Fisheries Management Scotland's £38K "Fruitful Working Relationship" with Salmon Farmers

£38K to foster a "fruitful working relationship" between salmon farming & wild fish – more like a barrel of rotten apples! @MowiScotlandLtd @salmon_scottish @GriegShetland @scotseafarms @kamesfishfarm @fms_scotland @AST_Salmon @marinescotland @PollyRose91 https://t.co/1qBhZeKLnB pic.twitter.com/g3vpOd2v4i

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) September 30, 2020

Documents disclosed via Freedom of Information lay bare how the Scottish Government is desperately pushing a "fruitful working relationship" with the disease-ridden salmon farming lobby.

A £38,186.50 per year contract (understood to be funded for 3 years) awarded by Scottish Ministers to Fisheries Management Scotland in April 2020 specifies as one of the main "objectives/expected outcomes" of the newly appointed 'Aquaculture Interactions Manager':

Anyone who has investigated salmon farming will understand what a barrel of rotten apples companies such as Mowi, The Scottish Salmon Company and Grieg Seafood are in practice.

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The same "fruitful" language was used in the job advert issued by Fisheries Management Scotland in February 2020:

Having a "fruitful" relationship with an industry responsible for 15-20 million mortalities each year is going to be difficult.

Salmon farming is certainly fruitful in terms of the industry's prolific capacity to spread infectious diseases, pathogens and viruses as well as mass escapes.

Nearly every salmon caught in the River Stinchar is from the @MowiScotlandLtd farm at Carradale. Easily spotted due to their genetic deformities.

It is a truly awful situation. These are fertile fish. https://t.co/3h6jYchNOp pic.twitter.com/nMyL4GrrHw

— Salmon Research (@salmonresearch) September 30, 2020

Last month (20 August 2020), the Scottish Government slipped out Freedom of Information documents replied to back on 28 July 2020 (but explained "due to the size of the files we are unable to upload the documents"):

The Scottish Government's FOI reply letter dated 28 July 2020 explained:

Documents disclosed to Scottish Salmon Watch by the Scottish Government on 28 July 2020 included:

The 16-page grant document included:

Download in full as a PDF online here

Fish Farming Expert reported (3 July 2020):

It is encouraging that Fisheries Management Scotland – despite being tempted by forbidden fruit – appears still willing to speak out for wild fish against the threats posed by salmon farms. Here's a letter disclosed by the Scottish Government via FOI in July 2020:

One of the first tasks of the newly appointed 'Aquaculture Interactions Manager' was to deal with a mass escape of 49,000 farmed salmon from Mowi's salmon farm at Carradale in Kilbrannan Sound in August 2020. To put this escape into perspective, this single event was more than the entire catch of wild salmon!

When did @MowiScotlandLtd apply to @GreenerScotland for "authorisation for the emergency use of nets to affect recapture"? @marinescotland @fms_scotland There's 48,834 escapees to catch – that's more than Scotland's entire rod catch of wild salmon for 2019 (reported as 47,515)! pic.twitter.com/tQDIMngkYL

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) August 28, 2020

BBC News reported (10 September 2020):

Last month (28 August 2020), Scottish Salmon Watch wrote to Scottish Ministers repeating calls for hefty fines, rescinded licences for repeat offenders like Mowi and fines for highly paid executives.

On 24 September 2020, the Scottish Government replied:

Download letter as a PDF online here

The Scottish Government has employed the word "fruitful" before in terms of their desired relationship between salmon farming and wild fisheries. A FOI disclosure in July 2018 via FOI-18-01690 included reference to "fruitful cooperation" and "fruitful" outcomes of bilateral discussions: