A Scottish salmon farm removed tonnes of dead fish from its pens before inspectors were scheduled to arrive. The animal rights group that filmed this activity in secret is alleging that this was an attempt by the farm to hide a mortality event from inspectors.
Members of the Scottish Parliament’s (MSPs) rural affairs committee visited a fish farm, owned by Scottish Sea Farms, near Oban on Monday for a fact-finding mission.
The fact-finding mission is part of follow-up inquiry by the committee into Scottish fish farms, following a damning report in 2018 which raised environmental concerns and called for changes to be made in the sector.
“To remove tonnes of dead fish just hours before politicians arrive to investigate is outrageous and depicts a wholly inaccurate image of the industry.”
Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality UK
The morning of the scheduled visit, members of Animal Equality UK secretly filmed the site. Footage shows barrels of salmon being disposed of. Animal Equality UK also reviewed tracking data and determined that a delousing boat had visited the farm three days earlier. Additionally, the group also alleges that footage of dead floating fish in the farm was captured on Saturday.
“To remove tonnes of dead fish just hours before politicians arrive to investigate is outrageous and depicts a wholly inaccurate image of the industry. We urge the [MSPs] to see the industry for what it truly is: deceptive and deadly,” said Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality UK.
In response, Scottish Sea Farms, which supplies British retail giant Marks & Spencer’s, said that the activity filmed by Animal Equity UK was merely part of daily procedure. The company also denied that a delousing boat had visited its premises.
“The footage clearly shows our Dunstaffnage farm team following the company’s standard operating procedure with routine pen-side checks and regular moribund and mortality removal. Contrary to the claims made by Animal Equality UK, this is an essential part of our duty of care and something we do daily wherever conditions allow, whether we have a farm visit scheduled or not,” said Dr Ralph Bickerdike, head of fish health and welfare at Scottish Sea Farms.
In 2018, a committee, known as the Holyrood rural affairs and islands (RAI) committee, conducted an inquiry into salmon farming, raising serious concerns about “extremely high mortality rates.” The committee’s report also found that the fish farming industry did not have any effective means of addressing the problem of parasitic sea lice infestations.
The committee had concluded Scotland’s marine ecosystem faced “irrecoverable damage” from an expansion in fish farming.
“Given the unnatural conditions, sea lice and diseases run rampant on many Scottish salmon farms. So, while tragic, its unsurprising death rates reached an all-time high over recent years.”
Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality UK
The RAI committee is now conducting follow-up inquiries to check whether any actions have been taken by the fish farm industry to improve conditions following these reports.
“Given the unnatural conditions, sea lice and diseases run rampant on many Scottish salmon farms. So, while tragic, its unsurprising death rates reached an all-time high over recent years. The 2018 committee already recognised these fatal flaws in the farming system and called for urgent action, but rather than effectively tackle these serious and pervasive issues, this latest move suggests that industry representatives would prefer to hide the truth,” Penny said.
Government inspectors recently confirmed that 1,082kg of biomass was removed from the site on the day the footage was taken. This information was voluntarily reported by the farm. However, inspectors said this issue was of no concern to them, describing it as “routine.” The number of fish dying on Scottish fish farms has been increasing, with a record 17 million salmon deaths reported in 2023.
There are similar concerns in BC about the environmental and ecological impact of fish farms. In late June this year, Clayoquot Sound reported that hundreds of dead hake washed ashore near a Cermaq fish farm. Earlier that month, fish biologist Stan Proboszcz also witnessed a mass-die off of salmon at a Grieg fish farm. In 2022, 817,265 wild herring were killed by fish farms in BC. This summer, the federal government announced that all open-net fish farms in BC’s waters have to transition to land-based farming by 2029.
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