50 Million Cleaner Fish Die Each Year on Norwegian Salmon Farms - how many millions die on Norwegian-owned salmon farms in Scotland (& Ireland)?

50+ Million Cleaner Fish Die Each Year on Norwegian Salmon Farms – how many millions die on Norwegian-owned salmon farms in Scotland (& Ireland)? @DefraGovUK @APHAgovuk @scotgov @ScotGovNetZero @marinescotland @fiskeridir @NFdep @InfoMattilsynet @Sciencenorwayno @ScotlandSalmon pic.twitter.com/UbcFhIeldv

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) February 4, 2022

Scamon Scotland today (4 February 2022) urged the UK Government and Scottish Government to stop turning a blind eye to welfare laws in relation to 'cleaner fish' (wrasse and lumpfish) used on salmon farms across Scotland. A letter to George Eustace as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs demands site specific data on mortalities of wrasse and lumpfish on salmon farms as well as welfare inspections to monitor welfare abuse as legislated via the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 (Section 19: Unnecessary Suffering and Section 24: Ensuring Welfare of Animals).

Welfare abuse of cleaner fish on salmon farms is not just a problem in the 'Scottish' industry (ca. 80% of salmon farming in Scotland is controlled by Norwegian salmoney including the Norwegian Government who is the primary or secondary shareholder in Mowi, Scottish Sea Farms (via SalMar and Leroy), The Scottish Salmon Company and Grieg Seafood). Science Norway reported in January 2020:

The report cited above is available in Norwegian online here

Norway's Financial Times (Dagens Naringsliv) reported in December 2019 that 150,000 cleaner fish died every day on salmon farms in Norway with 50-60 million fish dying each year:

Science Norway reported in February 2020:

The Mattilsynet (Norwegian Food Safety Authority) report cited above is available in Norwegian online here

Here's another report on cleaner fish (in Norwegian) published on 20 February 2020:

A scientific paper published in the journal Aquaculture in November 2020 – by the same Norwegian research team – reiterated the extremely high mortality data reporting 57% mortality in wrasse and 27% in lumpfish on salmon farms:

The Norwegian research and data on cleaner fish mortalities and welfare abuse inside salmon farms contrasts with the lack of data for salmon farming in Scotland – especially incongruous since ca. 80% of 'Scottish' salmon farming is controlled by Norwegian companies and the Norwegian Government (who is the primary or secondary shareholder in Mowi, Scottish Sea Farms via co-owners SalMar and Leroy, Grieg Seafood and The Scottish Salmon Company):

Did you know that the Norwegian Government's Pension Fund (derived from Norway's oil revenues) is the largest or 2nd largest shareholder in companies which account for 80% of 'Scottish' salmon farming? @Folketrygdfond @MowiScotlandLtd @salmon_scottish https://t.co/4P1m3g2CvT pic.twitter.com/Sl6bFlcwaK

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) November 30, 2020

On Tuesday (1 February 2022), Scamon Scotland wrote to Scottish Ministers asking for a public register on cleaner fish mortalities:

Scottish Ministers must establish a public register of shipments of cleaner fish; report monthly mortalities & test for infectious diseases on salmon farms https://t.co/faHC5W6D8n
Scottish salmon’s dirty trade in cleaner fish must stop now! @ScotlandSalmon @scotgov @scotgp pic.twitter.com/gxGAumIsgP

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) February 1, 2022

Every year 50 million cleaner fish die on Norwegian fish farms @Sciencenorwayno @InfoMattilsynet https://t.co/3W3WsbzSiI
How many millions die on Scottish salmon farms? @MairiGougeon @scotgov @ScotGovNetZero @ScotlandSalmon @MowiScotlandLtd @salmon_scottish @scotseafarms @scotgp

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) February 1, 2022

Scottish Salmon Watch (renamed Scamon Scotland on 1 February 2022) revealed last month that salmon farms in Scotland had imported over 275,000 wild caught wrasse from Northern Ireland in 2020 and 2021.

Why is JJ ONeill in Dunloy permitted @scotgov @daera_ni @DefraGovUK to export 275,678 wrasse from Northern Ireland to salmon farms in Scotland? @MowiScotlandLtd @kamesfishfarm https://t.co/0CFJz9EkPO @salmonwatchire @NSFAS_Ireland @sliabhaliag @AfloatMagazine @nifpo @anifpo pic.twitter.com/K9F4aTHYsU

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 14, 2022

The same Freedom of Information (FOI) disclosure from the Scottish Government in January 2022 revealed that 7.2 million farmed wrasse were exported from Mowi's Macrihanish 'larval rearing unit' in Argyll to Tor Gunnar Otterlei (Skjerneset fisk AS) in Norway.

Why did Norway permit 7.2 million wrasse to be imported from @MowiScotlandLtd to Tor Gunnar Otterlei in Averoy, Norway (Skjerneset fisk AS) in August & September 2021? @NFdep @fiskeridir @InfoMattilsynet @EFTAsecretariat @kldep @miljodir @VKMmatogmiljo @NRKno @marinescotland pic.twitter.com/bqvSl4PGGO

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 14, 2022

Further trade data disclosed by the Scottish Government via FOI in January 2022 revealed that Otter Ferry in Argyll imported 36 litres (no numbers were provided) of lumpsucker ova (eggs) from Norway in 2020 and 2021:

Inside Scottish Salmon Feedlots reported in March 2021:

"So sad. You don't need to be an animal rights activist to know this is wrong. Cleaner fish are Scotland's salmon farm shame and a stain on our reputation. There is perhaps no other issue in open cage salmon farming that summarises all that is wrong with it. The use of one sentient animal as a disposable treatment, to solve the problems created by intensive factory farming of another sentient animal. Simply because they are cheaper to use than mechanised treatments.

Corin Smith, who captured the footage and has spent many hundreds of hours in the water at salmon farms said,

"The more time you spend around lumpfish in particular the more you realise just what a special little fish they are. I try to keep an emotional distance when I'm doing this kind of filming, but these little blue blobs constantly pester you, stare at themeselves in the mirror of my face mask, crowd the camera and generally want to have a good time with you. It's not possible to see them as a mindless organism. In the cold light of day, when you think about what the salmon farming industry is doing here, plundering wild stocks by the million, with no care for the impact in that ecosystem, taking the fish and using them as throw away treatments in a barren feedlot, with no care or attention for them there, then they call it "innovation", you realise just how lost this industry is. Spend time with lumpfish and you realise very quickly they are just as alive and sentient as your dog or cat."

"The salmon farming industry has made it clear it will not consider ending the use of clearner fish on salmon farms for any reason," concluded Inside Scottish Salmon Feedlots who since 2018 has published damning video evidence of welfare abuse on salmon farms across Scotland along with Scottish Salmon Watch. "The only way to end this is for people to stop buying farmed Scottish salmon. If the equivalent was happening on land, it would be ended overnight."

Watch the video from Inside Scottish Salmon Feedlots online here

Watch a compilation of covert video footage shot inside salmon farms since 2018 online here

In November 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch filmed dead wrasse and lumpfish piled into a skip at The Scottish Salmon Company's processing plant at Toward near Dunoon in Argyll:

Dead lumpfish were piled along with farmed salmon at a processing plant operated by Scottish Sea Farms at South Shian near Oban when Scottish Salmon Watch visited in September 2018:

When Scottish Salmon Watch lifted the lid on the Billy Bowie skip at The Scottish Salmon Company's Quarry Point salmon farm in September 2018 the scale of cleaner fish losses was clearly evident:

Dead bodies of cleaner fish – both wrasse and lumpfish – littered a Billy Bowie skip at Mowi's Loch Torridon salmon farm when Scottish Salmon Watch visited in September 2020:

When Scottish Salmon Watch visited Mowi's aptly-named 'Bay of the Dead Heads' salmon farm in July 2019 we found lumpfish lying dead and dying on the surface of the cages:

When Scottish Salmon Watch visited Mowi's Poll na Gille salmon farm in July 2021 we once again saw dead cleaner fish littering the surface of the cages – and captured video footage of what seemed to be lumpfish eating not lice but the flesh of freshly dead farmed salmon!

Cleaner Fish – Dead in the Water at Lice-Infested @rspcaassured Mowi Scotland! https://t.co/ixqUarQb2I @MowiScotlandLtd @SRey_Planellas @fishfarmermag @scotseafarms @csar_ace @onekindtweet @APHAgovuk @SSPCA_Kirsteen #Boycott #Dirty #LiceInfested #Scottish #Salmon pic.twitter.com/ih9h9TdVTX

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) July 27, 2021