From: Don Staniford <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, Sep 7, 2021 at 9:22 AM
Subject: Urgent: Welfare Complaint Vs West Strome salmon farm in Loch Carron (The Scottish Salmon Company)
To: SCD Wildlife Crime <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, SM-APHA-Enquiries APHA <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, Sep 7, 2021 at 9:22 AM
Subject: Urgent: Welfare Complaint Vs West Strome salmon farm in Loch Carron (The Scottish Salmon Company)
To: SCD Wildlife Crime <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, SM-APHA-Enquiries APHA <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>
Please consider this a formal complaint for breaches of the Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 (Section 19: Unnecessary Suffering; and Section 24: Ensuring Welfare of Animals) by The Scottish Salmon Company in Loch Carron yesterday (6 September 2021).
The video evidence - compiled here as photographic snapshots - speaks for itself and is damning, disturbing and shocking in equal measure: https://donstaniford.typepad.
Scottish Salmon Watch filmed inside the Strome salmon farm in Loch Carron (there are two salmon farms: the one at Strome is fallow and the one at West Strome is the one in question here) from 6.30am to 8am - I am still having trouble accessing the Scotland's Aquaculture web-site as I am still in the field so I cannot give a grid reference but it comes up as:
In this photo (shot from Stromeferry) the cage we filmed at is the first one on the outside of Loch Carron - i.e. the furthest West and on the South side of the two rows of cages. It has a yellow marker - X marks the spot:
We launched at 6.15am at first light yesterday (6 September 2021) from North Strome pier - just below Strome Castle and where there used to be a ferry service to Stromeferry - but launching in Stromeferry would be easier for any inspection visit:
After conducting the Scottish Government and industry-advised biosecurity and disinfectant protocols, the Go Pro filming inside the cages revealed shocking video evidence of welfare abuse. Note that at the start of filming ca. 6.30am it was somewhat cloudy and the visibility was poor but we could still see white lesions and clear welfare problems - we stayed filming for ca. 90 minutes until ca. 8am when the Norwegian-registered Ronjafisk well boat came into the loch (local complaints have meant that big boats cannot operate due to noise pollution until 8am). As the early morning progressed the light lifted and some of the footage shot nearer 8am than 7am is more illuminating that other footage - but it all shows endemic and systemic welfare abuse at a population level in the whole cage (and remember that we're only filming in the top 1 metre of the cage - I would encourage filming inside the cages at greater depths). Here's some of the photos (download in full online here):
A PDF file of all the photos (apologies for the quality but I am still on fieldwork and dealing without high tech video editing and photo software) has been uploaded and is available online here
Video footage should be available soon and I will email later this week. Filming with a Go Pro camera on a telescopic pole or with an underwater drone or with a diver inside the cages is advised to ground-truth the video footage shot by Scottish Salmon Watch. We only filmed in one cage but suspect welfare abuse across the site. It seems - from the well boat traffic - that the West Strome salmon farm may have received farmed salmon from other sites. Scottish Salmon Watch suspects that The Scottish Salmon Company is using Loch Carron as a triage unit - a hospital for sick salmon.
Certainly, judging by the video footage, the Loch Carron salmon farm is a welfare nightmare with heaven knows what infectious diseases, pathogens, viruses and bacteria. Testing of farmed salmon inside the cages and post mortem testing of fresh mortalities at the bottom of the cages is recommended to gauge the level of viral and disease problems.
ADDs - the OTAQ seal fence - was observed on the cage we filmed at and the red light was on but we heard no obvious ADD sound underwater. When questioned ca. 8.30am before we left the farm, one of the salmon farm workers claimed they had an EPS licence to use ADDs but it had not been triggered in over 100 days and seal predation was not a problem.
Please provide a receipt for this welfare complaint. I would urge a visit ASAP - certainly this week as it seems that the workers on site are busy burying the dead bodies. Locals have complained about the stench coming from the Strome land-base and increased activity - commensurate with a mass mortality and disease outbreak - has been reported in recent weeks.
When I was told not to film by the Scottish Salmon Company yesterday (a manager came out in a work boat and followed me in my kayak) ca. 8.30am I told the workers that Scottish Salmon Watch would be filing a welfare complaint. The farmed salmon at the West Strome salmon farm operated by The Scottish Salmon Company are clearly suffering - this is cruelty and welfare abuse at its very worst. This is population welfare abuse - not just a few fish but every fish we could see was a 'whitehead' or 'meathead' and infested with lice as well as displaying clear welfare problems such as 'death crowns', lesions, open sores, mouth rot, fin damage and tail damage.
Thanks,
Don Staniford
Director, Scottish Salmon Watch