239A1) in December 2017 (published in June 2018 & described as a 'National Entry' in May 2019) details the 'inventors' of the use of Imidacloprid in salmon farming as UK residents John Marshall, Matthew Longshaw and Elizabeth Appleyard.

 

Imidacloprid Canadian Patent CA3045239A1 #1

Imidacloprid Canadian Patent CA3045239A1 #2

Imidacloprid Canadian Patent CA3045239A1 #3

Imidacloprid Canadian Patent CA3045239A1 #4

 

 

One of the 'inventors' of Imidacloprid use in salmon farming is Benchmark's John Marshall who, according to documents disclosed in December 2019 via FOI, has been lobbying the Scottish Government since at least September 2018 with a meeting in Edinburgh in October 2018 and a meeting in the Scottish Parliament with Fergus Ewing, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy & Connectivity, in September 2019. 

 

John Marshall bio #2 SP meeting with Fergus Sept 2018 John Marshall bio #3 SP meeting with Fergus Sept 2018

John Marshall bio #4 SP meeting with Fergus Sept 2018

John Marshall bio #1

John Marshall bio #5 SP meeting with Fergus Sept 2018

 

 

An Editorial by Professor Dave Goulson of the University of Sussex published in British Wildlife magazine in August 2020 warned against the use of Imidacloprid in salmon farming:

 

British Wildlife August 2020 #1

British Wildlife August 2020 #2

British Wildlife August 2020 #3

British Wildlife August 2020 #4

 

 

 

 

 

Scottish Salmon Watch visited the FAI Aquaculture Marine Laboratory in Ardtoe in August 2020 - the Benchmark-owned facility which developed their CleanTreat system "over a 10 year period":

 

 



 

 

In September 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch wrote to the Scottish Government and SEPA questioning whether Imidacloprid had been secretly and illegally used at Benchmark's marine laboratory at Ardtoe on the West coast of Scotland. 

 

 

 

 

 

Fish Farmer magazine reported in February 2020 (when Benchmark was still hiding the fact that BMK08/Ectosan was the neonicotinoid Imidacloprid - Benchmark only publicly admitted this toxic truth on 20 March 2020 after Scottish Salmon Watch and The Ferret blew the whistle on 17 March 2020):

 

Fish Farmer Feb 2020 #1

 

 

Fish Farmer Feb 2020 #2

 

Fish Farmer Feb 2020 #3

 

Fish Farmer Feb 2020 #4

 

 

Meanwhile it seems the floodgates are being opened up to use Imidacloprid across Europe and in Chile.   Fish Farming Expert reported (10 September 2020):

 

EMEA Imidacloprid approval Sept 2020 #1

 

EMEA Imidacloprid approval Sept 2020 #2

EMEA Imidacloprid approval Sept 2020 #3

EMEA Imidacloprid approval Sept 2020 #4

 

 

Here's the EMEA statement (11 September 2020):

 

EMEA Imidacloprid approval 11 Sept 2020 #1

EMEA Imidacloprid approval 11 Sept 2020 #2

 

 

Benchmark reported in July 2020:

 

Benchmark Chile Purisan BMK08 1 July 2020 #1

Benchmark Chile Purisan BMK08 1 July 2020 #2

 

 

 

 

 

Benchmark reported earlier this week via their Q1 2021 financial report that Imidacloprid would be launched in salmon farming during Q2 2021 "subject to regulatory approvals".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The use of Imidacloprid appears to have already been approved by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) who let slip that Ectosan (BMK08) was Imidacloprid via an 'Interpretation Request' from Norwegian salmon giant Mowi. 

 

 

 

 

Even though the ASC has now expunged all reference to the use of Imidacloprid in salmon farming from their web-site, we do know which salmon farms are certified via the ASC. 

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #16

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #19

Fish Farming Expert reported in March 2020 on the now deleted ASC 'Interpretation Request' filed by Mowi Norway in May 2019. 

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #20

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #21

 

 

Fish Farming Expert reported in May 2020:

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #22

 

 

As of today (24 February 2021) there are 419 salmon farms around the world certified via the ASC. 

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #17

 

 

These include eight salmon farms - all operated by Norwegian giant Mowi - in Scotland:

 

Blog Imidacloprid Feb 2021 #18

 

 

 

 

Nearly a year since Scottish Salmon Watch filed an appeal with the Scottish Information Commissioner against SEPA's refusal to disclose information we may soon find out more details on the use of Imidacloprid in salmon farming in Scotland.  

 

Clean Treat blog #3

 

Top Secret Salmon

 

Read more via:

 

 

Imidacloprid Horrible History June 2020 #1

Imidacloprid Horrible History June 2020 #2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted at 08:05 AM |

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