Exposed: 'Legal' Salmon Dump in North Uist Caught Importing Diseased Fish From the Mainland (& they've still not applied to SEPA for a pollution permit)!

 

Revealed: Scottish Government wrote to Whiteshore Cockles re. concerns raised @cne_siar over the import of diseased salmon from the mainland (in contravention of their derogation i.e. being permitted to break EU law) @scotgov @MairiMcAllan @ScottishEPA https://t.co/HUi4MeAwYg pic.twitter.com/w1it4uV45y

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 28, 2021

 

 

Revealed: Whiteshore Cockles has still not applied to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency for a Pollution Prevention & Control permit (as of 14 July 2021)@ScottishEPA @TerryAHearn
Why is the dumping of diseased salmon in North Uist still being permitted? @marinescotland pic.twitter.com/qz3gQ5qNX4

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 28, 2021

 

When Bruce Sandison of The Salmon Farm Protest Group blew the whistle on the illegal dumping of diseased salmon in North Uist back in 2005, I bet he didn't think Whiteshore Cockles would still be raising a stink nearly two decades later. 

 

 

 

 

Bruce Sandison (aka Old Trout in Private Eye) sadly died in 2016 - the year Whiteshore Cockles was given a six-month temporary derogation by the European Union to continue burying diseased farmed salmon at their stinky cesspool in North Uist. 

 

Salmon farmers in Scotland were "struggling" with guidance to their members on the legality of waste disposal back in 2015 - why in 2021 is it still not clear that dumping diseased salmon in landfill is illegal? https://t.co/xFJFgjSgJj (F0187308) @ScottishEPA @APHAgovuk @SSPOsays pic.twitter.com/krOzOmlYS2

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 2, 2021

 

 

 

The Times reported earlier this month (1 July 2021):

 

 

Officials claimed there was “evidence of seepage from the side of pits” & added: “Record keeping is not great. Handwritten notes being provided” @thetimesscot https://t.co/H6pD4mg7Ye @marinescotland @MairiGougeon @MairiMcAllan @APHAgovuk @cne_siar @ScottishEPA @SSPOsays @scotgp

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 1, 2021

 

 

 

Another report by The Times in May 2021 has led to the threat of legal action by Angus MacDonald, boss of Whiteshore Cockles.

 

 

Where there's a hit, there's a writ! An article in The Times on the dumping of diseased farmed salmon "is the subject of a legal complaint from Angus MacDonald & Whiteshore Cockles" https://t.co/PUxDL1BKl1
Watch video footage here before lawyers remove it! https://t.co/rerpUNE1Hd pic.twitter.com/1SWdfkKXC3

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 28, 2021

 

 

 

 

Remember that the owner of Whiteshore Cockles claimed on the BBC One Show in September 2018 that dumping of diseased salmon would not continue for "much longer".

 

 

 

 

 

A letter from the Scottish Government to Scottish Salmon Watch dated 26 July 2021 now admits that Whiteshore Cockles breached the conditions of their derogation by accepting diseased farmed salmon from the mainland (Scottish Salmon Watch has filed a Freedom of Information request to find out more details):

 

 

 

 

The Definition of 'Taking the Fish' - as salmon farmers in Shetland tackled illegal dumping of diseased fish via alternatives to landfill, companies in the Western Isles extended the geographical scope to Lewis, Harris & even mainland Scotland @scotgov https://t.co/kZPwlysv8d pic.twitter.com/iUGJbwD6yf

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 3, 2021

 

 

 

Another letter from the Scottish Government to Scottish Salmon Watch dated 26 July 2021 claimed that the continued dumping of diseased farmed salmon at Whiteshore Cockles was not 'illegal' (something which Scottish Salmon Watch certainly takes issue with):

 

 

 

"Fish morts from all over the Western Isles and even the mainland going to the site" @scotgov "Whiteshore are taking advantage of derogation by extending their scope or range to bring in more income...it should not be a cheap disposal route" https://t.co/OvxPfiOiaO @ScottishEPA pic.twitter.com/taTsvodHMi

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 2, 2021

 

 

 

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) told Scottish Salmon Watch in a FOI reply dated 14 July 2021 that Whiteshore Cockles had still not yet applied for a Pollution Prevention & Control licence/permit:

 

From: Access to Information Enquiries <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, Jul 14, 2021 at 9:41 AM
Subject: F0193398 Response
To: Don Staniford <[email protected]>
Cc: Access to Information Enquiries <[email protected]>

 

OFFICIAL – BUSINESS

 

Dear Don Staniford

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION – RESPONSE

Thank you for your request. Please see the enclosed response.

If you are not satisfied with the response provided and wish to request a formal review, you have 40 working days from the date of this email to request a formal review from SEPA at: [email protected]

If you are still not satisfied, following the completion of a formal review, you can appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. www.itspublicknowledge.info/appeal

Your unique reference number is F0193398. Please quote this in any future contact with us about your request.

Thanks

Sharon

Sharon Lawler

Information Officer

Access to Information Team

Email: [email protected]

 

 

 

 

When @_KateForbes visited Whiteshore Cockles was the illegal dumping of disease-ridden salmon raised? Did @marinescotland inspect the leaching cess-pit or did @ScotGovNetZero look the other way? https://t.co/wDdz2GMJ0x @cne_siar @APHAgovuk @ScottishEPA @SSPOsays @MairiGougeon https://t.co/8cA2mRSXq1 pic.twitter.com/fPkiBqGuUa

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 1, 2021

 

 

As I reported earlier this month (3 July 2021),  we have a backdrop of the salmon farming industry - aided and abetted by the Scottish Government and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) - flouting EU law on the dumping of diseased salmon in landfill at Whiteshore Cockles.   No wonder the authorities have desperately attempted to bury the evidence of illegality. 

 

Appeal filed with @FOIScotland over FOI refusal @cne_siar who claim that information on diseased salmon dumping illegally in North Uist is "exempt from disclosure" since it "would prejudice substantially the effective conduct of public affairs" #Bollocks https://t.co/JgLgSCIEIC pic.twitter.com/4rihjWCjng

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 1, 2021

 

 

 

Despite the salmon farming industry's struggles to understand the "complexities in the area of waste disposal", the law is a simple if not sobering reality for companies such as Mowi, The Scottish Company and Loch Duart who are still using landfill disposal at Whiteshore Cockles in North Uist.    As a letter from Scottish Salmon Watch to Scottish Ministers in May 2021 and re-sent on 1 July 2021 pointed out:

 

 

 

 

A letter from the MD of Tidy Planet to Whiteshore Cockles in February 2019 detailed how bigger machinery was required to cope with the ever increasing scale of Scottish salmon's mort problem https://t.co/kZPwlysv8d @TidyPlanet @MairiMcAllan @ScottishEPA @salmon_scottish @scotgp pic.twitter.com/3NU9XfGcti

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 3, 2021

 

 

 

Read more via:

• Taking the Fish - Illegal Salmon Dump Caught Taking Diseased Fish from the Mainland Despite 'Derogation'!
• Scottish Government ‘exploring strategies’ for mort burial site
• P&J: "Lives of Western Isles residents ‘severely hampered by rotting fish dump’"
• The Times: "Fish graveyard ‘severely hampers’ life for islanders, officials claim"
• FOI Lifts Lid on the Stench of Scottish Salmon: Government Legal Department Target Illegal Dumping of Diseased Salmon
• Appeal to Scottish Information Commissioner re. FOI refusal by Western Isles Council on Whiteshore Cockles
• Letter to Scottish Ministers on Illegal Dumping of Diseased Scottish Salmon in North Uist
• Daily Mail: "Dumped into the dunes....thousands of rotten, disease ridden salmon"
• Independent: "Scottish islanders raise a stink over vast salmon graveyard"
• Video Exposes Mass Graves of Millions of Diseased Scottish Salmon
• The Times: "Islanders raise a stink over vast salmon graveyard"

 

 

Salmon farmers in the Western Isles should hang their heads in shame at the scale of illegal dumping of diseased salmon - if Shetland salmon farmers @scotseafarms @GriegShetland & @CookeScotland can follow the law then why not @ScotlandMowi @salmon_scottish & @LochDuartSalmon? pic.twitter.com/xsIh3yGYr4

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 3, 2021

 

 

Video Exclusive: Salmon farming in Scotland is a disease-ridden dump! https://t.co/hLEPBM25OB
When will burial at Whiteshore Cockles be stopped & the law be followed not flouted? @_KateForbes @MairiMcAllan @cne_siar @ScottishEPA @salmon_scottish @LochDuartSalmon @WHFP1 pic.twitter.com/0FSuAht1R3

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) May 27, 2021

 

 

 

They may not have done something illegal but it’s utterly disgusting to abuse a derogation intended to minimise damage to the island by importing waste from the mainland. They live on the island they’re damaging so they and their neighbours have to live with the damage and stink. https://t.co/H4tAGJzqEb

— Eòghann MacUalraig (@ewangkennedy) July 28, 2021