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30 April 2024

04/30/2024

Complaint filed vs French distributor of Wester Ross's "entirely hand reared" salmon

 

 

 

From: Don Staniford <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, Apr 30, 2024 at 8:41 AM
Subject: Complaint vs FAO27 Ltd in Tore for fish fraud re. "hand-reared" Wester Ross Salmon
To: Duty Officer (Consumer Advice) <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>
Cc: Anne - FAO27 Ltd Scotland www.fao27.com <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, Mark Harvey <[email protected]>

Please consider this a formal complaint against FAO27 Ltd for false advertising and misleading marketing of "entirely hand reared" Wester Ross Salmon (Mowi) via https://fao27.com/wester-ross/ 

 
FAO Ltd is registered via Companies House at: Old Kilcoy House, Teclan Business Center, Tore, Ross-Shire, Scotland, IV6 7RZ
 
The offending marketing material is online via: https://fao27.com/wester-ross/
 
FAO27 #1
 
 
The false claim above is: "Our salmon are entirely hand reared, which means that people — not just machines or cameras — are on the water every day to feed and observe the fish".
 
 
A press release - detailing photographic evidence of automated feeding at Wester Ross Salmon's Ardmair farm - is detailed online via: https://donstaniford.typepad.com/files/pr-complaint-vs-hand-reared-wester-ross-salmon-23-april-2024.pdf
 
Video evidence showing the use of automated feeding machines at Wester Ross Salmon (Mowi) earlier this month is now online via https://vimeo.com/940337240 and https://vimeo.com/939427648
 
 
Further false product information from FAO27 is posted online via https://fao27.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Product_Wester-Ross-GB.pdf
 
This includes the erroneous claims that Wester Ross Salmon (bought out by Norwegian multinational Mowi in June 2022) is "hand-reared" and "fed by hand" with "no machines or cameras":
 
 
FAO27 #2
 
 
FAO27 #3
 
 When FAO27 claim that "this is an entirely hands-on operation" they are therefore commiting fish fraud and deceiving consumers. 
 
 
Could Highland Council please force FAO27 to correct their website?
 
Whilst FAO27 has failed to correct their website, The Fish Shop and Canagan have deleted reference to "hand reared" in their marketing materials:
 
I have copied Anne Mosely of FAO27 into this complaint as she claimed last week that they would "amend [the information] before the weekend" - here is her email:
 
From: Anne - FAO27 Ltd Scotland www.fao27.com <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, Apr 25, 2024 at 6:53 AM
Subject: Re: Complaint vs Wester Ross "hand reared" Scottish salmon
To: Don Staniford <[email protected]>

Good morning Don, 
 
Many thanks for your email and for letting us know about the complaint. 
 
As the exclusive distributor of Wester Ross in the French market, we are doing our best to update the information but it is difficult to track all the many changes that are being made at the farm.
 
We will amend before the weekend . 
 
Thanks again for highlighting this to us. 
 
Regards,
 
Anne Moseley
FAO27 LTD
Wester Ross Salmon exclusive distributor in France
WhatsApp / mobile: +447788586882
Office : +441381 655 055
Scotland www.fao27.com
 
 
Hopefully this complaint will swiftly resolve the issue.   Anne claims that "it is difficult to track all the many changes that are being made at the farm" but it really is simple - since Mowi took over Wester Ross Salmon in June 2022 they have started to replace hand-rearing with automated feeding systems with Ardmair salmon farm (the ongrowing site for Wester Ross Salmon) already using cameras and machines. 
 
 
FAO27 is certainly not the only company breaching marketing and advertising standards.  A detailed dossier of various breaches in Trading Standards (falsely advertising and marketing 'hand reared' salmon) is outlined via https://donstaniford.typepad.com/files/complaint-vs-wester-ross-fisheries-23-april-2024.pdf
 
Other companies in the Highland Council area deceptively marketing Wester Ross Salmon include Ullapool Smokehouse, Highland Cookhouse and Wester Ross Salmon themselves (in the hope of a swift resolution I have copied those all into this complaint). 
 
Ultimately, however, it is the Norwegian owners of Wester Ross Salmon (Mowi) who as the parent company with significant control since June 2022 are responsible for failing to inform distributors of the changes away from hand-rearing to automation.  I have also copied into this complaint Mowi's CEO Ivan Vindheim into this email along with Mowi Scotland's CEO Ben Hadfield.  
 
Highland Council is all too aware of the changes to automation at Wester Ross Salmon.  Documents posted by Highland Council back in September 2023 - in relation to a planning application to install an automated feed barge in Loch Broom - detailed via 'Annex 4: Equipment Attestation': "The aim of the Corry development is to modernise the farm, replacing the current process of distributing feed by hand, to an automated feed barge".
 
Another Wester Ross Salmon document posted online by Highland Council in September 2023 (you need to be logged into the Highland Council planning portal to access) included: "Subsea feeding systems allow fish to be fed at depth; feed is delivered to a small structure at the centre of the pen. Water is then added to the feed and passed down through a pipe to a dispersion unit suspended in the net. The proposal seeks permission to feed the fish at the pens using a surface rotor or a subsea feeding system, with the installation of a surface rotor system expected in the first instance."
 
It seems that Mowi (as owners of Wester Ross Salmon) has proceeded ahead with the installation and use of automated feeding at the Ardmair salmon farm.  It is not clear if this took place without proper public consultation or planning diligence (that is now subject to a FOI but Highland Council's Mark Harvey - copied in here - will know the inside story).  Whatever the case it is patently clear that Mowi and Wester Ross Salmon have failed to update their own marketing materials or properly update all their distributors with respect to the end of hand-rearing and the operation of feeding machines and cameras. 
 
This issue goes way beyond the Highland Council region to France, Italy, the rest of the UK and the United States: 
 
 
 
Thanks,
 
Don Staniford
 
Director, $camon $cotland
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
UPDATE (1 May 2024):
 

 
 
 
 
 
FAO27 #1
 
 
 
 
To this:
 
FAO27 #4 entirely changed to mostly
 
 
 
 
 
From: Don Staniford <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, May 2, 2024 at 8:05 AM
Subject: Re: Complaint vs FAO27 Ltd in Tore for fish fraud re. "hand-reared" Wester Ross Salmon
To: Duty Officer (Consumer Advice) <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>
Cc: Anne - FAO27 Ltd Scotland www.fao27.com <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, Mark Harvey <[email protected]>


In addition to the complaint filed earlier this week, please be aware that drone footage shot at Wester Ross Salmon's Ardmair salmon farm in the evening of Tuesday (30 April 2024) clearly shows the use of automated feeding machines when no staff were present on site (i.e. hand rearing has been replaced by automation):
 
 
FAO27 has now deleted "entirely hand reared" on their website and replaced it with "mostly hand reared" (which we still think is misleading and FAO27 still has misleading product information online including the false claims that "this is an entirely hands on operation" and "no machines or cameras"): https://twitter.com/TheGAAIA/status/1785646167985934659 
 
If you look at this longer drone footage showing an aerial view of the whole Ardmair salmon you can see 32 salmon cages currently in operation (a second set of cages is fallowed with their nets out of the water) - the video shows 18 cages with automated feeding machines already installed and 14 cages where there may be plastic pipes under the water or no automated feeding at all: https://vimeo.com/941474903 
 
Drone of Ardmair showing automated feeders 30 April 2024 #15 showing 18 cages with and 14 without machines
 
It is abundantly clear that since Mowi bought out Wester Ross Salmon in June 2022 that they have automated operations - to such an extent that marketing materials such as "hand reared", 'artisanal' and "no cameras or machines" are now plainly false and deceptive.
 
In addition to the corrections by The Fish Shop, Canagan and FAO27, Bel & the Dragon (Fullers) has now deleted reference to "hand reared" Wester Ross Salmon:
 
Wester Ross Salmon (Mowi), however, continues to deceive customers claiming online: "Our fish are hand reared and purposefully slowly grown, we don’t use unnatural management or artificial feeding regimes."
 
FAO27, too, has failed to update their marketing materials (dated from 2014 but still online via: https://fao27.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Product_Wester-Ross-GB.pdf):
 
FAO27 product information sheet #1 hand reared tag
 
 
 
$camon $cotland asks Highland Council to intervene immediately to stop the deceptive marketing and correct outdated marketing materials to reflect the current reality of automated feeding machines at Wester Ross Salmon (Mowi). 
 
Thanks,
 
Don Staniford
 
Director, $camon $cotland
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
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