Far from Fine: Mowi Recaptures Less Than 1% of Escapees in Scotland!

REVEALED: Mowi recaptures less than 1% of escapees – 3,061 recovered out of 344,778 (only 4 out of 51 escape incidents led to any fish recaptured)! @MowiScotlandLtd https://t.co/TTKj4q2dgM How many of the 48,834 escapees at Carradale have been recaptured? @marinescotland #Mowi pic.twitter.com/pW8KG1eVh8

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) August 28, 2020

Greenpeace goes to court to close down Mowi salmon farm after escape in Chile https://t.co/I9WvJUnztc What action is @fms_scotland @marinescotland @AST_Salmon @ScotLINK @SalmonTroutCons @ArranCoast @strathearnrose @scotgp taking against @MowiScotlandLtd for escapes in Scotland?

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) October 1, 2020

If you're bored this weekend you could spend some time number-crunching data published by the Scottish Government via 'Scotland's Aquaculture' where 3.5 million escapees in 350 incidents have been reported since 1995 (since the numbers of escapees is listed as 'unknown' in many cases the true figure could be over 4 million).

Click on 'CSV Export' and an Excel spreadsheet can be downloaded detailing 350 reported escape incidents from fish farms in Scotland (the data set only dates back to 1995) here's the top 50 largest escapes:

If you focus the data search on 'Mowi' (via 'Show/Hide Advanced Filters') you can see that out of 344,778 escapees reported in 51 incidents the number of escaped farmed fish recovered is listed as 3,061 (even those with a basic grasp of Maths will know that is less than 1%):

Number-crunching the whole data set published by the Scottish Government gives a recapture rate of less than 3% for escapes from fish farms since 1995. However, the recapture rate for sea cage salmon farms is much worse with only 3,998 escapees recaptured out of 2.87 million (that's 0.1%!!!). Here's the only cases since 1995 where escapes from salmon in sea cages have been recovered:

Of the top 25 escapes since 1995 from sea cage salmon farms only three cases reported the successful recovery of fish!

The recovery of escapees from freshwater fish farms is better with 50,141 fish reported as recaptured out of 781,748 escapees since 1995 – but that's still only 6.4% with most of the recaptured fish coming in one incident in Loch Grey in 2005.

Download data in full online here

According to the data published by the Scottish Government from returns submitted by the salmon farming companies themselves here's the Top 20 largest escapes (not yet including last week's escape in Kilbrannan Sound) from Mowi.

Last week's escape of 48,834 is Mowi's second largest reported escape in Scotland.

The escapees have been reported washed up on beaches with warnings to anglers across the area.

Grogport beach awash with dead salmon….. looks like Carradale North fish farm definitely had some escapees…… @obantimes @MowiScotlandLtd @Aileen_A103028 pic.twitter.com/9JWD8rdHv6

— Katie Robertson (@KtpRobertson) August 22, 2020

"Anglers across Ayrshire have been warned to report any obviously farmed salmon they find to @marinescotland. The farmed fish are identifiable because of deformed or shortened features such as their fins, gill covers & snouts" https://t.co/7QDaZpZSHC @arranbanner @ArranCoast

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) August 28, 2020

The Sunday Post reported (26 August 2020) that dolphins may have busy recapturing escapees.

A press statement issued by Mowi (25 August 2020) made no mention of any recapture efforts:

According to the Scottish Government's web-page 'Fish Farm Escapes', "authorisation for the emergency use of nets to affect recapture must be applied for":

Here's the link to another Scottish Government web-page detailing the authorisation for the emergency use of nets to affect recapture:

It does not seem as if Mowi or Ayrshire Fisheries Trust have mounted a recapture effort – with the latter issuing a reporting form on 26 August 2020 "that should be completed and returned along with scale samples, photos, location etc for anyone catching an escaped farmed salmon in any Forth of Clyde connected river".

Mowi's recent escape of 48,834 salmon is a wee big bigger than the entire rod catch of wild salmon reported for the whole of Scotland in 2019!

When did @MowiScotlandLtd apply to @GreenerScotland for "authorisation for the emergency use of nets to affect recapture"? @marinescotland @fms_scotland There's 48,834 escapees to catch – that's more than Scotland's entire rod catch of wild salmon for 2019 (reported as 47,515)! pic.twitter.com/tQDIMngkYL

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) August 28, 2020

An "ecological disaster" says MSP – what is @GreenerScotland @marinescotland doing to force @MowiScotlandLtd to recapture the 49,000 escapees? @FergusEwingMSP @strathearnrose @KateForbesMSP @FionaHyslop @SP_ECCLR @scotgp @scottishlabour @claudiabeamish https://t.co/NeHb3xtpKo

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) August 26, 2020

Scottish Salmon Watch is seeking clarification from the Scottish Government on their recapture policy. In 2002, the Scottish Executive reported:

In 2008, the Scottish Government reported:

Guidance issued by Marine Scotland in October 2018 included:

Recapture of escapees is government policy in Chile where fines are handed out if recapture rates are less than 10% and in Norway where recapture nets appears to be the norm.

The journal Aquaculture Environment Interactions reported in 2011:

The study concluded:

The biggest escape from Mowi in Scotland was reported earlier this year in January when 73,684 farmed salmon escaped at Colonsay.

The Fish Site reported (20 January 2020):

It seems that Mowi salmon farms are not built to handle stormy weather (which as anyone who has visited Scotland knows is a common occurrence)!

Mowi has only been operating at Carradale in the Kilbrannan Sound since 2010 but has already had two mass escapes.

And in addition to the 31,000 fish which died last week at Carradale another 300,000 died at the same site in 2018 after being flayed alive and battered to death in the 'Beast from the East'.

Here's what Mowi's @rspcaassured salmon looked like after 300,000 died in the Beast from the East in 2018 at their Carradale farm (the same site hit yesterday by Storm Ellen) https://t.co/hyztwncvhO Skinless Scottish salmon anyone? @MowiScotlandLtd @sainsburys @LidlGB @AldiUK pic.twitter.com/xjf3JM20jG

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) August 21, 2020

The Sunday Mail reported in June 2018 via "Gutted – 300,000 salmon are killed as storm batters fish farm":

In Chile, Mowi was recently fined $6.6 million for an escape of 690,000 farmed salmon in 2018.

Salmon Business reported in June 2019:

Fish Farmer reported in 2013:

In Scotland, despite the recapture rate of escapees being well below 5% let alone 10% it is believed that there has never been a fine for an escape.

Scottish Salmon Watch believes that financial incentives are urgently required to reduce escapes but fines as in Chile and rewards for recapturing escapees as in Norway do not appear to be on the agenda in Scotland. It is not even clear if Mowi, Marine Scotland or wild fish agencies have mounted a recapture effort.

Following the recent escape of farmed fish from the Salmon farm at Carradale, we are asking all anglers who capture a farmed fish to report it here: https://t.co/GTaVvgzy71. We would also like any fish caught in the area, incl. wild, to have scale samples taken. Details in form.

— Fisheries Management Scotland (@fms_scotland) August 26, 2020

Instead of recapturing Mowi's 49,000 escapes it appears that some in the wild fish sector are more interested in raking in money from the salmon farming industry and "liaising with the salmon farming industry".

Today's Sunday Times: "Scottish government-backed salmon study lures industry funding" @SundayTimesScot https://t.co/VwFkupJ2S6 @AST_Salmon @SSPOsays @SalmonTroutCons @TheSoundOfJura @strathearnrose @MowiScotlandLtd @fms_scotland @marinescotland @JulieHL @HamishMacdonell pic.twitter.com/tw5hssWpk8

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) August 23, 2020

So how much money is @SSPOsays @MowiScotlandLtd @scotseafarms @salmon_scottish @GriegShetland paying to @AST_Salmon @fms_scotland @marinescotland @strathearnrose ? @HamishMacdonell claimed back in January @salmonfarming1 that no £££££s were coming from industry https://t.co/EvxrvE5c9i pic.twitter.com/PWDSzPHvgg

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) August 23, 2020

Whilst Mowi leaks salmon (not to mention untreated effluent, pathogens, lice, viruses and infectious diseases) like sieves, executives are laughing all the way to the bank.

Mowi's money men rake in million$ as tens of million$ of farmed $almon die a cruel death https://t.co/2ivoCyccKX Ben Hadfield @MowiScotlandLtd is fast catching up with Steve Austin coining in a cool $1 million in 2019 #Salmoney #Salmonopoly #Salmafia @IntraFishNorge pic.twitter.com/QuYumDLUCa

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) March 26, 2020

In March 2020, Intrafish revealed that the head of Mowi Scotland (Ben Hadfield) earned a whopping $1 million in 2019!

Scottish Salmon Watch today (28 August 2020) wrote to Scottish Ministers repeating calls for hefty fines, rescinded licences for repeat offenders like Mowi and fines for highly paid executives.

When is @GreenerScotland going to implement the 2018 recommendation of "appropriate sanctions" for escapes @SP_RECcttee which noted "strict penalties" in #Norway (such as fines & prison)? @MowiScotlandLtd @EmmaHarperMSP @maureenSNP @Angus4FalkirkE @scotgp @ScotLabForum @ScotParl pic.twitter.com/srhueC5uut

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) August 28, 2020

The Scottish Parliament's Rural Economy & Connectivity Committee recommended in November 2018 that "appropriate sanctions should be developed and introduced in Scotland" in relation to escapes from salmon farms:

In March 2018, the Scottish Parliament's 'Report on the Environmental Impacts of Salmon Farming' included:

A Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum report published in 2010 included: