2023 – The Year ‘Zombie’ Salmon Died (& Chris Packham Cried “Stop Greenwashing”)!

Media highlights #1

 

Leafing through press cuttings over the last twelve months is like reading an obituary for Scottish salmon.  2023 will be looked back on as the year that salmon farming in Scotland died a cruel death – killed by the video camera, drones and covert surveillance:

 

Media highlights #2

 

Media highlights #3

 

Media highlights #4

 

 

 

 

 

"Dead in the water" reported The Daily Record (30 May).  "Damming images of diseased salmon and grisly evidence of ‘gruesome suffering’ in the Scottish fish farm which supplies M&S raises questions about future of our biggest food export".   

 

Media #1

 

 

 

 

 

An Instagram post by Seaspiracy – featuring the video footage shot in Loch Linnhe – racked up over 13,000 likes and a staggering 411,000 views:

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Editorial Comment published by The Daily Record (30 May) pulled no punches:

 

Daily Record 30 May 2023 Editorial #3 in full

 

 

Watch video footage shot at the RSPCA Assured salmon farm operated by M&S supplier Scottish Sea Farms (Norskott Havbruk) at Shuna Point in Loch Linnhe online here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The front page of Scotland On Sunday (9 July) turned up the heat on RSPCA Assured Scottish salmon:

 

Scotland On Sunday front page 9 July 2023 #1

 

Scotland On Sunday front page 9 July 2023 #2

 

Read Scotland On Sunday's web version – with exclusive video – online here

Scotland On Sunday front page 9 July 2023 online video exclusive #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Mail broke a world exclusive in late July – sourced from covert surveillance inside Bakkafrost's Portree salmon farm off the Isle of Skye: 

 

Media #4
  

 

The online news article featured video footage of ‘zombie’ salmon shot at Bakkafrost’s RSPCA Assured Portree salmon farm off the Isle of Skye in late June 2023:

 

 

 

 

The video footage – which featured the RSPCA Assured logo as a watermark – went viral with news coverage via Newsweek, Mail Online, The Mirror, The Sun, The Express, Metro, The Press & Journal and The Daily Star:

 

Media #3

 

The video footage and news story of ‘zombie’ Scottish salmon was also published via Dagbladet, E24 and SOL in Norway; VP in the Faroe Islands; Bild, Trend Magazin and Focus in Germany; Il Salvagente, Dissapore, Renovatio 21, Tele Ambiente, La Stampa, Dagospia, Ohga and Il Giornale in Italy; Informer and Kurir in Russia; Vienna Online in Austria; Bang Premier in France; The Kassan Times in South Africa; RTL in Hungary; A1 in Romania; Noticia de Manha and Extra in Brazil; AM 730 in Hong Kong, The Irish Sun in Ireland and by WSTPOST, DNYUZ, Latestly, Compsmag, Reddit and Undercurrent News.

 

 

 

 

 

The Daily Record reported (16 August) on Cooke Aquaculture – certified as ‘organic’ by the Soil Association – polluting Loch Fyne via salmon farm wastes dumped into Kinglas Water:

 

Media #5

 

 

Daily Record 16 August 2023 #4 Tweet

 

 

 

The Herald reported (26 August) on rising mortalities on salmon farms across Scotland with an exclusive report by journalist Vicky Allan who joined a covert investigation of Bakkafrost's operations off the Isle of Mull: 

 

 

 

Herald 26 August 2023 #1

Herald 26 August 2023 #2

 

 

 

 

 

Here's drone footage of Bakkafrost's Geasgill salmon farm:

 

 

 

 

Further drone footage shot in August shows mass mortalities – believed to be sourced from Mowi's RSPCA Assured salmon farm at Poll Na Gille – offloaded at Kilmelford Pier (where Fisheries Minister Mairi Gougeon unveiled the Scottish Government's 'Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture' just weeks earlier):

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sun reported (11 September) on a BBC Countryfile broadcast on salmon farming which featured shocking video footage shot inside 'organic' and 'responsible' salmon farms:

 

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Wild Fish reported (13 September):

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Animal Equality reported (14 September):

 

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The Observer reported (17 September):

 

Observer 17 September 2023 newspaper version

 

 

 

 

 

Viva posted photos and videos online:

 

Media #11

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Times reported (21 September):

 

Times kayak vigilante 21 Sept 2023 #1

 

 

 

Welt Am Sonntag (World On Sunday) followed up the news story (24 September):

 

Welt Am Sonntag 24 September 2023 newspaper version

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Mail reported (24 September):

 

Sunday Mail 24 September 2023 Newspaper version better

 

  

 

 

 

 

The Herald and Yahoo News reported (4 October):

 

Herald 4 Oct 2023

 

Herald 5 October 2023 #2 newspaper

 

 

 

The Scotsman reported (5 October):

 

Scotsman 5 October 2023 #2 newspaper

 

 

 

The Sunday Mail reported (15 October):

 

Sunday Mail Packham 15 October 2023 Newspaper via PressReader

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Packham reposted this Tweet to his followers racking up over 15,000 views:

 

Media #12

 

 

GEO broadcast a podcast (17 October) featuring 'zombie' salmon: 

 

Media #14

 

The podcast included from Don Staniford:

“It’s a horror show. The fish are deformed – there’s spine deformities. There’s death crowns – that’s where the lice burrow into the head of the farmed salmon. There might be zombie salmon swimming around with cuts, lesions, bits of flesh missing, fin damage. You’ve got mortalities building up belly up in the water on the top of the cage but also at the bottom. This is a mortality nightmare. It’s something out of a horror film – this is Frankenfish.”

 

 

 

 

The Mail On Sunday reported (20 October): 

 

 

 

“Norway’s $almafia has ridden roughshod over Scotland’s environmental, welfare and safety laws for far too long,” said Don Staniford, Director of $camon $cotland via a media backgrounder (22 October 2023).  “In the absence of government enforcement and intervention, covert surveillance and citizen science is vital to ground-truth the greenwash of RSPCA Assured, the Soil Association and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.  Fighting back against SLAPPs is the cornerstone of democracy and public accountability.  Norwegian-owned companies like Norskott Havbruk (Scottish Sea Farms) and Mowi cannot be allowed to privatise the public commons and threaten free speech.”

 

2 pack criminal free speech

 

 

Intrafish reported (23 October 2023): 

 

 

 

Salmon Business reported (23 October 2023): 

 

 

 

 

On Halloween (31 October), the 'End Salmon Farming' digivan tour visited the horror story that is RSPCA Assured in Horsham: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day (1 November), the shills at the $oil A$$ociation were interviewed as protestors campaigned against the certification of Scottish salmon as 'organic':

 

 

 

 

The Times reported (12 November):

 

Times RSPCA

 

 

A Tweet by Feargal Sharkey racked up over 28,000 views: 

 

 

 

 

The Ferret reported (15 November):

 

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The Ferret reported (16 November):

 

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The Sunday Mail reported (19 November 2023):

 

Sunday Mail RSPCA kill off zombie fish farms 19 Nov 2023

 

 

 

 

In Norway, the $almafia was having a bad day at the office with Norwegian TV coverage exposing the industry's horrific welfare abuse: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shocking video footage of salmon infested with lice at a Mowi-owned salmon farm in Iceland went viral in early November with reports in Norway's Financial Times (Dagens Naringsliv) and the UK's Guardian newspaper. 

 

 

 

Mowi Iceland #1

 

Mowi Iceland #2

 

Mowi Iceland #3

 

 

 

Per Erik-Schulze from Friends of the Earth Norway Tweeted (1 November):

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Mail reported (26 November):

 

Sunday Mail 26 Nov 2023 newspaper better version whole article

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Mail reported (26 November 2023): 

 

 

 

 

Intrafish reported (27 November 2023): 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salmon Business reported (29 November 2023): 

 

Sustainable Blue #1

 

 

 

 

CBC News reported (29 November 2023) on how Sustainable Blue's bubble has well and truly burst:

 

Sustainable Blue #6

Sustainable Blue #7

 

 

 

 

 

 

In late November 2023, an anonymous phone call from a whistleblower detailed how a feed barge had sunk at a Bakkafrost salmon farm in Loch Fyne. 

 

 

 

Fish Farming Expert reported (30 November 2023):

 

Bakkafrost feed barge Fyne Nov 2023 #1

Bakkafrost feed barge Fyne Nov 2023 #2

 

 

 

The UK Anti-SLAPP conference in London (28 November) featured the issue of salmon farming:

 

 

 

 

 

E24 reported (2 December 2023):

 

 

 

 

 

The Herald On Sunday reported (3 December 2023): 

 

 

Herald On Sunday 3 Dec 2023 Newspaper version

 

 

 

The Telegraph reported (7 December 2023) (also reported via Yahoo News):

 

Telegraph 7 December 2023 #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Guardian reported (11 December 2023): 

 

 

 

 

Chris Packham’s ‘big intervention’ was highlighted by Monica Lennon MSP in the Scottish Parliament (12 December): 

 

 

 

 

Free Salmon Tweeted (12 December): 

 

 

 

The Tasmanian Devil: Tassal is Dead in the Warming Water – drone footage from the Bob Brown Foundation from Don Staniford on Vimeo.

 

 Private Eye reported (16 December): 

 

 

 

 

ABC News reported (15 December 2023): 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Herald On Sunday reported (17 December):

 

Herald On Sunday 17 Dec 2023 on Packham & morts newspaper in full

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scotland On Sunday reported (17 December 2023):

 

Scotland On Sunday 17 Dec 2023 #1

Scotland On Sunday 17 Dec 2023 #2

Scotland On Sunday 17 Dec 2023 #3

Scotland On Sunday 17 Dec 2023 #4

Scotland On Sunday 17 Dec 2023 #5
Scotland On Sunday 17 Dec 2023 #6

 

 

 

 

 

On 12 December, Abolish Salmon Farming and $camon $cotland filed complaints against Bakkafrost with Police Scotland's Wildlife Crime Unit, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Highland Council, Marine Scotland, Scottish Ministers, the RSPCA, RSPCA Assured, the SSPCA and Folketrygdfondet (largest shareholder in Bakkafrost).  Similar complaints were filed with Salmon Scotland, Waitrose, the Co-op and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council on 17 December 2023.  The complaints – citing video evidence of biosecurity and welfare failures at Bakkafrost's RSPCA Assured and ASC-certified salmon farm at West Strome in Loch Carron – included:

 

Complaint Dec 2023 #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Intrafish reported (19 December 2023):

 

Norway blog #1

 

 

Unfortunately, the Intrafish article above is in Norwegian and is stuck behind a paywall but a Google Translation of other Norwegian articles helps shine a light on Norway's jellyfish nightmare.  iLaks reported (18 December):

 

Norway blog #12

Norway blog #13

Norway blog #14

Norway blog #15

Norway blog #16

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Mail reported (24 December 2023): 

 

 

Sunday Mail 24 Dec 2023 Newspaper version

 

 

Looking back on 2023, I think it will be seen as a watershed moment: the year that salmon farming died in the warming waters of Scotland. A deadly cocktail of climate change, swarms of microscopic jellyfish, toxic algal blooms and gill diseases is killing off Scottish salmon in their millions.

 

 

 

 

It's painfully clear from covert surveillance inside salmon farms across the Highlands & Islands that salmon farming is dead in the warming waters of Scotland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Media Statement, 2 January 2024:

 

"Salmon farming is dead in the warming waters of Scotland," said Don Staniford, Director of $camon $cotland, looking back on Scottish salmon's annus horribilis.  "If salmon farmers wished the New Year would bring a glimmer of hope they are utterly wrong.  In the first few days of 2024, Paramount and Netflix have hit the $almafia with a double whammy which would floor both Tyson Fury and Ken Buchanan.  Campaigners around Scotland are mobilizing forces to end the welfare nightmare and environmental pariah that is Scottish salmon farming.  2023 will be looked back on as a watershed moment when salmon farming in Scotland suffocated to death – at the cruel hands of global warming, toxic algal blooms, microscopic jellyfish, lice infestation, gill diseases and mass mortalities.  And thanks to covert surveillance and leaked videos from whistleblowers the public were able to watch the horrors via the BBC, Newsweek, The Sun, MailOnline, The Mirror, The Sunday Mail, The Herald, The Express, The Scotsman, The Times, The Ferret, The Press & Journal and The Daily Record.  Chief shill Tavish Scott must be wishing he had stayed in his job with Scottish Rugby rather than leaping aboard the Titantic-sized disaster that is Scottish salmon.  Shareholders back in Norway are counting their mounting losses and crying into the Norwegian fjords."

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