Be Sure to Boycott RSPCA Assured Scottish Salmon - Shocking New Photos Published of Mowi's North Shore Feedlot in Loch Erisort!

Shocking photos slipped out recently by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate reveal welfare abuse and disease-ridden operations at Norwegian-owned Mowi's RSPCA Assured salmon farm at North Shore in Loch Erisort on the Isle of Lewis. The damning inspection report details infectious diseases, viruses and pathogens such as Complex Gill Disease, Anaemia, Amoebic Gill Disease, Salmon Gill Poxvirus, Paranucleospora theridion, Cardiomyopathy Syndrome and Piscine Myocarditis Virus as well as severe lice infestation.

Like all Mowi's salmon farming operations, the cash hungry RSPCA certify the North Shore salmon farm in Loch Erisort as "welfare-friendly" via the much maligned RSPCA Assured scheme.

Even during the Coronavirus crisis when supermarket shelves are running empty, are you sure you want to be caught eating "healthy and delicious" Mowi salmon like Scottish Ministers Fergus Ewing and Kate Forbes?

These five farmed salmon which were sampled and photographed by the Scottish Government (out of over 750,000 fish in 17 cages on Mowi's disease-ridden feedlot) surely make you want to throw up and throw the sick salmon in the bin?

When you see the Mowi Salmon Wagon coming please avoid it like the proverbial plague!

In view of the "severe" lice damage to Mowi's salmon it is not surprising that the damaged fish are skinned to remove any trace of the welfare nightmare of factory fish farming. Can anyone seriously look the camera in the eye and defend Mowi salmon as a "responsibly sourced" and "welfare friendly" RSPCA Assured product as marketed by supermarkets such as Sainsbury's, Lidl and Aldi?

Please take the salmon pledge not to eat farmed salmon!

The damning report (including photos) relating to an inspection of Mowi's salmon farm on the Isle of Lewis on 28 October 2019 was recently added to the 'Case Information' published by the Scottish Government (some files are published five or six months after the Fish Health Inspectorate visits). Thankfully, Scottish Salmon Watch is constantly updating the case against Scottish salmon and has summarized the Fish Health Inspectorate report below:

The Fish Health Inspection report dated 28 October 2019 detailed mass mortalities of over 65,000 fish over the last four weeks alone and finally reported 16,791 morts from October 2017 due to Pasteurella skyensis (note that Mowi changed their name from Marine Harvest in 2019 due to negative consumer perception despite opposition from the Mowinckel family who gave their family name to the Mowi strain of salmon pioneered by Thor Mowinckel in Norway)!

The late reporting was cited in a letter from the Fish Health Inspector dated 19 December 2019 to Mowi which also raised the issue of an "inadequately maintained" farm management agreement/statement and "discrepancies in sea lice data sets" which needed to be addressed by 19 January 2020 (this helps explains the delay in posting the October 2019 inspection report).

BBC News reported on the mass mortality due to Pasteurella skyensis in October 2017:

The Daily Mail reported in January 2018:

Mortality data published on 6 March 2020 by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate confirms the late reporting by Mowi of 16,791 mortalities due to Pasteurella skyensis in October 2017 (Mowi reported the deaths over two years late in December 2019!) with a staggering 336,388 mortalities via twelve 'Mortality Event Reports' (a further ten 'Mortality Event Reports' did not provide a number of mortalities) with the weekly mortality rate recorded as high as 12.25%.

Explained reasons listed by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate included "anaemia associated with gill bleeding", "thermal lice treatment", "losses during bath treatment", Pasteurella skyensis, PD (Pancreas Disease), AGD (Amoebic Gill Disease) and CMS (Cardimyopathy Syndrome):

Additional information listed by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate included "Above threshold lice numbers so lice treatments have continued despite compromised gill and cardiovascular health", "Lice treatment had to be performed due to lice numbers" and "Ongoing sea lice challenge, as such mechanical treatments have been carried out":

Last month, Advocates for Animals wrote to the Scottish Government challenging the legality of the Thermolicer due to welfare problems and mass mortalities.

The Fish Health Inspection report for Mowi's North Shore salmon farm in Loch Erisort detailed a host of diseases, parasites, pathogens and viruses including Complex Gill Disease, Anaemia, Neoparamoeba perurans, Amoebic Gill Disease, Salmon Gill Poxvirus, Paranucleospora theridion, Cardiomyopathy Syndrome and Piscine Myocarditis Virus as well as physical evidence of moribund, lethargic and haemorrhaging fish with breaches of lice infestation levels.

A letter from Marine Scotland to Mowi dated 13 December 2019 detailed a host of diseases, viruses and pathogens and noted that "all fish sampled displayed moderate to severe lice damage".

Judging by this job advert, perhaps the farm manager responsible for such shocking welfare abuse was fired and a new manager hired?

The people in charge of the RSPCA's inspection of salmon farms (one of the inspectors is a former Mowi manager!) are clearly not doing a good job of policing fish welfare on salmon farms.

In January 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch revealed welfare abuse at Mowi's RSPCA Assured salmon farm at Tabhaigh which is also in Loch Erisort.

Photos: RSPCA Assured salmon farmed at Mowi's Tabhaigh site in Loch Erisort (published in January 2020 by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate)

The Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate reported (17 January 2020) disease and mortality problems at Mowi's North Shore salmon farm in Loch Erisort during an inspection on 12 November 2019 (no samples or photos were taken unlike the October 2019 inspection visit):

In February 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch published a dossier of photos of diseased and deformed Scottish salmon – including many farmed by Mowi and certified via RSPCA Assured: