ASC-Certified/Audited Mass Mortalities Pile Up at Lousy Mowi & Scottish Sea Farms!

EXPOSED: Over 100,000 dead farmed salmon @scotseafarms in one month at Toyness in Orkney @marinescotland – surely @ASC_aqua "farmed responsibly" certification is dead in the water? @Acoura_UK @lloydsregister @The_Orcadian @LeroySeafood @Folketrygdfond https://t.co/sl7E4vmN5y pic.twitter.com/XoH5hkCsqu

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 11, 2022

Mass mortalities at salmon farms already certified as "responsibly farmed" by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and at sites currently being audited for ASC-certification shows how ASC certification of Scottish salmon is dead in the water.

'Mortality Event Reports' published last month by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate (data up to early November 2021) reveal the shocking state of weekly mortality rates at ASC-certified and ASC-audited salmon farms operated by Norwegian giants Mowi and Scottish Sea Farms:

Scottish Sea Farms currently has two salmon farms being audited for ASC certification – Westerbister and Toyness in Orkney – with the former reporting 82,941 mortalities via seven 'Mortality Event Reports' filed with the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate in 2021 and Toyness reporting 39,113 mortalities via three 'Mortality Event Reports' in 2021:

However, the scale of mortalities at Scottish Sea Farms in Toyness is much more than officially reported to the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate. 'Case Information' published by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate last week (6 January 2022) details 102,146 mortalities in a four week week period (Weeks 39 to 42: i.e. 27 September to 24 October 2021) at ASC-audited Toyness salmon farm operated by Norwegian-owned Scottish Sea Farms (Norskott Havbruk) as reported by an inspection dated 26 October 2021. 'Heart failure', 'impaired respiration', infestation rates of 3-4 lice per fish sampled, epitheliocysts (associated with Chlamydia), Amoebic Gill Disease, Complex Gill Issues, hepatic necrosis and salmon gill poxvirus were cited in the Fish Health Inspectorate's report (Cases 20210431-20210458; pp 49-71):

Note that the missing mortality data for Week 39 is 27,400:

From: <Neil.Purvis@gov.scot>
Date: Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 11:02 AM
Subject: RE: Missing data?
To: <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>

Hello Don

The information associated with week 39 is – Wk39: 27,400 (7.11%).

Thanks,

Neil

Neil Purvis
Marine Scotland – Science
Scottish Government | Marine Laboratory, PO Box 101| 375, Victoria Road | Aberdeen AB11 9DB
Tel: +44 (0)131 244 3287
S/B: +44 (0)131 244 2500
Mob:+44 (0)777 5818 281
Fax: +44 (0)1224 295620
e: neil.purvis@gov.scot
w: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/marinescotland

'Case Information' for Mowi's ASC-certified salmon farm off the Isle of Rum – published by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate on 6 January 2022 (Cases 20210390-20210430: p129-135) details shocking levels of mass mortalities with over 160,000 morts reported in a four week period from 13 September to 10 October 2021:

EXPOSED: Mowi's ASC-certified salmon farm off the Isle of Rum experienced 160,000 morts with anaemic "fish bleeding out during lice counts" in a four week period in Sept/Oct 2021 @marinescotland – how can @ASC_aqua still certify @MowiScotlandLtd as "farmed responsibly"? pic.twitter.com/GIaw6leVuh

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 11, 2022

Here's the 'Mortality Event Reports' published by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate for Mowi's ASC-certified Rum salmon farm:

Here's photos from a Scottish Government Fish Health Inspectorate site visit to Mowi's ASC-certified salmon farm off the Isle of Rum in July 2019:

Sea Lice data published online by the Scottish Government show high lice counts at ASC-audited Toyness and Westerbister (Scottish Sea Farms):

Lice infestation is also rampant at various ASC-certified and ASC-audited salmon farms operated by Mowi (according to data published by the Scottish Government) – including ASC-certified Loch Harport salmon farm which is also certified as 'organic' by the Soil Association and ASC-certified Rum:

Here's the largest 'Mortality Event Reports' at ASC-certified and ASC-audited salmon farms in Scotland since data was publicly made available by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate in January 2017:

Here's video footage of disease-ridden mass mortalities at Mowi's ASC-certified Gorsten salmon farm (as broadcast by Netflix's 'Seaspiracy'):

Norwegian salmon giant Mowi has reacted to Netflix's 'Seaspiracy' by publishing videos claiming to show healthy farmed salmon at their @rspcaassured @ASC_aqua salmon farm in Loch Linnhe which featured in @seaspiracy @ScotlandMowi @SSPOsays @iamalitabrizi https://t.co/DXJ6gnAUgl pic.twitter.com/Xf0W4GGlQg

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) April 16, 2021

Scottish Salmon Watch reported last month:

Exposed: Certification of 'responsibly' farmed @MowiScotlandLtd via the Aquaculture Stewardship Council @ASC_aqua permits mortality rates at salmon farms in excess of 36% (not to mention the use of cancer-causing chemicals & antibiotics)! https://t.co/HsXs18bIo6 @rspcaassured pic.twitter.com/XR0vxDDfrQ

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 13, 2021

Here's mortality data published by Salmon Scotland (download via https://www.salmonscotland.co.uk/reports) which blows out the water ASC certification for a raft of Mowi salmon farms due to mortality rates well above 10%:

Moreover, the recent mortality rate in October 2021 at Caolas a Deas West, Caolas a Deas East, Greanem and Grey Horse Channel raise red flags (cummulative mortality data will not be available until harvest but the data suggests a mortality rate well above the ASC's 10% threshold):

I Tweeted in December 2020:

Watch Chris Ninnes, CEO of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, on @BBCCountryfile hammer the nail in the coffin of Scottish salmon by demanding less than 10% mortality on @ASC_aqua certified farms – 77% of salmon farms cannot meet the mortality standard! @SSPOsays @ScotlandMowi pic.twitter.com/TZzuKoIXWB

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 8, 2020

You can find out which salmon farms in Scotland are already ASC-certified and which sites are currently being audited (as well as those whose ASC certification has been cancelled) online here

Caveat Emptor – beware of @ASC_aqua certified salmon marketed as "farmed responsibly". Is this a case of deceptive marketing & false advertising? @ASA_UK @NTSscamsteam @DefraGovUK @ClientEarth @sainsburys @Tesco @LidlGB @AldiUK @ScotlandSalmon https://t.co/N9MwDaN0kQ pic.twitter.com/k58n0EBVpl

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 11, 2022