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09/30/2022

Death Deflation: 13 Million Morts On Scottish Salmon Farms in 2021 - More Like 22 Million (& maybe 50 million if you add freshwater)!

 



 

 

Salmon Business reported earlier this week (27 September 2022) that the disease-ridden Scottish salmon farming sector suffered from 13 million mortalities last year:

 

 

Salmon Business 27 Sept 2022

 

 

 

However, the 13 million mortality figure is at best an honest underestimate and at worst it represents industry-promoted 'fake news'.   Since no official mortality numbers have been published since 2012 (when 8.5 million morts were reported by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency),  reporting a figure of 13 million dead Scottish salmon as fact - as the Herald On Sunday did on 25 September 2022 - warrants ground-truthing.   

 

Herald on Sunday 25 September 2022 in full

 

 

 

In fact, here's the latest official data on mortality numbers published by SEPA in 2013 - as reported by Rob Edwards in The Sunday Herald in February 2013:

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #1

 

 

 

If you use basic maths - and ratios of tonnage to numbers - the missing data since 2012 can be extrapolated with a figure for 2021 of up to 22 million mortalities:

 

22 million estimate for 2021 morts

 

 

 

When Edward Mountain MSP - former convenor of the Scottish Parliament's Rural Committee - raised the issue of 'alarming' mortalities with his former colleagues in a letter dated 6 September 2022 he cited published statistics on mortalities by weight sourced from Scotland's Aquaculture (not Aquaculture Scotland - a web portal where data supplied by salmon farming companies is collated online by SEPA and the Scottish Government):

 

Edward Mountain letter to Scottish Parliament Rural Committee 6 September 2022 #1

Edward Mountain letter to Scottish Parliament Rural Committee 6 September 2022 #2

 

 

 

So where did the "nearly 13 million" morts figure come from as quoted by Martin Williams in The Herald On Sunday (25 September 2022)?    Has the 'Scottish' salmon farming industry been providing the Scottish Parliament's Rural Committee with false figures which woefully underestimate the true numbers of morts?  Has the Scottish Government been badly briefing the Scottish Parliament in a desperate effort to downplay the escalating problems of mass mortalities?  Or maybe the Herald On Sunday was just erring on the side of caution with a conservative estimate?  

 

Mort graph 2010 to 2021

 

 

Moreover, does it even matter if the 13 million morts figure was presented as a matter of fact rather than couching it in conjecture as a guesstimate?  

 

 

 

 

The simple answer is that it does matter since lobbying by the salmon farming industry over the last decade has kept the true numbers of mortalities on salmon farms secret. 

 

 

 

 

The fact is that since 2013 there has been no data published - and perhaps not even officially collected - detailing the number of mortalities.  As Rob Edwards reported in The Sunday Herald in October 2013:

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #2

Mort blog Sept 2022 #3

Mort blog Sept 2022 #4

 

 

 

The Times reported in October 2013:

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #5

 

 

 

Here's the letter from the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (renamed Salmon Scotland in November 2021) to SEPA in February 2013:

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #6

 

 

And here's SEPA's reply in March 2013:

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #7

Mort blog Sept 2022 #8

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #9

 

 



 

 

Hence since 2012 - when data was published by SEPA - there has been no official data on mortality numbers (something which The Herald On Sunday should have pointed out to its readers on 25 September 2022).    The failure of the salmon farming industry to report mortality numbers has not stopped speculation and informed guesstimates of the numbers of dead farmed salmon.    The Times reported in July 2017:

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #10

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #11

 

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #12

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #13

 

 

 

 

In October 2017, The Sunday Herald estimated the number of farmed salmon mortalities in Scotland as "up to 10 million" in 2016 (using an estimate sourced from the salmon farming industry).

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #14

 

 

In March 2018, The Herald estimated mortalities on salmon farms in Scotland at "more than 11 million fish":

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #30

Mort blog Sept 2022 #31

 



 

 

 

I attempted to estimate farmed salmon mortalities - in both freshwater and seawater - in November 2020 coming up with ca. 42 million dead fish in 2019:

 

 

 

 

 

In December 2020, BBC Countryfile put mortality data published by the Scottish Government to the salmon farming lobby but Tavish Scott failed to recognise the official data:

 

 

 

 

 

 

In April 2021, when interviewed by BBC Scotland Tavish Scott once again failed to publicly recognise that millions of farmed salmon were dying due to infectious diseases, viruses and pathogens.

 

 

 

 

Whatever the real figure for mortalities, it is clear that some salmon farms and some salmon farming companies are worst than others.

 

 

 

Media Backgrounder Year of the Dead Salmon September 2022 #2

 



Mort blog Sept 2022 #22

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #23

 

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #24

 

 

 

Finally, when people talk about farmed salmon mortalities of 13 million per year or even 22 million then it must not be forgotten that this refers solely to the sea phase of production - many more million mortalities (perhaps another 20 million per year) occur during the freshwater phase of production.    Here's the data from the latest fish farm production survey published by the Scottish Government in September 2021 (a new survey will be published on 27 October 2022) which shows that 78 million ova (eggs) were laid down on salmon farms in Scotland in 2020 with 52.5 million smolts put to sea: 

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #15

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #16

 

 

In other words, over 26 million fish went missing between being laid down as eggs in the hatchery to being put to sea as smolts (that's a mortality rate of 33% or a third of all fish being killed).    The mortality rate in the sea phase of production is another 20%+ - depending on the year and the region.  The latest mortality/survival data currently available is for 2018 - when the mortality rate was 24.1% (i.e. 75.9% survival):

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #17

 

 

The regional picture shows significant differences with relatively high survival rates (i.e. low mortality rates) in Orkney compared to low survival rates (i.e. high mortality rates) in Shetland and the Western Isles:

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #18 Mort blog Sept 2022 #19

 

 

 

So when you read about 13 million mortalities on salmon farms in Scotland during 2021, it is just the tip of a much larger iceberg which certainly includes another 25 million+ in the freshwater stage of production and perhaps another 6-9 million morts in the sea phase of production.   Sadly, the numbers of morts has been a moot point ever since 2012 (the last date that data is available following industry lobbying).  Instead, the Scottish Government publishes a watered down version of mortalities which only records mortalities over a certain threshold (understood to be over 1% weekly mortality) thereby woefully underestimating the numbers of mortalities.  

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #20

Mort blog Sept 2022 #21

 

 

 

Even without the full picture of mortality numbers, the information is shocking.   An analysis of the Scottish Government mortality data published by $camon $cotland earlier this month (26 September 2022) illustrates the scale of Scottish salmon's mortality problem:

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #25

 

 



 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #26

 

 

 

 

Here's the top 20 (i.e. worst/most) 'Mortality Event Reports' reported by salmon farming companies to the Scottish Government since January 2017:

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #27

 

 

To illustrate the scale of the mortality problem in hatcheries, here's 'Case Information' for Mowi's Inchmore salmon farm (sourced from an inspection by the Scottish Government in May 2022):

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #28

 

Mort blog Sept 2022 #29

 

 

In other words, that's over 2 million mortalities within the first dozen or so weeks of eggs being laid down in ONE hatchery.  Mowi's Inchmore hatchery has a history of mortality problems going back right to its inception.

 

 

 

In October 2018, The Sunday Mail reported that 500,000 farmed salmon had died at Mowi's flagship hatchery at Inchmore - opened only a few months earlier by Scotland's Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy, Fergus Ewing.

 

Sunday Mail 7 October 2018 Full version

 

Hatchery Inchmore Fergus

 

 

 

So whether you honestly believe there were 13 million mortalities on salmon farms last year - or perhaps nearly 50 million (in both freshwater and seawater) - it is surely time that SEPA, the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament forced full disclosure by the salmon farming industry with respect to the scale of mortalities?  The Norwegian Government publishes annual data on mortalities on salmon farms - detailed as 54 million in 2021 - so why the secrecy in Scotland? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$camon $cotland today (30 September 2022) wrote to the Scottish Parliament's Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee demanding the disclosure of mortality numbers on salmon farms (download the letter as a PDF online here).  

 

Letter to SP Rural Affairs Committee 30 September 2022 #1

Letter to SP Rural Affairs Committee 30 September 2022 #2

 



 

 

As Tavish Scott so presciently told Holyrood magazine in November 2020: "We must confront the arguments where they lack fact". 

 

 

 

 

Here's a letter sent to The Herald On Sunday:

 

From: Don Staniford <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, Sep 30, 2022 at 10:04 AM
Subject: Letter to The Herald On Sunday
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: Martin Williams <[email protected]>



 
Whilst your continued coverage of the disease-ridden salmon farming industry is welcomed, $camon $cotland feels that readers were misled when the alarming number of mortalities on salmon farms last year was presented as fact. 
 
Basic math ratios based on previously published data on mortality numbers point to a figure of between 19.7 million and 22 million dead farmed salmon in 2021 not the "nearly 13 million" figure reported by The Herald On Sunday. 
 
22 million estimate for 2021 morts

 
 
The fact is that since 2012 there has been no data on mortality numbers published.  As Rob Edwards reported in The Sunday Herald back in October 2013 the publication of data on mortality numbers stopped following lobbying by the salmon farming industry who claimed that disclosure would be 'commercially damaging'. 
 
Nor does the estimate of 13 million mortalities on salmon farms in Scotland last year include mortalities in freshwater hatcheries and smolt farms.  The true figure of mortalities throughout the life-cycle of a farmed salmon - from hatch to 'catch' - could be close to 50 million. 
 
Whatever the real number of mortalities on salmon farms - and until Salmon Scotland publishes the data the public will not know - it is clear that the death rate inside disease-ridden cages has reached record levels with some sites reporting mortality rates in excess of 80%. 
 
Media Backgrounder Year of the Dead Salmon September 2022 #6
 
 
If four out of every five cows or sheep in a field were dying the public would be outraged.  The call by Edward Mountain MSP - as former convenor of the Scottish Parliament's Rural Committee - for a further inquiry into salmon farming must therefore be supported as a matter of urgency.   
 
 
Don Staniford
 
Director, $camon $cotland
 
 
Tel: 07771 541826

 

 

 



 



 

 

Read more via:

Letter to Scottish Parliament re. farmed salmon mortalities "increasing at an alarming rate" from former convenor of Rural Committee

Press Release: "Year of the Dead Salmon: Scottish Salmon Plagued by Mass Mortality Problems"

Media Backgrounder: Year of the Dead Salmon - Bakkafrost Scotland is the King of Death!

Herald On Sunday: "Inquiry into salmon farming demanded after "sickening" levels of fish deaths"

Fake News? Over 50% Mortality at RSPCA Assured Scottish Salmon Farms - how can supermarkets advertise it as "responsibly sourced"?

56% Mortality at RSPCA Assured Mowi (but don't worry, it's certified as "farmed responsibly" by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council)!

Over 80% Mortality at The Scottish Salmon Company!!!

Dead in the Water - Scottish Salmon's Mortality Mountain Piles Ever Higher in 2021!

Mass Mortalities - 66% in one month at The Scottish Salmon Company on the Isle of Gigha!

STV News: "Thousands of rotting salmon ‘stink out’ village after mass death at farm"

X-Rated Video: 90% Mortality at The Faroese/Norwegian 'Scottish' Salmon Company?!

"The shocking death rates on Scotland's salmon farms revealed"

2020: The Year of Diseased Scottish Salmon - 27,000 Tonnes of Dead Fish, the Worst On Record!

Update: Mortality Rate Over 36% At RSPCA Assured Scottish Salmon!

Revealed: Burned, Buried & Ensiled Scottish Salmon 

Update: 25 Million Mass Mortalities on Scottish Salmon Farms

54 Million Farmed Fish Died in Norway in 2021 - How Many Farmed Salmon Died in Scotland?

Revealed: 30+ Million Dead Scottish Salmon Since 2017 - over 8 million morts reported last year & over half a million in first two weeks of 2022!!

52 million deaths in Norway - how many millions died on Scottish salmon farms in 2020?

The Case Against Scottish Salmon - An Update on Diseases & Mass Mortalities!

2.2 Million Missing Mortalities at Scottish Sea Farms?

Alexa, how many salmon die each year on Scottish salmon farms? 42 million* (but we don't know for sure as the answer is deemed "commercially damaging")!

Over One Million Morts for Scottish Salmon in September 2020!

Survival of the Unhealthiest Scottish Salmon - New data reveals shocking mortality rates!

Dead in the Water - New Data Reveals Mass Mortalities & Disease on Scottish Salmon Farms

The Ferret: "Farmed salmon deaths from disease reach record high"

The Killing Farms - Scottish Salmon's Horror Story Continues!

Solving Scottish Salmon's Multi-Million Mortality Problem

Scottish Salmon's Mort Mountain Leaps Over 10 Million - FOI reveals 2.3 million dead salmon at Marine Harvest farms in 2017

A disgrace: Ten million salmon thrown away by fish farm industry in last year alone

Death rate at salmon farms doubles to 20m fish a year

Scottish watchdog labelled ‘lapdog’ after agreeing to keep fish farm deaths secret

 

 

 

 

Posted at 09:36 AM |

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