Rumsfeldian Fish Philosophy – Things We Know We Know, Things We Now Know We Don’t Know & Things We Don’t Know We Don’t Know About ‘Scottish’ Salmon!

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As a fellow Donald, I've always admired Donald Rumsfeld's philosophy if not his politics (as is the case with another Donald – and I'm not talkiing about a duck).  

 

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He was clearly wrong about Iraq's 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' but he was right to question the different facets of our knowledge. 

 

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Rumsfeld's reference to knowns and unknowns springs to mind when thinking about our current knowledge – or more appositely, our lack of knowledge – about salmon farming in Scotland.   And, as it happens, Scottish salmon's very own weapon of mass destruction in the shape of the toxic neonicotinoid Imidacloprid may have been lurking in a research laboratory at Ardtoe since 2013. 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon the general public may be afforded the right to know a few more unknowns following a ruling by the Scottish Information Commissioner.   By 7 June 2021, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has been ordered to disclose "commercially confidential" information on Benchmark's 'CleanTreat' water purification system which may or may not include damning information on the banned neonicotinoid Imidacloprid (concealed by the trade name 'Ectosan' and now BMK08). 

 

 

As far as Benchmark's Norwegian owners Ferd AS (controlled by tobacco billionaire Johan Andresen) are concerned it may prove that there's no smoke without fire.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in April 2020, under the cloak of Coronavirus, SEPA opened the floodates to the use of more toxic chemicals on salmon farms in Scotland.

 

 

 

 

 

Yet here we are now just into May 2021 and SEPA has still not published data on the use of toxic chemicals at salmon farms in Scotland beyond September 2020.   The latest information available to the public is via the 'Scotland's Aquaculture' database – just click on the CSV Export function and you can download an Excel spreadsheet detailing the use of Azamethiphos, Deltamethrin, Emamectin benzoate, Cypermethrin and Teflubenzuron since 2002.

 

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In November 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch wrote to the Norwegian Government (one of the largest investors in 'Scottish' salmon farming via the Government Pension Fund) and cited examples of multiple chemical use at salmon farms across Scotland (sourced from data published by SEPA) – including:

 

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Even then, if you read the smallprint of the Scotland's Aquaculture web-site, the data does NOT contain information on the use of toxic chemicals such as the lobster-killing Deltamethrin and the lethal organophosphate Azamethiphos via wellboats or any data at all on the use of antibiotics, the carcinogenic chemical Formaldehyde (Formalin) and kelp-killing Hydrogen peroxide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A glimpse of the toxic nature of salmon farming can be found via Freedom of Information disclosures detailing chemical contamination of pharmed salmon.   The Ferret (which manages to ferret out more unknowns than most newspapers) reported in August 2020:

 

Ferret Emamectin Aug 2020

 

Ferret Emamectin Aug 2020 #1

Ferret Emamectin Aug 2020 #2

Ferret Emamectin Aug 2020 #3

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This was not the first time The Scottish Salmon Company has been caught out overdosing on Emamectin benzoate in Loch Roag.  The Daily Mail reported in March 2017:

 

Daily Mail 2017

 

 

Scottish Salmon Watch reported in March 2017. 

SSW-Chemicals

Documents obtained from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) via Freedom of Information (FOI) reveal that the Scottish Salmon Company breached safety levels for Emamectin in the flesh of Scottish salmon three times in 2016 at two salmon farms  in Loch Roag on the Isle of Lewis (Vacasay and Taranaish).  "Cause of residue was overdose" reads one of the documents.

VMD on Emamectin March 2017 names of the two SSC sites Vacasay & Taranaish #1

 

Thanks to photographer Corin Smith the public did get to see shocking video footage from Loch Roag with media coverage broadcast by BBC Panorama, BBC's 'The One Show' and Netflix's global smash 'Seaspiracy'.

 

 

 

 

'Seaspiracy' also featured stomach-churning footage of disease-ridden salmon at Mowi's RSPCA Assured and ASC-certified salmon farm at Gorsten in Loch Linnhe.

 

 

 

Watch video footage shot by Scottish Salmon Watch during the same night as Seaspiracy visited:

 

 

 

 

Scottish Salmon Watch also cited 'unsatisfactory' benthic monitoring reports – evidence of waste pollution under salmon farms – in our letter to the Norwegian Government in November 2020 (sourced from data published via 'Scotland's Aquaculture).

 

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The Guardian lifted the lid on this toxic issue back in 2013.

 

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Sadly in January 2021, SEPA announced a further relaxing of the rules meaning that there are now more unknown unknowns to contend with.

 

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SEPA has a mitigating excuse for failing to post data in a timely fashion as cyber-hackers stole 4,000 files on Xmas Eve – so if you're familiar with the far recesses of the Dark Web you may know more than the rest of us. 

 

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Thankfully, the public don't need to search the murkiest depths of the Dark Web to find more 'knowns' in terms of hard data on mortalities, diseases, lice infestation, escapes, seals killed and welfare abuse.   Last month (23 March 2021), Compassion in World Farming and OneKind published damning video footage shot inside salmon farms between September and December 2020. 

 

 

 

 

Sadly, the public knows much less about welfare abuse on salmon farms due to censorship and collusion by the Government agencies charged with policing fish welfare. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We do know more from the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation – the lobby group representing the 99% foreign-owned salmon farming industry in Scotland – since they post information on lice infestation and mortality rates (even if the data is sanitized in terms of monthly averages – you have to take your farmed salmon data with a pinch of salt as it were).

 

 

 

 

Norwegian-owned Mowi put SEPA to shame in terms of the timely reporting of data (although they don't volunteer information on the use of toxic chemicals).   In fact, Mowi has already posted data on lice infestation and mortality for the week ending 11 April 2021 whilst SEPA has still not posted October 2020 data.  

 

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Sadly, SEPA cravenly kowtowed to lobbying from the SSPO back in 2013 and data on mortality numbers is not published as it would be "commercially damaging" to salmon farmers. 

 

 

 

 

Scottish Salmon Watch has estimated, from mortality data published via various government sources, that mortalities on salmon farms in Scotland could exceed 40 million per year (that's ca. 50% mortality from hatch as ova to 'catch' when harvested out of sea cages).

 

 

 

 

There are more known knowns in Norway, however, as data on mortality numbers is published annually.   This is an interesting paradox given that Norwegian salmoney controls ca. 80% of 'Scottish' salmon farming. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following a FOI ruling in 2015, the public now know much more about the killing of seals by salmon farms.   In February 2021, Scottish Salmon Watch published data on over 1,000 seals killed by salmon farms in Scotland with trigger-happy Scottish Sea Farms leading the way. 

 

 

 

Data Analysis of 1000 Seals Killed by Salmon Farms (2011 to 2020) #1

 

 

And thanks to various FOI disclosures – including shocking photos disclosed in March 2021 – the public can see the shocking nature of the legal and illegal killing of seals by salmon farms in Scotland.

 

 

 

Thanks to the power of Freedom of Information, here's some of the now knowns about the lethal nature of salmon farming.   Here's some of the body bags of dead seals the industry wanted to bury from public view. 

 

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

 

 

Given the gruesome nature of salmon farming it is not surprising that lawyers for the industry desperately tried (unsuccessfully as it turned out) to prevent photos of diseased Scottish salmon from being disclosed to the public. 

 

 

 

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There are plenty more cases of unknowns being revealed by FOI disclosures and via political campaigning.   The public now know which salmon farms have mass escapes as it is not only law to report escapes but the information is made public – thanks to a landmark ruling by the Scottish Information Commissioner in 2006 following a complaint by salmon hero Bruce Sandison.

 

FOI Bruce

Image result for bruce sandison

 

 

Now the public know not only how many farmed salmon have escaped but also how many have been recaptured (not a lot as it turns out)!

 

 

 

And thanks to whistleblowers a few more unknowns have become known.

 

 

 

 

It was not until November 2017, following another ruling by the Scottish Information Commissioner, that Salmon & Trout Conservation were finally in a position to publish site specific sea lice data  – including 62 salmon farms breaching lice limits (51 of whom were members of the Scottish Salmon Polluters Organisation):

 

Sp lice list #1 Sp lice list #2

FOI act

 

 

In 2018, the salmon farming industry were forced to publish damning data on mortalities.

 

 

 

The National 7 Feb 2018 #1

 

 

In 2019, another ruling from the Scottish Information Commissioner flushed out more knowns about where 'Scottish' salmon were imported from as ova (eggs).

 

 

 

 

Further FOI disclosures have laid bare the "rotten edifice" of salmon farming in Scotland which is now more Norwegian than Scottish. 

 

 

 

 

So in overall terms, there are now more known knowns but still there are many unknowns.  Let's take weekly sea lice reporting, for example, which was forced upon the salmon farming industry by the Scottish Parliament's salmon farming inquiry in 2018.

 

 

 

 

Fish Farming Expert reported just this week (29 April 2021):

 

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However, when Loch Duart's managing director Mark Warrington refers to an "independent audit" what he fails to mention is the fact that the West Sutherland Fisheries Trust – the 'independent' body conducting the "independent audit" – is far from independent of Loch Duart (a company who were forced to drop their 'Sustainable' claims in an embarrassing ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority in 2019). 

 

Ferret 5 April 2019 #1

 

Photo of Badcall doctored with stickers

 

 

You don't need to be an award-winning investigative journalist to discover – just by Googling 'West Sutherland Fisheries Trust' – that Loch Duart funds (along with another salmon farming company, Scottish Sea Farms) West Sutherland Fisheries Trust and is part of their governance structure via Loch Duart's former Managing Director Nick Joy (and I am sure there are other connections which make a mockery of the "independent audit" claim). 

 

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A quick look at Loch Duart's records filed with Companies House shows Nick Joy only resigned as a Director of Loch Duart in 2016.

 

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In a submission to the Scottish Parliament's salmon farming inquiry in April 2018, Nick Joy described himself as Chairman of the West Sutherland Fisheries Trust and a 'Non-Executive Director of Loch Duart'.

 

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So when Loch Duart claim that the West Sutherland Fisheries Trust is performing an "independent audit" they are talking, like Loch Duart's 'Sustainable' salmon claims, complete and utter bullshit.

 

Bullshit meter 3

Bullshit meter

 

 

 

 

 

Find out more about Loch Duart via:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to an annual fish farm production survey published every year by the Scottish Government we know many interesting facts about the 'Scottish' salmon farming industry.  Did you know, for example, that just six companies (all foreign owned) account for 99% of salmon farming production in Scotland?  Did you know that 90% of the ova (eggs) used to grow 'Scottish' salmon are imported from overseas (Norway, Iceland and Ireland)?  Well now you know. 

 

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As do readers of the Mail On Sunday. 

 

 

 

 

And readers of The Ferret know more than most people.

 

 

 

 

Sometimes it is dangerous to know too much and you're threatened with legal action.   In June 2019, lawyers representing The Scottish Salmon Company's controlling shareholder Yuriy Lopatynskyy threatened legal action against Scottish Salmon Watch for publishing information via 'Scottish Scamon'.   Here's the legal threat served in June 2019:

 

Yuriy legal threat letter from Woods Whur 30 May 2019

 

 

 

 

Here's the highly dangerous information on The Scottish Salmon Company and the five other foreign-owned companies who together control 99% of 'Scottish' salmon – posted online via 'Scottish Scamon'.

 

Blog Nov 2020 #9 new 99% collage

 

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Scamon Noir poster with Gustav

 

 

 

More known knowns were collated via 'Scottish Salmon Farming 101'.

 

Scottish Salmon Farming 101 #1 cover

 

 

And via '25 Years of Scottish Salmon Farming Shame'.

 

25 Years of Scottish Salmon Shame #1 collage

 

 

 

Tracking what's going on inside the murky world of salmon farming is a full-time job for "extreme activists" all over the world.

 

 

 

 

Alexandra Morton's new book – "Not On My Watch" – is an eye-opener and packs into its 363 pages so many known knowns, unknown knowns and now knowns that Donald Rumsfeld would love it. 

 

 

 

 

And even though there are still a raft of unknown unknowns lurking inside salmon farms, there is more than enough highly dangerous and toxic material out there for Booker prize-winning authors like Richard Flanagan to handle.  

 

 

 

 

I'll leave the last word to another Donald.

 

 

 

Read more via:

Greenwashing Scottish Salmon – New Report Out In May 2021!

World Exclusive: "Extreme Activists" Use Extremely Damaging Data Published by the Government (sourced from Salmon Farmers)

The Ferret: "£10,000 reward for information on illegal seal killing after police asked to investigate deaths"

 

 

 

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