Anyone for ASC-Certified Scottish Salmon Doused in Carcinogenic Formaldehyde?

Mowi announced in a press release last week (29 May 2020):

The timing could have been better – a few days earlier a petition calling for a ban on the use of Formaldehyde on salmon farms in Loch Lochy and other lochs was launched.

The Ferret reported (24 May 2020):

Read more via:

Sunday National: "Revealed: The 10 Scottish lochs polluted by fish farm chemicals"

REVEALED: Carcinogenic Chemical Formaldehyde Flooding Scottish Lochs

Mowi's press release (29 May 2020) ended with:

Here's the six Mowi salmon farms already certified or in assessment by the ASC:

In July 2019, Scottish Salmon Watch exposed the use of carcinogenic Formaldehyde at Mowi's salmon farm in Loch Arkaig (a site "in assessment" by the ASC).

The Sunday Times reported (21 July 2019):

EXPOSED: Scottish Salmon's Cascading Use of Cancer-Causing Chemical

Another site "in assessment" by the ASC is Mowi's Carradale salmon farm – scene of 300,000 mortalities when salmon were battered to death and skinned alive in 2018. The Sunday Mail reported (17 June 2018):

In November 2018, a whistleblower working at Mowi's Carradale salmon farm leaked shocking photos of mass mortalities.

When questioned about the mass mortalities in September 2018, a worker for Marine Harvest (Mowi) denied any problems!

You can bet that the ASC will not be showcasing Mowi's mass mortalities at Carradale in their marketing for ASC-certified salmon.

Another Mowi salmon farm "in assessment" by the ASC is Stulaigh salmon farm in Loch Eynort. Don't these soon-to-be ASC-certified salmon look a picture of health?

EXPOSED: Photo Disclosures Opens Floodgates to More Diseased & Deformed Scottish Salmon

In fact, an inspection of Mowi's Stulaigh salmon farm by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate in June 2018 detailed disease problems with the use of antibiotics.

So when you read about the "honour" of being certified by the ASC you should take it with a very large pinch of salt (and avoid eating ASC-certified Scottish salmon).

The ASC's certification of freshwater loch sites in Scotland follows a rule change last year. Fish Farming Expert reported in July 2019:

In other words, the industry-dominated ASC is moving the goalposts to allow more salmon farms to meet their ever weakening and widening salmon standard.

The ASC salmon standard appears set to allow the use of the toxic neonicotinoid insecticide Imidacloprid which Mowi is seeking to trial in Loch Ailort. Fish Farming Expert reported in March 2020:

The ASC reported in May 2019:

The ASC salmon standard also permits the use of shellfish-killing chemicals. SeaChoice warned in a press release issued in July 2019:

The public may be shocked to discover that the ASC salmon standard also sanctions the killing of marine mammals such as seals.

Here's seals killed near a Marine Harvest salmon farm in Loch Alsh 'Special Area of Conservation'.

In addition to ASC-certification, all Mowi's salmon farming operation in Scotland are certified as 'welfare friendly' via RSPCA Assured.

Last year Scottish Salmon Watch published shocking video footage of salmon being tortured in Mowi's ASC-certified (and RSPCA Assured) farm in Loch Leven.

Here's farmed salmon being sucked and forced up a pipe into the Thermolicer.

And here's video footage of farmed salmon which died before making the tortuous trip into the Thermolicer.

In 2018, Scottish Salmon Watch revealed that Mowi's ASC-certified Loch Leven salmon farm was rated as "Poor" by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. As Scottish Salmon Watch reported in July 2018:

One of Marine Harvest's 9 salmon farms rated as "Poor" was Loch Leven – the first salmon farm in Scotland to be certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council and one of only two ASC-certified farms in Scotland before its certification expired in February 2018. Marine Harvest's other ASC-certified site in Loch Linnhe has had its certification "cancelled" according to the ASC and expires in November – with another three salmon farms operated by Marine Harvest (Duich, Loch Alsh & Ardintoul) also having their ASC-certification "cancelled" [2]. Marine Harvest's farm in Loch Leven was visited by Prince Charles in 2016 who said it "has set the benchmark" and described the operations as "sustainable".

Photo: Prince Charles preaching about "sustainability" on his web-site using a photo of himself standing in front of Marine Harvest's of Loch Leven salmon farm (rated as "Poor" by SEPA)