Frozen & Fatty Scottish Salmon - Let it Go!

Let it go, let it go. Turn away & slam the door on Scottish salmon! https://t.co/HWuXeY8N0C Frozen & fatty Scottish salmon – give it the cold shoulder! #SalmonPledge @rspcaassured @SoilAssociation @FergusEwingMSP pic.twitter.com/X4EOhPIEtz

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) June 29, 2020

Let it go, let it go. Turn away and slam the door on Scottish salmon. That's the resounding message to shoppers who may be lured by offers of "responsibly sourced", "organic" or "RSPCA Assured" Scottish salmon (all farmed in factory feedlots littering the coast of Scotland). Let us hear you take the salmon pledge today – give Scottish salmon the cold shoulder!

Fresh from the Coronavirus scare in China which has led to a slump in salmon exports, Scottish salmon farmers cannot find markets for all their fish which are getting fattier (not to mention more lice-ridden and diseased) in their cramped cages. Hence it is being frozen in huge freezers across Scotland with Scottish Government financial assistance up until the end of the year.

"Salmon farming companies take $1 billion hit as China media reports coronavirus link" @IntraFishNorge https://t.co/B8dRRbkbGU "Mowi led the plunge on the Oslo Stock Exchange" @MowiScotlandLtd @MowiCanadaWest @LeroySeafood @GriegShetland @scotseafarms @norwayseafood #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/umwODxHWZb

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) June 16, 2020

Shoppers beware of the welfare nightmare of Scottish salmon – whether it is fresh, frozen or smoked. The Scottish salmon you see in supermarkets in 2021 may have been frozen this Summer and have been sourced from a feedlot where welfare abuse is running rampant and unchecked by RSPCA Assured, the Scottish Government and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Fish Farming Expert reported (21 June 2020) that salmon farmers who cannot sell their unwanted fish can "apply to a new £1.25 million fund to cover the costs of maintaining unsold stock". The Scottish Government scheme, funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), compensates businesses for the cost of transporting, freezing and storing salmon, trout and shellfish until the end of 2020. Storage is relatively cheap, at between £5-£10 per tonne for 10 weeks, but the initial blast freezing can cost up to £300 per tonne. "It is understood that cold storage capacity is available at facilities in the north east that primarily store whitefish, and at distribution depots at Larkhall and Bellshill in the Central Belt," reported Fish Farming Expert.

More details on the Scottish Government's 'Storage Aid' for salmon (announced on 18 June 2020) is available online here

The Times reported earlier this month (14 June 2020):

The Sunday Times reported in 2014:

For anyone still thinking of buying Scottish salmon – whether smoked, 'fresh from the loch', "organic", RSPCA Assured or frozen please think twice – here's Katie Tunn listing her 10 reasons for not buying Scottish salmon.

Here's gruesome video footage of some of the poor Scottish salmon – from a feedlot operated by Norwegian-giant Mowi – which did not make it to market (a staggering 15-20 million farmed salmon die annually on Scotland's disease-ridden salmon farms with a mortality rate of 20-25%).

And here's photographic evidence – obtained via Freedom of Information, secret filming inside salmon farms and published online by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate – of the welfare nightmare and disease-ridden nature of salmon farming.

Edie Bowles @Animallawyersuk said the dossier, compiled by Don Staniford, a critic of salmon farming, indicated “systemic and obvious” pain & suffering that could justify legal action against @scotgov @MairiGougeon @SSPOsays https://t.co/ZuzAis8gEr @SundayTimesScot @ciwf @scotgp pic.twitter.com/RPVIAL3KlS

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) February 2, 2020