RSPCA Sponsored Seal Killing Continues Despite US Ban?

 

 

 

 

The latest version of the RSPCA's farmed salmon standards – published in February 2021 – makes for alarming reading (especially if you're unlucky to be a seal living near a salmon farm). 

 

RSPCA Feb 2021 front cover

 

 

RSPCA Feb 2021 #2

RSPCA Feb 2021 #3

 

 

RSPCA Feb 2021 #4

RSPCA Feb 2021 #5

 

RSPCA Feb 2021 #6

 

 

Here's the RSPCA's seal killing form:

 

RSPCA Feb 2021 #7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Robins of Animal Concern raised the issue of seals being killed at RSPCA Assured salmon farms earlier today (13 May 2021) in a letter to the CEO of the RSPCA Chris Sherwood:

 

From: john@jfrobins.force9.co.uk <john@jfrobins.force9.co.uk>
Sent: 13 May 2021 03:05
To: RSPCA CEO (chris.sherwood@rspca.org.uk) <chris.sherwood@rspca.org.uk>; RSPCA Assured (hello@rspcaassured.org.uk) <hello@rspcaassured.org.uk>
Subject: RSPCA Welfare Standards for Farmed Atlantic Salmon February 2021

FTAO Chris Sherwood  CEO of RSPCA, Clive Brazier, CEO of RSPCA Freedom Foods (trading as RSPCA Assured) and the RSPCA and Freedom Food Directors and Trustees.

Dear Mr Sherwood and Mr Brazier,

I have had no response to the e-mail (copied below) which I sent to you both on  25th March this year. I can only assume that is because you simply cannot defend your position regarding RSPCA endorsement of the cruel, unsustainable, environmentally damaging and wildlife persecuting industry contained within the filthy floating factory fish pharms which are a blight on Scottish coastal waters.

Did you, as I requested, copy my e-mail to your Directors and Trustees? If you did surely some of them could see through your blind support for intensive salmon farming?

Once again I ask you to copy this e-mail to your Directors and Trustees in the hope that someone within the RSPCA can see sense and get the RSPCA out of the stinking fishy mess you have got yourself into.

I’ve just had a quick flick through your updated Welfare Standards for Farmed Atlantic Salmon which you published in February 2021 and in which you acknowledge that salmon farmers can no longer legally kill seals after 1st March 2021. This of course is because the Scottish Government were forced by the US Government to ban the deliberate killing of seals by all salmon farmers in Scotland. The US Government having achieved this at a stroke while the RSPCA and others have been debating the issue with the salmon faming industry for the best part of two decades.

I was therefore somewhat surprised to read the following on page 14 of your current Welfare Standards for Farmed Atlantic Salmon:

“The shooting of seals is against the principles of the RSPCA welfare standards. However, at the present time, it is acknowledged that as a last resort only, i.e. when all available non-lethal deterrents have been effectively deployed and the welfare of the fish is being compromised (i.e. they are being attacked), it may be necessary to use a lethal measure to safeguard the welfare of the fish.”

“The shooting of seals is not permitted, other than in exceptional circumstances (see i box below) and when all required non-lethal deterrents have been effectively deployed (see relevant Standards below), i.e. as a last resort”.

“An ‘exceptional circumstance’ is defined as an unexpected/unforeseen event, such as the unavoidable failure of nets, ADDs/ASDs (Acoustic Deterrent Devices/Acoustic Startle Devices), systems or other equipment used to protect the fish from seals due to extreme weather or human error, and where a seal is found to be in the act of attacking the salmon.”

Can you tell me what I missed in either the Scottish Government announcement that no further licences to shoot seals would be issued to salmon farmers or the US Government announcement that fish imports would be banned from countries which allowed persecution of marine mammals by fishery and aquaculture interests? Unless I have missed something it appears that you are not only continuing to endorse the shooting of seals by RSPCA Assured salmon farmers, you are actual telling those farmers they can break the law protecting seals.

I have only had a quick look through your new Standards but I cannot see anything about farmers keeping seals at a distance from the salmon cages. As I explained in my e-mail of 25th March (copied below, see pars 6 & 7) unless you ensure your approved farms do this you are endorsing a product which does not even meet the legal welfare standards for all animal farming as set out in the Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.

Any chance of a reply this time?

Regards,

John F. Robins,

Animal Concern

 

 

My E-mail of 25th March 2021

RSPCA,

Wilberforce Way,

Southwater,

Horsham,

West Sussex, RH13 9RS

FTAO Chris Sherwood  CEO of RSPCA, Clive Brazier, CEO of RSPCA Freedom Foods (trading as RSPCA Assured) and the RSPCA and Freedom Food Directors and Trustees.

Dear Sirs,

I write concerning RSPCA Assured salmon farmed in Scotland.  I would be grateful if you would forward this e-mail to your Trustees, Board of Directors and any executives working in relevant areas.

For over fifteen years, in my position with Animal Concern and my previous post with Save Our Seals Fund, I tried, very much unsuccessfully, to persuade RSPCA Freedom Foods to insist that RSPCA approved salmon farms be forbidden to shoot seals and instead forced to deploy proper predator exclusion nets to keep seals and other predators well away from the salmon in the net cages.

I also described the seals discussion forum the RSPCA and others entered into with the salmon farming industry as a useless talking shop used by the industry to prevent you taking decisive action to stop them killing seals. I think I was proved right when, after over a decade of you talking with the industry, it instead took action by the US Government to finally stop salmon farmers in Scotland shooting seals. I’m proud to say that when the US Government announced their ban on the import of fish from countries which allow commercial fishery interests to persecute marine mammals they referred to a letter I sent them requesting such a ban.

While this US initiative, campaigned for by ourselves and several other organisations, was successful, the RSPCA seemed content to receive reports from their endorsed fish farms on the numbers of seals shot.  Only today I received copies of a few scraps of information obtained under FOI by my colleague at Scottish Salmon Watch. These showed that in the space of only 5 days in May 2020 one of your endorsed salmon farmers, Scottish Sea Farms, killed 3 seals.  Perhaps you could tell me how many seals in total were killed at RSPCA endorsed salmon farms in 2020?

Forgive me for appearing to blow my own trumpet but I am only trying to make it clear that, after forty plus years campaigning on this issue, I do know a little about what I am talking about. I hope you will take seriously what I am about to ask you.

I was instrumental in having fish welfare recognised in the Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006. Under that Act fish farmers, like their terrestrial colleagues, have a legal duty to protect their stock from the attention of predators. This does not mean simply stopping predators from physically attacking  the fish. It requires farmers to prevent predators from getting close enough to be seen or smelled by the fish thus causing them fear and stress. Shooting seals cannot achieve this and neither can the use of double cage nets which still allow seals to get very close to the fish. What is required are external, properly tensioned and maintained predator exclusion nets to keep seals well away from the caged salmon. 

I must admit that I was wrong about the effect predator proximity has on farmed salmon. A recently published report (linked below) shows that I vastly underestimated the adverse effect this has on the welfare of the salmon.  After reading that report I do not see how the RSPCA can, on fish welfare grounds, endorse any marine salmon farm which does not deploy predator exclusion nets as described above. Either insist your endorsed farms use such nets or, better still, move to closed cycle production in land based tanks.  This will become even more necessary as the harmful effects of many sonic predator scaring devices cause them to be withdrawn or their use made illegal by the Scottish Government in an attempt to belatedly meet the requirements of the USA Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Finally I would appreciate it if you would tell me what you have done to address the horrific problems of salmon welfare at time of slaughter as shown by the video evidence obtained by Animal Equality UK (see the video linked below)? Since that video was published I have seen a statement by another industry whistle blower who claims the cruelty and extreme suffering shown on the Animal Equality UK video is not unique and may be commonplace in other salmon slaughtering facilities.

Salmon farming is a cruel, unsustainable and environmentally damaging industry. It is estimated that between 10 and 20 million salmon die from injury or disease on salmon farms in Scotland each year. Huge numbers of salmon also escape into the wild every year causing more suffering and environmental damage.   

In the last couple of months evidence has come to light of incidents where gannets have become entangled and killed in the top nets of salmon farms. Yet another example of suffering caused by salmon farming.

If you cannot find salmon farmers genuinely worthy of endorsement by the RSPCA I ask you to stop allowing your once good name being used to pedal products cruelly produced in these filthy floating factory farms. 

If, despite the vast array of evidence of cruelty to fish, wildlife exploitation and environmental damage, the RSPCA does decide to continue endorsing salmon farms can I ask you to at least close the doors on any more farms joining your scheme.  Instead of calling a long overdue moratorium on the expansion of salmon farming the Scottish Government is making the huge error of encouraging the industry to rapidly increase output, aiming to double production within 10 years. Salmon farming is already totally unsustainable and the huge volume of salmon in the current system is beyond the handling capacity of the industry thus the massive numbers of mortalities and the inability to slaughter fish humanely.

Massive volumes of wild fish are caught all around the world to be processed into food pellets for farmed fish. This is causing depletion of wild fish stocks, damaging wildlife food chains and causing shortages for human populations reliant on subsistence fishing.

Do not let the RSPCA name be used to expand the market and thereby increase even further the animal suffering and environmental damage inherent in industrial scale salmon production.

Yours faithfully,

John F. Robins,

Animal Concern

Predator related stress: https://www.fishfarmermagazine.com/news/genuswave-gives-salmon-a-fighting-chance-against-sea-lice/  

Animal Equality UK salmon slaughter video:  https://youtu.be/gFH-ws2g5lA

 

 

 

The Ferret reported last month (26 April 2021):

 

 

 

Following the article, a whistleblower contacted Scottish Salmon Watch passing on information about a long-standing Mowi manager shooting a seal with a shotgun!

 

 

 

 

In March 2021, Scottish Salmon Watch published shocking photos of seals killed by salmon farms.

 

Photo #1 Taranaish seal in bin January 2020

Photo #2 Cooke bloody seal eyes popping out Unst December 2018

Photo #3 Dead seal Scottish Salmon Company Miavaig Vuia Mor January 2020

Photo #4 Dead seals in body bags Scottish Salmon Company Miavaig Vuia Mor January 2020

 

 

 

 

 

Last year, Scottish Salmon Watch wrote to the RSPCA asking them to stop certifying farmed salmon as 'welfare-friendly'.

 

Letter to RSPCA re welfare abuse on RSPCA Assured salmon farms 5 February 2020 #1

 

 

 

The Sunday Times revealed in February 2020 that the RSPCA rake in over £500,000 from certifying farmed salmon.

 

Sunday Times 9 Feb 2020 RSPCA newspaper version #1

Sunday Times 9 Feb 2020 RSPCA newspaper version #2

 

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Times reported earlier in February 2020:

 

Sunday Times Scientist hits out RSPCA 2 Feb 2020 Newspaper version #1

Sunday Times Scientist hits out RSPCA 2 Feb 2020 Newspaper version #2

 

 

 

 

 

Back in 2015, the issue of seals being killed by RSPCA Assured salmon farms was raised via a series of protests.

 

Sign #7 RSPCA Assured Seal Killers

 

 

I wrote in November 2015:

 

"Given RSPCA Assured's 'shoot-to-kill' policy on salmon farms, the RSPCA should be renamed the Royal Seal Culling Association!"

 

Sign #7 RSPCA Royal Seal Culling Association

 

 

We delivered a letter to Her Majesty the Queen – as royal patron of the RSPCA – to Buckingham Palace in December 2015.   

 

Money shot #23

 

"As Royal patron of the RSPCA (who certify over 70% of Scottish farmed salmon via the RSPCA Assured scheme which sanctions the killing of seals), you have the blood of dozens if not hundreds of seals on your hands," stated the letter.

 

Nigel Smith photo #2 bloody seal

 

 

Later in December 2015, I protested outside the RSPCA's head office in Horsham with Roc Sandford.  

 

IMG_20151210_120241

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_20151210_122620

 

 

In 2018, George Monbiot lambasted the RSPCA in an article in the Guardian.

 

Monbiot 2018 #1

 

 

 

 

 

In March 2021, George Monbiot attacked the RSPCA once again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you're looking for the RSPCA 's position on killing seals by salmon farms it's recently been deleted.

RSPCA seal page deleted 31 March 2021

 

 

Scottish Salmon Watch have now alerted the US Government to the issue:

 

From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, May 14, 2021 at 6:21 AM
Subject: Seal killing continues in Scotland – sanctioned by the RSPCA
To: Nina Young – NOAA Federal <nina.young@noaa.gov>

Nina,
 
Is NOAA aware that the latest RSPCA farmed salmon standards – which came into force in February 2021 – once again condone killing of seals?:
 
 
Data on actual killing of seals will be difficult to access since it is now illegal and the data is not collected and published by the Scottish Government.
 
However, ca. 70% of salmon farming production in Scotland is accredited via the RSPCA so it seems highly likely that the killing of seals is continuing albeit illegally.
 
Animal Concern and Scottish Salmon Watch have issued a £10,000 reward for information leading to a successful prosecution of a salmon farmer killing a seal illegally:
 
 
And we know via Freedom of Information that even when the killing of seals was legal that there was illegally killing of seals:
 
 
 
The photos we obtained via FOI are truly horrific:
 
 
Can NOAA ask the Scottish Government for information since 31 January 2021 (when the killing of seals by salmon farms was banned) to monitor if the killing of seals is continuing?
 
Does NOAA allow an exemption for the "exceptional circumstances" detailed by the RSPCA?
 
Scottish Salmon Watch is seriously concerned that rogue salmon farmers – and we all know who the worst operators are (read: Scottish Salmon's #1 Seal Killer – Norway's 'Scottish' Sea Farms Named & Shamed!) – are continuing to slaughter seals. 
 
Whilst Grieg Seafood took evasive action via installing anti-predator nets and did not report a single seal killed after 2017, it's clear from the data that Mowi, The Scottish Salmon Company, Loch Duart and Scottish Sea Farms pursued a policy of lethal control and buried the evidence:
 
 
Scottish Sea Farms Tweeted yesterday that their farmed salmon in Loch Spelve are being attacked and disfigured by seals: https://twitter.com/TheGAAIA/status/1392923809859227653
 
And in January 2021, BBC News reported that the salmon farming industry claimed that 500,000 farmed salmon were killed in a twelve month period due to seals:
 
 
It seems clear that the salmon farming lobby, aided and abetted by the Scottish Government and the RSPCA, are preparing the "exceptional" case to justify the continued killing of seals. 
 
In February 2021 – just after the killing of seals was banned by the Scottish Government – the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation said:
 
"Seals are only ever shot as a last resort by farmers protecting their stock. The new figures, published today, show that 79 seals were shot in the 12 months to January 31 2021 which is the highest for seven years. This number reflects the increasingly serious threat seals pose to farm-raised salmon"
 
Tavish Scott, Chief Executive of the SSPO, said: “The Scottish Government has stopped fish farmers taking action to protect the welfare of fish without putting anything else in place. The law is a mess with three conflicting legislations. Farmers don’t know what they are legally permitted to do if a seal gets into a salmon pen."
 
 
 
Scottish Salmon Watch asks NOAA to look into this issue – it seems to me that the trigger-happy salmon farming industry has failed to install expensive anti-predator nets (i.e. not taking all the precautionary measures against seal attacks) and then is killing seals which have entered their farms.  Seals are not to blame.  It is salmon farms who have set up shop n seal nursery areas who are to blame.  This is surely not the definition of "last resort" and not in keeping with the US MMPA. 
 
If we obtain further information on the illegal killing of seals at RSPCA Assured salmon farms, 'organic' salmon farms, ASC-certified salmon farms or "responsibly sourced" salmon farms we will pass it on. 
 
Just last month we heard from a whistleblower who told us about a long-standing manager of a Mowi salmon farm who laughed when he killed a seal with a shotgun:
 
And earlier this month I heard from another whistleblower who told me how on his first day on the job as a young trainee salmon farmer (for another of the big 'Scottish' salmon farming companies) he was instructed to wrap heavy metal chains around the bodies of slaughtered seals so their bodies were never recovered.
 
Scottish salmon farming is a sector which makes your blood boil. 
 
Thanks,
 
Don Staniford
 
Director, Scottish Salmon Watch
 
 
 

Photo Seal in bin 20181212_094449 M801-18 (1)

 

 

 

 

 

The RSPCA are now hiring for a new 'Senior Scientific Officer' in charge of salmon farming policy and strategy.

 

 

 

 

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