Bad Advice: MCS’s ‘Good Fish Guide’ Promotes RSPCA Assured & ASC-certified Pharmed Salmon!

 

 

 

 

When Charles Clover wrote in The Sunday Times (11 April 2021) that "there is sustainable seafood to be eaten, and the Marine Conservation Society’s online Good Fish Guide is a good place to start" he exposed the shocking greenwashing of fish which ironically his article had sought to tackle in the wake of Netflix's 'Seaspiracy'.

 

 

 

I am not sure if Charles Clover – an award-winning journalist who lifted the lid on genetic pollution via escapes from salmon farms and the impact of factory salmon farming on wild fish (as admitted even by Mowi's billionaire owner John Fredriksen) and now Executive Director of the Blue Marine Foundation – was fully aware of the implications of his advice but it was far from good. 

 

 

 

 

 

If you take a look at the Marine Conservation Society's 'Good Fish Guide' it advises that farmed salmon – certified by RSPCA Assured, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council and the Soil Association as 'organic' – is rated a good choice and deemed green with a sustainability ranking of 2 (Global Gap certified salmon farms and the Global Aquaculture Alliance's Best Aquaculture Practices certification are given a sustainability ranking of 3 which is between green and red). 

 

 

MCS Atlantic salmon April 2021

 

 

MCS Atlantic salmon April 2021 #2

 

MCS Atlantic salmon April 2021 #3

 

MCS Atlantic salmon April 2021 #5

 

MCS Atlantic salmon April 2021 #6

 

MCS Atlantic salmon April 2021 #7

 

 

 

 

However, take a look inside a RSPCA Assured and ASC-certified salmon farm and it is clear that far from being a good choice for the environment or welfare it is an appallingly bad choice.   Netflix's 'Seaspiracy' featured shocking video footage of diseased salmon at a Mowi salmon farm in Loch Linnhe – a site certified by both the ASC and RSPCA Assured.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ASC's 'Green' claims – as promoted by the Marine Conservation Society – is a bad joke.

 

ASC Green

 

 

'Seaspiracy' also screened video footage of welfare abuse at The Scottish Salmon Company’s lice-infested salmon farm in Loch Roag captured by Corin Smith.

 

 

 

 

Do these RSPCA Assured salmon look a good choice to you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Given the RSPCA's appalling track record in sponsoring welfare abuse and the killing of seals on RSPCA Assured salmon farms, it is not surprising that George Monbiot recently (31 March 2021) labelled the RSPCA as "the worst of all".

 

 

 

 

Last month (26 March 2021), Scottish Salmon Watch revealed that Mowi had watered down their commitment to 100% ASC-certification by 2025 (itself moved from 2020) to now include other certification schemes such as GlobalGap and the GAA's BAP.

 

 

 

 

 

Back in 2012, Charles Clover lambasted the marketing of Scottish salmon in The Sunday Times yet his Sunday Times article published yesterday (11 April 2021) lets Scottish salmon off the hook by supporting the Marine Conservation Society's 'Good Fish Guide'. 

 

MCS Atlantic salmon April 2021 #8

 

MCS Atlantic salmon April 2021 #9

 

 

Just last week (8 April 2021), Scottish Salmon Watch revealed that Rick Stein had been forced to advertise the fact that he uses farmed salmon (from "boutique" farms in the Faroe Islands) following an investigation from Trading Standards.

 

 

 

 

 

BBC Countryfile revealed in December 2020 that an RSPCA Assured salmon farm in Loch Creran was a lice-infested welfare nightmare:

 

 

 

 

 

Compassion in World Farming and OneKind published further damning video footage of welfare abuse inside RSPCA Assured salmon farms across Scotland in March 2021 leading to the suspension of RSPCA accreditation (before an RSPCA investigation reinstated certification earlier this month):

 

 

 

 

Animal Equality published video footage of welfare inside The Scottish Sallmon Company in February 2021:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charles Clover really should know better as to promote RSPCA Assured, ASC-certified and 'organic' farmed salmon but he is guilty of the same wishful thinking so brilliantly exposed by Ali Tabriz in 'Seaspiracy'.   Even a quick look at the funding and governance of the various groups greenwashing farmed salmon it is painfully clear that the NGO community have been coopted by industry.  For example, the Marine Conservation Society (who promote ASC-certified and RSPCA Assured Scottish farmed salmon)  and WWF (who were exposed in the documentary 'Salmonopoly' as accepting money from Mowi/Marine Harvest) are represented on the governance of the ASC. 

 

ASC Governance March 2021 #5

 

 

Yet the ASC salmon standards allow the use of toxic chemicals such as Deltamethrin, Formaldehyde and even the neonicotinoid Imidacloprid (not to mention shocking levels of mortality and disease).

 

ASC lobster cartoon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Marine Conservation Society receives funding from 'partners' including M&S and Waitrose who both sell disease-ridden Scottish salmon.

 

MCS partners M&S Waitrose

 

 

Both Waitrose and M&S support Scottish salmon farming.

 

Waitrose

 

 

 

 

 

Look closer at the funding of the Blue Marine Foundation and you begin to fathom the depth of the vested business interests involved in the murky world of fish – with £4 million in funding in 2020 alone from donors/partners including John Lewis/Waitrose, Barclays, The Fishmongers Company and even the Disney Foundation. 

 

Blue Marine #1

Blue Marine #2

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Times revealed in February 2020 that RSPCA Assured received over £500,000 from salmon farming companies such as Mowi (as featured in Netflix's 'Seaspiracy') and Scottish Sea Farms (as sold via M&S). 

 

Sunday Times 9 Feb 2020 RSPCA newspaper version #1

Sunday Times 9 Feb 2020 RSPCA newspaper version #2

 

 

 

 

Look at how the RSPCA writes their farmed salmon standards – overseen by a technical working group comprised of a Who's Who in the salmon farming industry – and you understand that the industry is effectively writing their own standards.

 

RSPCA #1

 

RSPCA #2

 

 

Shame on the RSPCA – and their celebrity supporters – for certifying Scottish salmon as welfare-friendly. 

 

RSPCA #3

 

 

 

 

Charles Clover is certainly not the only one guilty of greenwashing Scottish salmon.  Chris Packham's latest book – "Back to Nature" – dishes the dirt on Scottish salmon yet fails to red flag the certification of ca. 70% of Scottish salmon farming production via RSPCA Assured.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Given Chris Packham's position as patron of OneKind you would think he would speak out against RSPCA Assured Scottish salmon.  OneKind certainly did raise the issue last month when they published damning video evidence of welfare abuse inside RSPCA Assured salmon farms yet they failed to name and shame the RSPCA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in 2017, Seafood Watch ranked Scottish salmon as the worst in the world with a red rating (even worse than farmed salmon from Chile, Norway and Canada):

 

Seafood Watch report Sept 2017 #ranking summary

 

 

Last month (20 March 2021), Scottish Salmon Watch exposed the use of the lobster-killing chemical Deltamethrin by 'Organic' Sea Harvest which is certified as 'organic' by the Soil Association.

 

 

 

 

 

Don't be duped by the green claims of Scottish salmon whether it is marketed as RSPCA Assured, 'responsibly sourced', 'organic', ASC-certified or promoted as a 'sustainable' good choice by the Marine Conservation Society.   Consumers are urged to avoid all Scottish salmon – and all farmed salmon for that matter – like the proverbial plague.  Please take the pledge not to eat farmed salmon!

 

 

 

 

Next month, Scottish Salmon Watch publishes a new report: "Greenwashing Scottish Salmon"

 

Greenwashed farmed salmon Jpeg

 

 

Read more via:

Greenwashing Scottish Salmon – New Report Out In May 2021!

Update: Mortality Rate Over 36% At RSPCA Assured Scottish Salmon!

Netflix's 'Seaspiracy' Exposes Disease-Ridden Scottish Salmon – As Sponsored by the RSPCA & Aquaculture Stewardship Council!

RSPCA Assured "is a marketing scheme set up and run by salmon farmers for salmon farmers" says ISSF! Greenwashing by Scottish Salmon – as sponsored by SEPA!

Mowi Moves Goalposts on ASC Certification

REVEALED: The Farmed Salmon Crisis

Media Backgrounder: The Welfare Nightmare of Scottish Salmon (Updated)

Named: supermarkets selling salmon from ‘poor’ welfare firms

Revealed: the fish farms worst on animal welfare

The Sunday Times: "US report approves only Orkney salmon farms"

SSPO admit Label Rouge "is not a standard designed to assess environmental or animal welfare criteria"

"Red Alert for Label Rouge – Lousy Label Goes Rogue"

25 Reasons to Boycott Scottish Salmon

25 Years of Scottish Salmon Shame

EXPOSED: Scottish Salmon's Sustainability Scam

WWF Greenwashes Marine Harvest

Lipstick on a Pig – WWF's Makeover At Marine Harvest

Abominable Salmon Council – Buyer Beware!

 

 

 

Coming in May 2021: "Greenwashing Scottish Salmon"

 

Greenwash graphic #4

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