Dead in the Water - Scottish Salmon's Mortality Mountain Piles Ever Higher in 2021!

Monthly mortality data published by Salmon Scotland illustrates the scale of death and disease on Scottish salmon farms – data is published online up to October 2021:

Scottish Salmon Watch has trawled through all the monthly reports during 2021 and of the 104 salmon farms harvested up to October the average cummulative mortality is 15.7% with The Scottish Salmon Company (21.2%) and Loch Duart (18.9%) the worst companies thus far during 2021:

Is there a simple reason why some salmon farming companies have higher mortality rates than others? Why is @salmon_scottish & @LochDuartSalmon double that of @WesterRossSalmo & @CookeScotland? https://t.co/YP7xPmmrFt @ScotlandSalmon @MowiScotlandLtd @GriegShetland @scotseafarms pic.twitter.com/ToPcn8BFdD

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 13, 2021

Here's the worst performing companies and sites – as judged by cummulative mortality rates reported during 2021:

Scottish Salmon is dead in the water!
Average mortality rate @salmon_scottish during 2021 is 21% with 56% mortality at Plocrapool, 45% at Reibinish & 34% at Glenan Bay! That's according to industry data @ScotlandSalmon https://t.co/kjNDyAMgKa @Folketrygdfond @Sygazette @coopuk pic.twitter.com/cheLkuq4uZ

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 13, 2021

Loch Duart – who were forced by @ASA_UK in 2019 to drop "sutainable" from their advertising – has a mortality rate in 2021 of 18.9% with Loch Laxford reporting @ScotlandSalmon cummulative mortality of 25.6% (i.e. one in four salmon died) @LochDuartSalmon https://t.co/YP7xPmmrFt pic.twitter.com/kJDoF2fxPG

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 13, 2021

'Scottish' Sea Farms (real name Norskott Havbruk @LeroySeafood) claim an annual mortality rate of 9%* @scotseafarms yet data @ScotlandSalmon shows average cummulative mortality at farms harvested out in 2020 & 2021 was 14% with 41% in Loch Kishorn! https://t.co/YP7xPmmrFt pic.twitter.com/zOmL4I5G4S

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 13, 2021

Congratulations @MowiScotlandLtd who report @ScotlandSalmon an average mortality rate of 12.6% in 2021 (data up to Oct). That's a fall from 23.6% in 2020 – but still a quarter of all fish are dying at some sites like Torridon, Sconser Quarry & Colonsay! https://t.co/YP7xPmmrFt pic.twitter.com/loaltPklPq

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 13, 2021

The average mortality rate for the salmon farming sector was 19.7% in 2020 out of 99 sites harvested (according to cummulative mortality data published online by Salmon Scotland):

A big slap on the back to all salmon farmers in Scotland for reducing the mortality rate from 19.7% in 2020 to 15.7% in 2021 (data up to October @ScotlandSalmon) @salmon_scottish @scotseafarms @MowiScotlandLtd @GriegShetland @LochDuartSalmon @CookeScotland https://t.co/YP7xPmmrFt pic.twitter.com/WxqVmT2WEG

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 13, 2021

Here's the definition of 'cummulative mortality' from Salmon Scotland:

Some salmon farms are fallowed before they are harvested with farmed salmon stock moved to another farm – here's cases in 2020 and 2021 as reported by Salmon Scotland:

The Scottish Government published data in September 2021 on survival of smolt year classes with the latest data available for 2018 detailing a survival of 75.9% (i.e. mortality of 24.1%):

Survival (i.e. mortality) rates differed across Scotland with Shetland reporting only 55.2% survival (i.e. 44.8% mortality) of the 2018 year class:

Scottish Salmon Watch reported on Friday (10 December 2021):

Here's the salmon farms with the worst cummulative mortality rate for October 2021:

Named & Shamed @ScotlandSalmon – the salmon farms with the worst mortality. Headed by @scotseafarms with 41.3% mortality in Loch Kishorn followed by 32.8% mortality in Loch Spelve (where ISA was reported in May) & @salmon_scottish & @LochDuartSalmon sites https://t.co/rKHGuzMb37 pic.twitter.com/Atboh6H6ds

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 10, 2021

Here's the salmon farms with the worst monthly mortality rate for October 2021:

Salmon Scotland reveals a staggering monthly mortality rate of 66% (that's two out of every three salmon dying) @salmon_scottish in Druimyeon Bay on the Isle of Gigha in October 2021 with 49.4% dying in one month at Vacasay in Loch Roag! @ScotlandSalmon https://t.co/rKHGuzMb37 pic.twitter.com/NwICGovMby

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 10, 2021

Scottish Salmon Watch reported in October 2021:

Revealed: Here's the salmon farms with the highest mortalities since January 2020 (data up to June 2021) @ScottishEPA The worst companies are the Faroese/Norwegian-owned @salmon_scottish; Norwegian @MowiScotlandLtd & Norwegian @GriegShetland https://t.co/GlePzttr2G pic.twitter.com/mOZfADJIN2

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) October 20, 2021

Inside Scottish Salmon Feedlots reported on Facebook (2 August 2021):

Inside Scottish Salmon Feedlots reveals the shocking death rates on Scotland's salmon farms! "There are huge questions for @rspcaassured" says Corin Smith
Grieg Seafood tops the list with 78% mortality – that's four out of every five salmon dying!https://t.co/oO6wWCqTQB pic.twitter.com/tGvGEZNiaA

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) August 3, 2021