Covid measures ‘didn’t affect farmed salmon welfare’ claim Marine Scotland Science (who were not allowed to inspect farms for half of 2020)!

Covid measures ‘didn’t affect farmed salmon welfare’ claim Marine Scotland (who were not allowed to inspect farms for half of 2020)! @marinescotland @sciencedirect @ElsevierVetNews https://t.co/bLZPKOaNOO @ScotlandMowi @rspcaassured @salmon_scottish @scotseafarms @GriegShetland pic.twitter.com/XqLFoULdCt

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) March 22, 2021

Fish Farming Expert reported (22 March 2021):

Read the study in full online here

The study includes:

Scottish Salmon Watch reported in May 2020:

RSPCA suspend salmon farm in-person inspections in favour of WhatsApp, Google Meet & Google Hangout! https://t.co/utN4DXzstt @rspcaassured @RSPCAChris @RachRSPCA @RSPCA_Frontline "Contactless assessments" by mutual agreement on 1 June. "Physical visits are not mandatory" pic.twitter.com/6mYeRw96GH

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) May 30, 2020

"Almost all salmon farms in Scotland are members of the RSPCA assurance scheme & are regularly inspected to check compliance" claims @GreenerScotland https://t.co/d1EDMtFBhz
Yet @rspcaassured suspended on-site salmon farm inspections in March 2020! https://t.co/bLZPKNTcqe pic.twitter.com/oc612XByAL

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) March 23, 2021

Scottish Salmon Watch today (22 March 2021) wrote to Marine Scotland Science criticising their study:

From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 22, 2021 at 2:32 PM
Subject: Criticisms of your paper on farmed salmon welfare during COVID-19 lockdown
To: <meadhbh.moriarty@gov.scot>, <Sandy.Murray@gov.scot>
Cc: <marinescotland@gov.scot>, <directormarinescotland@gov.scot>, <Colin.Moffat@gov.scot>, John D. Armstrong <john.armstrong@gov.scot>

I've just read your paper – "A preliminary assessment of indirect impacts on aquaculture species health and welfare in Scotland during COVID-19 lockdown" – published in Veterinary & Animal Science in March 2021.

Surely you should have told your readers that between late March and late August 2020 there were no on-site inspections of salmon farms, sampling for disease and welfare problems or surveillance photos of farmed salmon taken by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate?

If you look at the FHI 'Case Information' for 2020 'Passive Surveillance Inspections' commenced in late March 2020.

One of the last FHI inspections of a salmon farm featured the following photos of welfare abuse at Mowi's Loch Greshornish salmon farm on 10 March 2020:

An FHI inspection of Mowi's salmon farm at North Shore in Loch Erisort in October 2019 also showed graphic welfare abuse:

The FHI inspection of Mowi's Seaforth salmon farm, for example, on 27 March 2020 took place remotely (i.e. no site visit, sampling of fish for disease and welfare issues or photos taken by inspectors):

"Passive Surveillance Inspections" continued throughout April to August – with the FHI's inspection of Mowi's An Camus salmon farm on 4 August 2020 taking place via the phone rather than an in-person inspection with sampling and photos:

No site visit, sampling or photos were taken in relation to the FHI 'inspection' of The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Ardyne on 21 August 2020:

A 'Passive Surveillance Inspection' of Mowi's Glenfinnan salmon farm took place on 25 August 2020 following the report of 61,188 dead salmon:

It seems that one of the first in-person site inspections since late March 2020 was on 25 August 2020 at Grieg's salmon farm at Corlarach in Loch Dunvegan:

Here's Scottish Salmon Watch's video of mortalities at Grieg in Dunvegan:

Despite this in-person inspection by FHI it seems 'Passive Surveillance Inspections' of salmon farms continued in September 2020:

It appears that after 1 September 2020 in-person site inspections re-commenced. The significance and vital importance of on-site inspections rather than Passive Surveillance Inspections via the telephone cannot be overemphasised. For example, here's an on-site inspection of The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Plocrapol in November 2020:

The omission of in-depth FHI 'Case Information' (including photos, sampling and testing) and the suspension of on-site inspections from late March 2020 to early September 2020 seriously skews the picture and should surely have been referred to in your paper. Your conclusion that there is "no evidence of gross impact on health and welfare, at least for salmon, during the period of intensive lockdown restrictions in Scotland" is therefore seriously flawed. The absence of evidence is simply a function of the absence of data, information and photos garnered via on-site inspections between March and August 2020.

In fact, the latest data posted by the FHI for November and December 2020 (published during 2021) details shocking disease and welfare problems.

Moreover, your reliance on the SSPO's industry reported data on sea lice and mortalities is questionable especially since weekly reporting of lice infestation levels was not made mandatory until March 2021 and mortality data reported by the salmon farming industry contains missing numbers. The SSPO mortality data that is reported as a monthly average – and cumulative mortality over the production cycle is in itself shocking and points to serious welfare abuse.

The utility in on-site inspections (compared to telephone 'inspections' which rely on the veracity of salmon farmers) including the sampling of diseased salmon and photographing of welfare abuse is graphically illustrated by a collection of photos pulled together Scottish Salmon Watch sourced predominantly from FHI 'Case Information' reports: "Photo Dossier of Diseased, Deformed & Abused Scottish Salmon"

In terms of the impact of Covid (and Brexit) on the welfare of Scottish salmon farming it may be several months before the full impacts become known. The relaxation of biomass, chemical and environmental rules by SEPA – as well as the relaxation of surveillance with 'Passive Surveillance Inspections' for half of 2020 – can only put increasing pressure on farmed salmon welfare.

Like the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate, RSPCA Assured (who certify ca. 70% of Scottish salmon farming as 'welfare friendly' in return for over £500,000 per year) suspended on site inspections in March 2020 and introduced "contactless assessments" in June 2020.