Mass mortalities at ASC-certified Mowi!

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 an email sent earlier today (13 December 2021) to the ASC:

From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 13, 2021 at 12:51 PM
Subject: ASC support for 20%+ mortality?
To: Jack Cutforth <Jack.Cutforth@asc-aqua.org>, Bertrand Charron <Bertrand.Charron@asc-aqua.org>
Cc: Chris Ninnes <chris.ninnes@asc-aqua.org>

In December 2020, the CEO of the ASC (Chris Ninnes – copied in here) ruled out ASC-certification on salmon farms with more than 10% mortality. Chris's policy pledge on BBC Countryfile is online via https://twitter.com/TheGAAIA/status/1336243637500469249 and a blog is online via https://donstaniford.com/asc-certified-scottish-salmon-dead-in-the-water-/

If the ASC is maintaining a policy of not certifying salmon farms with a mortality rate of over 10% then surely it would rule out Mowi's ASC-certified sites at Harport, Rum, Marulaig Bay and Stulaigh as well as Mowi's salmon farms currently under 'initial audit' at Camas Glas, Loch Alsh, Groatay and Ardintoul (details via https://www.asc-aqua.org/find-a-farm/)?

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):

Secondly, can you please provide details on why Mowi's certification of salmon farms at Carradale North, Cairidh, Maol Ban and Sconser Quarry (detailed via https://www.asc-aqua.org/find-a-farm/) was cancelled?

Was this due to unacceptably high mortalities?

Finally, what's the ASC's policy on antibiotics?

Data disclosed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency reveals huge doses of Florfenicol by Mowi at Loch Duich (another site under 'initial audit' by the ASC) and at Ardgour in Loch Linnhe (a site already certified by the ASC); and the use of Oxytetracycline by Mowi's salmon farms at Ardgour in Loch Linnhe, Camus Glas, Invasion Bay and MacLeans Nose (Mowi sites under 'initial audit') and Mowi's Gorsten salmon farm (already ASC-certified): Named & Shamed: Increasing Antibiotic Use by Salmon Pharms in Scotland – just say no to drugs, say no to Scottish salmon!

A swift reply would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Don Staniford

Director, Scottish Salmon Watch

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

77% of Scottish salmon farms fail to meet the ASC's standard for certification – that's almost four out of every five sea sites exceeding 10% mortality! https://t.co/tPyBxvBlwJ
ASC-certified Scottish salmon is dead in the water!@ASC_aqua @Salmoskius @SSPOsays @ScotlandMowi pic.twitter.com/EInM56nTsM

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 7, 2020

Only one out of 28 salmon farms harvested @rspcaassured Mowi over the last year would have passed the @ASC_aqua mortality standard of 10% – the average mortality rate was a staggering 24.4% with 39% death rate at the aptly named Muck salmon farm @ScotlandMowi @MowiScotlandLtd pic.twitter.com/465g30A5KQ

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 7, 2020

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council's commitment that 10%+ mortality will rule out certification @ASC_aqua would rule out @ScotlandMowi in Loch Ainort (Cairidh) & Linnhe (Gorsten) – not to mention most other salmon farms in Scotland! @SSPOsays @joe_crowley https://t.co/zBalDqlabc pic.twitter.com/MifaIuRr1E

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 7, 2020

Chris Ninnes claims that @ASC_aqua standards demand less than 10% mortality on salmon farms @BBCCountryfile @joe_crowley https://t.co/C51W8wp9cz
So why is Glenfinnan salmon farm @ScotlandMowi with a mortality rate of 20% & 61,188 morts in one week in August still certified? pic.twitter.com/UtYmlg24Z8

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 7, 2020

Anyone for ASC-certified Mowi salmon sourced from @rspcaassured Stulaigh in Loch Eynort? @ASC_aqua @ScotlandMowi https://t.co/kU4qj5KTYs
Disease-ridden with a mortality rate of 36.8% – that's over a third of the fish in the sea cages dying a cruel death! https://t.co/u9Fk2kOkxz pic.twitter.com/khdvYbclTJ

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 8, 2020

I raised the issue of mass mortalities on Mowi salmon farms with the ASC in December 2020:

From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 7, 2020 at 2:06 PM
Subject: Glenfinnan certification now rescinded?
To: Bertrand Charron <Bertrand.Charron@asc-aqua.org>, Info <info@asc-aqua.org>, Chris Ninnes <chris.ninnes@asc-aqua.org>

Scottish Salmon Watch welcomes the commitment by the ASC to refusing certification for salmon farms where the mortality rate is more than 10% (as reported by Chris on BBC Countryfile last night: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000q6r1/countryfile-black-mountains).

In view of Mowi's mortality rate at 20% at their ASC-certified Glenfinnan salmon farm, when will the ASC be rescinding certification?

Data on mortalities at Glenfinnan salmon farm were reported in August 2020 by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate – details via: https://donstaniford.com/dead-in-the-water-new-data-reveals-mass-mortalities-disease-on-scottish-salmon-farms-/

BBC Countryfile 6 Dec 2020 #7 ASC Chris Ninnes Glenfinnan morts.jpg

BBC Countryfile 6 Dec 2020 #7 ASC Chris Ninnes Glenfinnan morts #2.jpg

Details via: https://twitter.com/TheGAAIA/status/1335946055419047936

Thanks,

Don Staniford

Director, Scottish Salmon Watch

———- Forwarded message ———
From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 7, 2020 at 2:41 PM
Subject: Re: Glenfinnan certification now rescinded?
To: Bertrand Charron <Bertrand.Charron@asc-aqua.org>, Info <info@asc-aqua.org>, Chris Ninnes <chris.ninnes@asc-aqua.org>

Scottish Salmon Watch also notes that other Mowi salmon farms with an appalling track record of disease and mass mortalities are currently undergoing an initial audit. Note via https://www.asc-aqua.org/find-a-farm/

List of Scottish salmon farms Dec 2020 #1

List of Scottish salmon farms Dec 2020 #2

For example, Mowi's Cairidh salmon farm was the source of the roadspill on the A86 in September 2019: https://donstaniford.com/virus-ridden-mowi-revealed-as-source-of-a86-roadspill-in-september/

Data published by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate in August 2019 shows that Mowi's Cairidh salmon farm in Loch Ainort reported 11,433 mortalities in August 2019 out of a reported stock of 18,155 (although the Case Information also refers to 206,000 fish transferred from Mowi's Rum salmon farm): https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0054/00549126.pdf (start at p103).

BBC Countryfile 6 Dec 2020 #7 ASC Chris Ninnes Cairidh morts #2.jpg

Such information strongly suggests that mortality rates at Mowi's Cairidh salmon farm (especially if you account for mortalities at Rum when the fish were on site there) were far in excess of 10%. In fact, mortality data reported by the SSPO in October 2019 details 18.3% mortality at Cairdih and 17.8% at Gorsten (another Mowi salmon farm under initial assessment by the ASC): https://www.scottishsalmon.co.uk/reports

BBC Countryfile 6 Dec 2020 #7 ASC Chris Ninnes SSPO mort rates.jpg

Suffice to say that Scottish Salmon Watch encourages the ASC to review the mortality data published by the SSPO as well as Mowi in particular. If the ASC adopts a 10% mortality threshold (Scottish Salmon Watch would advocate much lower) for certification then Mowi's Gorsten salmon farm and Mowi's Cairidh salmon farm would be ruled out.

Best fishes,

Don

From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 8, 2020 at 8:11 AM
Subject: Mowi's Stulaigh – 36.8% mortality with welfare abuse
To: Chris Ninnes <chris.ninnes@asc-aqua.org>, Bertrand Charron <Bertrand.Charron@asc-aqua.org>, Info <info@asc-aqua.org>

How can the ASC seriously consider certifying Mowi's Stulaigh salmon farm?

https://twitter.com/TheGAAIA/status/1336221363661647878

Best fishes,

Don

The ASC replied:

From: Bertrand Charron <Bertrand.Charron@asc-aqua.org>
Date: Tue, Dec 8, 2020 at 2:30 PM
Subject: RE: Glenfinnan certification now rescinded?
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>

Hi Don,

Thank you for your interest in, and support of, the ASC !

Please find below elements of reply to your question:

è « In view of Mowi's mortality rate at 20% at their ASC-certified Glenfinnan salmon farm, when will the ASC be rescinding certification? »

Firstly, it is important to stress that in order to maintain its independent position the ASC is not the one which ‘grants’ or ‘rescinds’ certification. Certificates are issued by an independent conformity assessment body (CAB). The CAB, or certifier, carries out the assessment of the farms and decides whether they meet the necessary requirements to become ASC certified, and also carries out ongoing ‘surveillance audits’ during the certification period to ensure ongoing compliance. This practice is referred to as third party certification and it is widely recognised as the highest level of independent assessment. ASC manages the Programme and is the ‘standard setter’; and all audit reports are transparently made available to the public via the ASC website. ASC thus does not generally comment on the specific performance of individual farms.

Regarding your comment regarding specific mortality rates, please do note that the ASC Salmon Standard sets several requirements, notably as per indicators 5.1.5, 5.1.6 and 5.1.7 [see excerpt below]. The ‘10%’ maximum mortality rate in a farm’s most recent production cycle refers to “viral disease-related mortality”* [5.1.5] and not to overall mortalities if other non-viral causes have been explained/specified. The latter could include predators, bacterial, algal-bloom, stress –related etc. mortalities. [* “Viral disease-related mortality count shall include unspecified and unexplained mortality as it could be related to viral disease.”]

Furthermore, and in all cases, ASC-certified salmon farms have to demonstrate to auditors (as per 5.1.7) that they have a “farm-specific mortalities reduction programme that includes defined annual targets for reductions in mortalities and reductions in unexplained mortalities”.

Should you want to learn more about the ASC Salmon Standard and its precise/specific requirements, I would kindly suggest that you read in full the document which can be found here: https://www.asc-aqua.org/what-we-do/our-standards/farm-standards/the-salmon-standard/

Best regards,

Bertrand Charron

Science & Sustainability Communications Manager

E: Bertrand.Charron@asc-aqua.org

Web: www.asc-aqua.org

On Twitter: @ASC_aqua

Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC)

HNK, Arthur van Schendelstraat 650 |3511 MJ Utrecht, The Netherlands

In March 2021, Netflix's 'Seaspiracy' lifted the lid on Mowi's ASC-certified farmed salmon:

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

Watch video footage when Scottish Salmon Watch visited Mowi's Gorsten salmon farm joined by the producers of 'Seaspiracy':

Jolted by Netflix's @seaspiracy there's been a spate of fishy advice. "If you do choose farmed salmon, look for products certified by @ASC_aqua" says @MashedHQ https://t.co/jkeufWsvoe
Ooops – the salmon farm exposed in Seaspiracy is certified by the ASC & @rspcaassured ! pic.twitter.com/u6ueKgUqsI

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) April 1, 2021

In August 2021, Scottish Salmon Watch reported:

Seaspiracy's video shocker on @rspcaassured Scottish salmon @MowiScotlandLtd is approaching 1 million views – and has over 36,000 likes! @seaspiracy https://t.co/I80mzoym6j
Please boycott Scottish salmon! #Boycott #Scottish #Salmon pic.twitter.com/iagrnIMjFM

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) August 4, 2021

Scottish Salmon Watch reported in June 2021:

Anyone for Norwegian Salmon Marindaded in Banned Neonicotinoid Imidacloprid (don't worry it's ASC-approved)?! https://t.co/fn6TWu9qo4 #BMK08 #Ectosan #D10AquaticBlast @WeAreBenchmark @FerdOwner @ASC_aqua
Is toxic Norwegian salmon reaching consumers? @seafoodnorway @REMA1000 pic.twitter.com/BpytMop4U2

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) June 17, 2021

Scottish Salmon Watch reported in June 2020:

Anyone for "responsibly certified" Scottish salmon doused in carcinogenic chemical, battered to death, ridden with infectious diseases, served with a side of slaughtered seal & lashings of lice? https://t.co/eY2gaWV3eD @ASC_aqua @MowiScotlandLtd @FergusEwingMSP @rspcaassured pic.twitter.com/lljHE7UyBn

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) June 3, 2020

Scottish Salmon Watch reported in March 2021:

Mowi move goalposts on @ASC_aqua certification – first they pledged 100% ASC certification by 2020, then moved it to 2025 & now they expand to @ourGSSI recognised standards including @BAP_Aquaculture @GLOBALGAP & @BordIascMhara https://t.co/sGg4fT1MIR @MowiScotlandLtd #Greenwash pic.twitter.com/t0WEhnHPdO

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) March 26, 2021

Scottish Salmon Watch reported in January 2020:

Disease-Ridden Mowi Revealed as Source of A86 Roadspill in September https://t.co/CL9rlx33qB @MowiScotlandLtd @marinescotland @APHAgovuk @GogarServices @trafficscotland Mowi breached biosecurity & @SSPOsays Code of Good Practice in moving virus-laden fish from the Isle of Rum pic.twitter.com/hCW4N7nTKK

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 5, 2020