Organic Scamon – the List of Shame!
- Soil Association Certified Salmon Farms & Salmon Farming Businesses (as of 23/3/2022)
Note that this list is sourced from the Soil Association’s ‘Organic Certificate Checker’ and may not be a complete list (the Soil Association has so far refused to provide a full list) - download as a PDF online here
Soil Association Producer Aquaculture On Growing Sites:
- Marine Salmon Farms:
Mowi Scotland Limited - Invasion Bay (Loch Sunart)
Mowi Scotland Limited – Leven (Callert)
Mowi Scotland Limited - Loch Harport (Portnalong)
Mowi Scotland Limited – Sconser (Isle of Skye)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland - Bay of Holland (Orkney)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland - East of Skelwick (Orkney)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland – Hoy (Orkney)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland - Mill Bay (Orkney)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland - South Cava (Orkney)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland – Turness (Orkney)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland Ltd - Bay of Vady (Orkney)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland Ltd – Westray
Organic Sea Harvest Ltd – Culnacnoc (Skye)
Organic Sea Harvest Ltd – Invertote (Skye)
Rysa Salmon Farm* – Lyness (Hoy, Orkney)
* unclear if it is a freshwater or a marine salmon farm (it looks like a marine site)
- Freshwater Salmon Farms:
Mowi Scotland Limited - Loch Arkaig (Lochaber)
Mowi Scotland Limited - Loch Garry (Lochaber)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland - Loch Garasdale (Argyll)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland - Loch Shin (Sutherland)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland Ltd - Quoys Hatchery (Orkney)
EU Producer Aquaculture On Growing Sites:
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland – Turness (Orkney)
Soil Association Producer Aquaculture Hatcheries:
Mowi Scotland Limited - Inverpolly Hatchery (Sutherland)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland - Cairndow Hatchery (Argyll)
Highland Salmon Company Ltd - Wester Fearn Fish Farm (Ardgay, Ross-shire)
Soil Association: Feed Processor:
Mowi Scotland Ltd (Mowi Feed Plant, Kyleakin)
Soil Association Food Processor:
Mowi Scotland Ltd - Blar Mhor (Fort William)
Mowi Scotland Ltd - Registered Head Office (Rosyth)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland - Yell Packing Station (Shetland)
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland Ltd - Orkney Packing Station (Kirkwall)
Aquascot Ltd (Alness, Ross and Cromarty)
Scottish Sea Farms Ltd (South Shian, Argyll)
Loch Duart Ltd (Dingwall, Ross and Cromarty)
Organic Sea Harvest Sales Ltd – Invergordon (Ross and Cromarty)
SB Smoked Salmon Ltd Trading as Smokin Brothers - Daylesford Organic (Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire)
St James Salmon Farms & Smokehouse Ltd – Annan (Dumfries & Galloway)
French AB Logo:
Mowi Scotland Ltd - Blar Mhor (Fort William)
Mowi Scotland Ltd - Registered Head Office (Rosyth)
EU Organic Wholesaler:
Cooke Aquaculture Scotland Ltd – Sales (Belshill, Strathclyde)
EU Organic Processor:
Aquascot Ltd (Alness, Ross and Cromarty)
Download a list of the salmon farms (including marine and freshwater), hatcheries, processing plants and salmon farming companies certified as "organic" by the Soil Association (as of 23 February 2022) online here
The supplier list does not specify salmon farms which may have had their 'organic' certification status suspended, withdrawn or cancelled (unlike the Aquaculture Stewardship Council which provides this information online - including Mowi certifications cancelled due to exceedances of antibiotics use, escape & "administrative reasons").
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Note that you need the name of the company or farm to use the search function so unless you know the names of all the companies farming salmon 'organically' then some sites may slip through the net. If you search for the following companies here's what comes up via the 'Organic Certificate Checker':
The public can make a 'supplier list request' via an online form but it requires signing a waiver including: "1. The List supplied will be used only once and will not be copied or re-mailed without express permission. 2. The list will be used for this request only and only for the purpose specified. 3. The list will not be passed onto third parties". And the Soil Association points out: "Please be aware, due to the ongoing changing nature of the data we hold, the list supplied may not be completely exhaustive".
Last week (16 February 2022), Scamon Scotland requested a list of all salmon farms certified as "organic" from the Soil Association following a complaint filed with Trading Standards against Soil Association-certified 'organic' salmon sold by Ocado and Sainsbury's:
From: Ian Ayling <iayling@soilassociation.org>
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2022, 15:34
Subject: RE: Complaint vs Soil Association certified 'organic' Scottish salmon sold by Ocado & Sainsbury's
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Hello Don
Thank you for drawing this trading and advertising standards complaint to our attention
I noted that you are keen to get a list of Soil Association certified salmon farms in Scotland
If you can click through this link and complete your request then we have a way to share this information with you
https://www.soilassociation.org/certification/find-a-licensee/organic-certificate-checker/
We both know we don’t agree with each other on the level of change that you want to see in farming salmon. We remain committed to working hard to make the practices the best they can be
Kind regards
Ian
From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Sent: 16 February 2022 12:28
To: Ian Ayling <iayling@soilassociation.org>
Cc: Helen Browning <HBrowning@soilassociation.org>; Soil Association Certification <cert@soilassociation.org>; Contact <contact@soilassociation.org>
Subject: Complaint vs Soil Association certified 'organic' Scottish salmon sold by Ocado & Sainsbury's
Please note a complaint filed this morning: Complaint vs Ocado & Sainsbury's 'Organic' Scottish Salmon "Farmed Responsibly" by Mowi Filed with Trading & Advertising Standards
If you would like to provide any substantive evidence to back up the Soil Association's claims that 'organic' salmon farming is 'responsible' please feel free to pass on.
Scamon Scotland (formerly Scottish Salmon Watch) politely asks for a list of all Soil Association certified 'organic' salmon farms in Scotland.
Please note that 'organic' salmon farming production has trebled over the last year (2020 to 2021): Scottish 'Organic' Scamon Leaps 181% - 4,462 tonnes to 12,528 tonnes from 2019 to 2020!
Fish Farming Expert reported in December 2021:
"Mowi Scotland’s Invasion Bay farm in Loch Sunart has received organic certification from the UK Soil Association. The site is Mowi Scotland’s fourth seawater farm to attain Soil Association certification in just over a year. Its Loch Leven site gained certification towards the end of last year, and the Sconser and Harport sites on Skye were certified in March and April 2021 respectively. The company is now working on additional sites to add to the organic portfolio": https://www.fishfarmingexpert.com/article/mowi-scotland-growing-organically/
Mowi's Loch Ewe salmon farm was certified by the Soil Association in 2020: https://www.fishfarmingexpert.com/article/first-salmon-harvested-at-mowi-scotland-organic-site/
And Fish Farming Expert reported in August 2021:
"Salmon farmer Cooke Aquaculture Scotland today announced that its newest seawater site, at Bay of Holland in Stronsay, Orkney has become its tenth site to achieve Soil Association organic certification": https://www.fishfarmingexpert.com/article/cooke-scotland-unveils-10th-organic-salmon-farm/
In addition to Cooke's Bay of Holland, could you please list all the other salmon farms currently certified as 'organic' by the Soil Association?
The 'Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2020' - published by the Scottish Government on 30 September 2021 - details only nine 'organic' salmon farms:
As today's complaint includes: "Scamon Scotland recommends that the Soil Association withdraw from certifying salmon farms as ‘organic’".
This was Tweeted this morning via https://twitter.com/TheGAAIA/status/1493855621749391368
If the Soil Association is going to continue to certify salmon farms as 'organic' then perhaps you should change the packaging to reflect the reality of salmon farming?
Tweeted via https://twitter.com/TheGAAIA/status/1493833997406937090/photo/1
Best fishes,
Don
Today (24 February 2022), Scamon Scotland reiterated the request for a full list of all salmon farms and salmon farming businesses certified as 'organic' by the Soil Association as well asking for information on salmon farms which have had their 'organic' certification cancelled or withdrawn:
From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 9:27 AM
Subject: Full list of salmon farms certified as 'organic' by the Soil Association?
To: Ian Ayling <iayling@soilassociation.org>
Cc: Helen Browning <HBrowning@soilassociation.org>, <cert@soilassociation.org>, <contact@soilassociation.org>
To reiterate: Is it possible to have a full list of all salmon farms currently certified by the Soil Association?
Scamon Scotland has produced a list of Soil Association certified salmon farming facilities (as of 23 February 2022)
online here and published it via a blog:
However, since you need the name of the company or the site to search the Soil Association's '
Organic Certificate Checker' it is impossible to be sure that all sites have been included. Could you please provide a full list of salmon farms certified by the Soil Association as 'organic'?
Secondly, could you please also indicate if the sites are marine or freshwater (they are all currently grouped together as 'Aquaculture On-growing Sites')?
For example, it is unclear if Rysa Salmon Farm is marine or freshwater (it seems to be the former although there is a land-based hatchery called Rysa too).
Thirdly, could you please provide a list of all the 'organic' salmon farms which have had their Soil Association certification withdrawn, cancelled, suspended or any other terminology used for no longer being 'organic'?
For example, it is understood that Mowi's Loch Ewe salmon farm was certified as 'organic' but it no longer appears in the list (presumably as the Loch Ewe salmon farm has been decommissioned).
And it seems that Mowi's Loch Harport (Portnalong) salmon farm may have had their Soil Association certification suspended, withdrawn or cancelled at some point. The Loch Harport salmon farm is currently certified as 'organic' by the Soil Association but a press release issued by Salmon & Trout Conservation on 2 February 2022 raised question marks:
Finally, Scamon Scotland is concerned that the Soil Association is not being transparent in terms of making a list of salmon farms certified as 'organic' available to the public. If a member of the public formally requests a supplier list via the Soil Association's '
Organic Certificate Checker' then they have to sign a waiver that: "1. The List supplied will be used only once and will not be copied or re-mailed without express permission. 2. The list will be used for this request only and only for the purpose specified. 3. The list will not be passed onto third parties".
Such privacy and protection of data outside the public domain raises serious questions, especially since it is the public who are supposed to trust the Soil Association's certification system and it is the public who make purchasing decisions based upon this information. If consumers do not have all the information then surely they are being misled? Scamon Scotland certainly thinks 'organic' farmed salmon - as certified by the Soil Association - is a scam, sham and consumer con. The Soil Association should be ashamed of itself for certifying Scottish salmon as 'organic' and in hiding information from the public.
Answers to the questions above would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Don
Read more via:
Addendum:
On 7 March 2022, Scamon Scotland requested further information and clarification on the 'organic' status of salmon farms in a letter sent to the Soil Association - download in full as a PDF online here
The 21 page letter ended with:
From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 7, 2022 at 2:52 PM
Subject: Re: FW: Full list of salmon farms certified as 'organic' by the Soil Association?
To: Ian Ayling <iayling@soilassociation.org>, Soil Association Certification <cert@soilassociation.org>, <contact@soilassociation.org>, Helen Browning <hbrowning@soilassociation.org>
Please find attached a letter to the Soil Association on the issue of salmon farms.
Clarification and further information would be much appreciated.
Scamon Scotland is attempting to cross-reference toxic chemical use data and mortality/disease data with 'organic' salmon farms but requires site-specific information to narrow down the exact location and names of all the Cooke Aquaculture salmon farms.
We also notice that Mowi's Sconser salmon farm is no longer listed on the Soil Association's 'Organic Certificate Checker' (it was there last month when we checked). Could you please explain why this site no longer appears in your database?
Best fishes,
Don Staniford
Director, Scamon Scotland
