The $almafia's Laundromat: How the ASC & Soil Association Greenwash Disease-Ridden Scottish Salmon in Return for Loads of $almoney!

Faced with escalating mass mortalities, rising toxic chemical use, breaches in lice infestation and endemic disease problems you may naively think that the certification of Scottish salmon as 'responsible' and 'organic' was dead in the water. Yet the Aquaculture Stewardship Council and the Soil Association have both been raking in whopping certification fees to greenwash toxic salmon farming – so much so that perhaps as much as half the farmed salmon production in Scotland is now certified as 'responsible' and/or 'organic'. Not to mention the fact that ALL salmon farming companies in Scotland (Mowi, Bakkafrost, Scottish Sea Farms, Cooke Aquaculture, Kames, Loch Duart, Wester Ross and Organic Sea Harvest) are now certified as 'welfare friendly' via RSPCA Assured.

A quick look at the ASC's website shows the scale of the $almafia's money-grabbing scheme which owes a debt to Madoff, Ponzi and Capone – as of 13 April 2023 there are now 35 salmon farms in Scotland certified as 'responsible' (29 Mowi sites; 5 Scottish Sea Farms and 1 Bakkafrost – and 30 are sea cage sites with 5 freshwater sites):

Freshly greenwashed salmon farms include three Scottish Sea Farms sites in Loch Nevis (certified on 16 January 2023); Bakkafrost's Sgeir Dughall salmon farm in Loch Torridon (certified on 13 March 2023); Mowi's Torridon salmon farm (certified on 9 November 2022); and Mowi's Scalpay salmon farm (certified on 9 March 2023). As poster children for 'responsible' salmon farming it is a sick joke with ASC-certified salmon farms ranked as some of Scotland's worst in terms of death rates.

In addition to the ASC's greenwashing scheme, the Soil Association has certified 16 sea cage salmon farms as 'organic' (7 Mowi, 7 Cooke Aquaculture and 2 Organic Sea Harvest). Here's seven Mowi sea cage salmon farms certified by the Soil Association as 'organic' (as of 13 April 2023):

A further seven Cooke sea cage salmon farms are certified as 'organic' by the Soil Association (as of 13 April 2023):

A further two Organic Sea Harvest sea cage salmon farms are certified as 'organic' by the Soil Association (as of 13 April 2023):

Fish Farming Expert reported earlier this month (3 April 2023):

$camon $cotland reported in January 2023:

A closer look at specific sites shows that the worst salmon farm – as judged by cumulative mortality rate (the % fish which died during the harvest cycle at sea) – was RSPCA Assured Scottish Sea Farms (exclusive supplier to M&S) in Loch Nevis with a staggering 64% mortality (i.e. two out of every three farmed salmon dying):

Fish Farming Expert reported in January 2023:

$camon $cotland reported in December 2022:

New mortality data published by Salmon Scotland for October 2022 illustrates the scale of deaths and disease plaguing salmon farms across Scotland – with 74% mortality reported at the Nevis B salmon farm and 43% mortality reported at the Nevis A salmon farm operated by RSPCA Assured Scottish Sea Farms (exclusive supplier to M&S) in Loch Nevis on the West coast of Scotland.

Shockingly high mortality in many Scottish salmon farms in September. How can this industry claim to have high welfare standards? pic.twitter.com/RFb64LanAh

— John Aitchison (@JohnAitchison1) December 1, 2022

How on earth Mowi's Carradale salmon farm in Kilbrannan Sound (a site plagued by mass mortalities and mass escapes in 2020 and in 2015) passed through the ASC's audit process – it was certified on 9 September 2022 – is beyond a bad joke.

Earlier this week (11 April 2023), $camon $cotland exposed how Mowi's ASC-certified salmon farms at Colonsay and Greanem (Grey Horse Channel Outer) suffered mass escapes in June 2022 due to corporate negligence and equipment failures.

$camon $cotland wrote to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (10 April 2023) asking that Mowi's certification for their Colonsay, Greanem/Grey Horse Channel Outer and Carradale salmon farms be cancelled due to breaches of escapes:

Read the letter to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council in full online here

Despite record-high mortalities on salmon farms across Scotland, breaches of lice limits and breaches of biosecurity in terms of both escapes and mortality disposal, the ASC is opening the floodgates to yet more salmon farms with 20 more sites in the certification pipeline (including many of the worst salmon farms in Scotland):

Here's photos of Bakkafrost's disease-ridden Maaey salmon farm:

And here's photos from Bakkafrost's Strondoir Bay salmon farm:

And here's video footage of welfare abuse at Bakkafrost's West Strome salmon farm:

Only four salmon farms are currently listed by the ASC as having their "Certification Not Awarded":

A previously reported 'Cancelation' has been exorcised from the ASC's website. As Scottish Salmon Watch reported in January 2022:

Certification of four Mowi salmon farms via the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) has been cancelled. "Carradale was cancelled due to an escape event; Cairidh due to administrative reasons; Maol Ban and Sconser Quarry because they were projected to exceed the permitted antibiotic treatments number of the Salmon Standard," explained the ASC's Jack Cutforth in an email dated 17 December 2021.

In October 2022, $camon $cotland wrote to the ASC and RSPCA Assured demanding an end to the greenwashing of Scottish salmon.

$camon $cotland's letter to the RSPCA and ASC included:

In addition to ASC-certification and Soil Association 'organic' certification, RSPCA certifies all salmon farming companies in Scotland. "All of Scotland’s salmon farmers are allied to RSPCA Assured and are included in the directory apart from Skye farmer Organic Sea Harvest, which is certified by the Soil Association and covered by the Association’s own welfare standards," reported Fish Farming Expert in October 2021:

However, it now seems Organic Sea Harvest is accredited via RSPCA Assured – here's Organic Sea Harvest's website (as of 13 April 2023):

According to the latest Scottish Government survey on fish farms published in October 2022, there were 213 sea cage salmon farms registered in 2021 but 73 were inactive meaning that there's really only 140 active sites. Delve down deeper into the data and just 87 sea cage salmon farms account for 87% of salmon farming production:

You can do the Maths for yourself but if 87 sea cage salmon farms are producing the vast majority of Scottish farmed salmon – and 30 sea cage salmon farms are certified as 'responsible' via the ASC with a further 16 sea cage salmon farms certified by the Soil Association (some sites are certified by both the ASC and Soil Association) – then perhaps as much as half of all Scottish farmed salmon is already being greenwashed by the $almafia's laundromat in addition to ALL salmon farming companies being welfare-washed via RSPCA Assured.