2023's Silent Sting for Scottish Salmon: Like A Cancer Grows Into the Warming Waters of 2024!

2023 will be seen as a watershed moment: the year salmon farming died in the warming waters of Scotland. A deadly cocktail of climate change, swarms of microscopic jellyfish, toxic algal blooms & gill diseases is killing off Scottish salmon in their millions! @ScotlandSalmon pic.twitter.com/TTFUJtXGfg

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 22, 2023

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.

This is Scottish salmon's 'Silent Sting' which $camon $cotland reported on back in October.

Beyond Vicky Allan at The Herald (the only journalist who bothered to visit salmon farms during 2023 to see for themselves the true horrors lurking on the West coast of Scotland) – the UK press has largely ignored the unfolding disaster with stunned silence. All the key elements of the story – including facts, data and analysis – was detailed by $camon $cotland in a media backgrounder published in October:

Increases in mortalities on salmon farms have been correlated with rising water temperatures. “At salmon farms, a strong link between milder winter temperatures, disease and increased fish mortality has been identified,” reported a ‘Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership’ paper co-authored by Marine Scotland Science and the Institute of Aquaculture in Stirling published in November 2022. “We have statistical evidence of an existing association of salmon mortality with milder winters and evidence of the emergence of amoebic gill disease in UK waters in association with warm summers and persistence with mild winters.”

$camon $cotland reported on 4 October:

$camon $cotland reported on 20 October:

Here's video footage of mass mortalities at Bakkafrost's West Strome salmon farm in Loch Carron (one of the sites above ravaged by jellyfish):

Salmon Scotland publishes mortality data on a monthly basis – here's data for September as published in November detailing 10 cases where jellyfish are cited:

Here's mortality data for October as published in December (data for November is expected to be published in early January 2024) detailed six cases – all at Bakkafrost – where jellyfish were cited:

Here's video footage of mass mortalities at Bakkafrost's Portree salmon farm:

As The Herald reported last week (17 December), October 2023 is the worst month on record for mortalities:

It's another worst to add to the list of worsts on salmon farm mortalities. Is Chris Packham right to call for a moratorium? https://t.co/YVopAEgyRu

— Vicky Allan (@vicky_allan) December 17, 2023

Jellyfish are often blamed for the current mortality records. But FHI data rarely mentions – perhaps because they are just one factor impacting gill health rather than cause of death. Salmon Scotland report mentions more pic.twitter.com/8pe1WXwiG5

— Vicky Allan (@vicky_allan) December 17, 2023

Data on mortalities was published by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate on 4 December – including the following 'Mortality Event Reports' citing jellyfish: