Closing the Net on Diseased Scottish Salmon - Whiteshore Cockles Finally Dumped in March!

Call it Karma, Hypocrisy or Irony?
Angus MacDonald & Whiteshore Cockles threaten @thetimes @thetimesscot with legal action over a news story of their illegal graveyard for diseased Scottish salmon @ScotlandSalmon
Now lawyers @scotgov close them down! https://t.co/LL9dCWFb5n pic.twitter.com/3mUS1Lgl9J
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 28, 2022

Download press release and media backgrounder online here

Old MacDonald had a farmed salmon dump - E-I-E-I-O
And on his land he had a cash cow - E-I-E-I-O
With a stink stink here And a pong pong there
Everywhere money @HIEScotland @cne_siar @scotgov #Salmafia #Salmoney #Salmonopoly @ScotlandSalmon @ScottishEPA https://t.co/LL9dCWFb5n pic.twitter.com/CGxuBBBpBD
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 28, 2022

Scottish Ministers finally get tough on illegal dump for diseased salmon - owner of Whiteshore Cockles offers private jet to fly @scotgov @_KateForbes @JohnSwinney to North Uist to take in the rotten smell! @HIEScotland @cne_siar @ScottishEPA @scotgp https://t.co/LL9dCWFb5n pic.twitter.com/l2gIrWiQJW
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 28, 2022

Air Force Salmon? Fancy a free ride on a private jet to an illegal salmon dump! "We haven’t won the lottery! I have a friend with a private jet" writes Whiteshore Cockles in an email @scotgov @_KateForbes @JohnSwinney @MairiGougeon @ScotGovNetZero https://t.co/LL9dCWFb5n pic.twitter.com/CRDRUvbHCT
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 28, 2022

Download press release and media backgrounder online here

Don Staniford of Scottish Salmon Watch condemned the £££s @HIEScotland: “How much money has Whiteshore Cockles made via the illegal dumping of diseased farmed salmon?” https://t.co/ooRVbZi20s @cne_siar @ScottishEPA @ScotGovNetZero @MairiGougeon @APHAgovuk @marinescotland @scotgp
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 27, 2022

The ‘illegal’ dumping of dead fish in Hebridean beauty spot set to end.https://t.co/4dpxcNpVWv
— The Ferret (@FerretScot) January 27, 2022

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.

Back in 2005, Bruce Sandison (aka Old Trout @PrivateEyeNews) received a tip-off about an illegal dump for diseased salmon in North Uist. He visited the site taking photos @SundayTimesScot
17 years later @scotgov is closing Whiteshore Cockles down! https://t.co/LL9dCWFb5n pic.twitter.com/OtizeMIkkX
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 27, 2022

A follow-up report by Marc Horne in The Times in May 2021 led to the threat of legal action by Angus MacDonald, boss of Whiteshore Cockles.

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

The legal threat by Whiteshore Cockles (owned by Angus Macdonald) did not stop The Times from reporting further in July 2021:

The Times reported again in September 2021:

The illegality of dumping diseased salmon at Whiteshore Cockles (and other disposal sites) was raised back in 2013 by retired lawyer Ewan Kennedy which filed a complaint to the European Commission. Scottish Salmon Watch wrote to Scottish Ministers in July and May 2021 asking that the Scottish Government stop turning a blind eye to illegal dumping of diseased salmon in North Uist.

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

A letter from Scottish Salmon Watch to Scottish Ministers dated 27 May 2021 included:

As statutory context (as explained by the Scottish Government): “The EU Animal By-Product Regulation 1069/2009 and its accompanying implementing Commission Regulation 142/2011 came into force in Scotland in March 2011 and among other measures prohibits the burial or burning of fallen stock on-farm. The EU regulations are implemented by the Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2013 and the Animal By-Products (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2015.”

As further context, the European Union were notified back in 2013 by Ewan Kennedy of Save Seil Sound that salmon farming companies were flouting the law. “A local complaint to the European Commission over the poor regulation of the disposal of dead fish from salmon farms has forced the Scottish Government to rewrite the rules,” reported The Sunday Herald in April 2016. “For years the caged salmon industry has been allowed to dump diseased fish in landfill sites because of a loophole in public health law. But ministers have now had to close the loophole and oblige fish farm companies to dispose of dead fish in safer ways. From the start of 2016 salmon farms must abide by the rules introduced in the wake of the outbreak of mad cow disease (BSE) in the 1980s. The farms have to incinerate, sterilise or compost their wastes, and not just tip them into landfill sites.”

“Between August 2011 and June 2012 82,663 salmon deaths from disease were recorded at Ardmaddy fish farm in Seil Sound, Argyll,” continued Rob Edwards writing in The Sunday Herald in April 2016. “When the local environmental group, Save Seil Sound, asked what had happened to the resulting 257 tonnes of dead fish, no-one seemed to know. In 2013 the group lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission, which eventually responded last month. The response revealed that UK and Scottish authorities had changed the rules in order to avoid breaching European law, and incurring a fine.”

In May 2017, the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture reported:

I spoke earlier this week with Ewan Kennedy – who filed the EC complaint in 2013 – and he suggested that the EU regulation outlawing burial of diseased farmed salmon dates back almost twenty years. The EC complaint filed by Ewan Kennedy on behalf of Save Seil Sound in 2013 cites:

A quick internet search finds that it has been the statutory duty of Scottish Ministers – including Kate Forbes who visited Whiteshore Cockles in October 2019 – to enforce the law on the disposal of diseased farmed salmon since 1 October 2003.

So why have Scottish Ministers failed for nearly two decades to force Whiteshore Cockles to comply with EU law? And why has an EU derogation granted for only 6 months been permitted to last for 5 years?

Photo Exclusive: 'Investigation' into illegal dumping of diseased salmon @cne_siar @marinescotland struggles to find any evidence of breaches of the law https://t.co/OvxPfiOiaO @salmon_scottish @LochDuartSalmon @ScottishEPA @_KateForbes @MairiMcAllan Nothing to See Here! @scotgov pic.twitter.com/U3maYRRetT
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 1, 2021

“The authorities have turned a blind eye to the continued dumping of diseased farmed salmon in landfill for well over a decade,” said Staniford. “Scotland’s secret salmon graveyard stinks to high heaven & must be shut down now” @thetimes @GreenerScotland https://t.co/PUxDL1BKl1
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) May 27, 2021

Here's photos of Whiteshore Cockles published by Compassion in World Farming in March 2021:

Rob Edwards reported in The Sunday Herald in April 2016:

In 2018, Joe Crowley and the BBC One Show visited Whiteshore Cockles with Angus Macdonald claiming in an interview that the dumping of diseased salmon would stop soon.

Here's video footage shot by Scottish Salmon Watch at Whiteshore Cockles in May 2021:

“Surely the aquaculture sector must be concerned about damage from media coverage, do we have any levers we can use to alter their choice of disposal route?” asked @scotgov in March https://t.co/OvxPfiOiaO @MairiMcAllan @ScottishEPA @LochDuartSalmon @salmon_scottish @scotgp pic.twitter.com/WoNThuAeSS
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 1, 2021

Watch video footage shot by a tourist in June 2021:

Scotland's hidden beaches #1 - the secret gems Visit Scotland keeps hidden from the public! https://t.co/q98umfGggt @north_uist @cne_siar @OuterHebs @_KateForbes @Ivan_McKee @VisitScotland @VisitScotNews @SSPOsays @salmon_scottish
HS6 5DY #WhiteshoreCockles #NorthUist #Bayhead pic.twitter.com/HBgbjSt0xr
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) June 14, 2021