RSPCA Assured Scottish Salmon Infested with 50 Lice, Poxvirus, Necrosis, Lesions & Myocarditis!

'Case Information' slipped out by the Scottish Government on 25 October 2022 is enough to make your flesh creep (and put you off eating RSPCA Assured Scottish salmon for life).

Lousy Scottish Salmon Quiz: Which @rspcaassured salmon farm suffered from a lice load of between 15 & 50 during a @scotgov inspection in July? @ScotlandSalmon https://t.co/2sBrJXv2dj pic.twitter.com/x4vwB4botQ

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) October 27, 2022

Here's a Fish Health Inspectorate report (2022-0229) detailing an inspection of an RSPCA Assured salmon farm operated by The Scottish Salmon Company (Bakkafrost) at Reibinish in East Loch Tarbert on the Isle of Harris on 27 July 2022 – including "ongoing gill challenges", "prolonged elevated mortality", "visibly lethargic and moribund fish", mortality "in excess of 60%" (57,110 morts reported in a four week period from late June to late July 2022), various disease issues and a lice load of 15 to 50 parasites per fish:

"Our sector supports more than 2,500 direct and 10,000 indirect jobs" says @TavishScott @ScotlandSalmon https://t.co/6TUfgsx9x7
How many jobs are dependent on Scottish salmon's rising mortality mountain? @BillyBtankers @GogarServices @Ferguson_TPT @MowiScotlandLtd @scotseafarms pic.twitter.com/MwprJH6a17

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) October 28, 2022

The Scottish Government Fish Health Inspectorate report published on 25 October 2022 features photographic evidence of welfare abuse in the salmon farmed by The Scottish Salmon Company (Bakkafrost) at Reibinish in East Loch Tarbert – including a lower jaw "sliced in half" and upper jaw "partially missing", "damage to the snout", "substantial damage to both eyes" and "damage to the operculum thought to be lice damage":

The 'Fish Health Inspectorate Visit Report' dated 25 August 2022 detailed Aeromonas salmoncida (Furunculosis), Piscine Myocarditis Virus, Vibrio, Paranucleospora theridion, Salmon Gill Poxvirus, Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis Virus and Neoparamoeba perurans.

Earlier this month (14 October 2022), $camon $cotland wrote to the RSPCA demanding that the certification of Scottish salmon as 'welfare friendly' via RSPCA Assured be stopped immediately.

Please end torture & cruelty on salmon farms in Scotland! @ScotlandSalmon @MowiScotlandLtd
Stop certifying Scottish salmon as "responsibly sourced" @rspcaassured & "farmed responsibly" @ASC_aqua https://t.co/GdiaY00bHJ #RSPCA #ASC #Scottish #Scamon @philip_ciwf @Animallawyersuk pic.twitter.com/S6O6cYkQQc

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) October 14, 2022

Correspondence with the RSPCA suggests that 99% of salmon farming production in Scotland (all companies except Organic Sea Harvest) is certified as 'welfare-friendly' via RSPCA Assured:

From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Oct 14, 2022 at 9:08 AM
Subject: Open Letter to the RSPCA & ASC – please stop certifying Scottish salmon as "responsibly farmed"!
To: <executive@rspca.org.uk>, Hello <hello@rspcaassured.org.uk>, Clive Brazier <clive.brazier@rspcaassured.org.uk>, Help Account <help@rspcaassured.org.uk>, <john.kerslake@rspca.org.uk>, Ray Goodfellow <ray.goodfellow@rspca.org.uk>, <caroline.allen@rspca.org.uk>, <dermot.murphy@rspca.org.uk>, tania.hudson@rspca.org.uk <tania.hudson@rspca.org.uk>, <fiona.evans@rscpca.org.uk>, <emma.slawinski@rspca.org.uk>

Here's an open letter to the RSPCA – please pass onto the board of trustees, patrons, vice-presidents and celebrity supporters:

Open Letter to the RSPCA & ASC – please stop certifying Scottish salmon as "responsibly farmed"!

Please acknowledge receipt.

And could you please (as requested in the letter) provide a list of all RSPCA Assured salmon farms (both marine and freshwater)?

Thanks,

Don Staniford

Director, $camon $cotland

From: Hello <hello@rspcaassured.org.uk>
Date: Fri, Oct 14, 2022 at 2:02 PM
Subject: Re: Open Letter to the RSPCA & ASC – please stop certifying Scottish salmon as "responsibly farmed"!
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>

Hi Don,

Thanks for getting in touch, we will take a look at your letter.

As explained previously, we are unable to publish a list of all of our members but most salmon companies state which assurance schemes they are part of on their websites.

Kind regards

Emily

RSPCA Assured

From: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Oct 14, 2022 at 2:39 PM
Subject: Re: Open Letter to the RSPCA & ASC – please stop certifying Scottish salmon as "responsibly farmed"!
To: Hello <hello@rspcaassured.org.uk>

Emily,

Thanks – so if Mowi, for example, states that they as a company are RSPCA Assured does this mean that ALL their salmon farms are RSPCA Assured?

Fish Farming Expert reported in March 2021 via: https://www.fishfarmingexpert.com/compassion-in-world-farming-rspca-assured-salmon/scottish-salmon-farmers-urge-auditors-to-make-surprise-site-inspections/1360930

"All Scottish salmon farmers are now signed up to the RSPCA Assured accreditation scheme apart from Organic Sea Harvest, which adheres to organic standards through the Soil Association"

So does that mean that all Mowi, Scottish Sea Farms, Cooke, The Scottish Salmon Company/Bakkafrost, Loch Duart, Wester Ross and Kames have all their salmon farms certified via RSPCA Assured?

Cooke, for example, is certified via the Soil Association but not all of their salmon farms are certified as organic.

And Mowi and Scottish Sea Farms are certified via the ASC but not all of their farms.

What you seem to be suggesting is that RSPCA Assured certifies a company and by extension therefore certifies all of their salmon farms. Is that correct?

Thanks,

Don

From: Hello <hello@rspcaassured.org.uk>
Date: Tue, Oct 25, 2022 at 2:50 PM
Subject: Re: Open Letter to the RSPCA & ASC – please stop certifying Scottish salmon as "responsibly farmed"!
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>

Dear Don,

Thank you for your recent letter.

We agree that there are many challenges facing salmon farming – as there are with terrestrial farming. Therefore we are working hard with RSPCA Assured members, the wider salmon industry and academics to find ways to tackle these issues, for example the challenge of disease and sea lice outbreaks.

Some of them aren't easy to resolve but animal welfare is our absolute priority and, as an animal welfare charity, we are duty-bound to keep doing all we can to help improve the welfare of all animals, including salmon.

That's why the RSPCA chose to develop around 500 standards aimed solely at improving the welfare of farmed salmon at every stage of their life. These standards have been a catalyst for change throughout the entire salmon industry, not just on RSPCA Assured certified farms.

But there is still much work to be done. Whilst we don’t have answers to all of the challenges at present, we are continually working with the salmon industry, retailers and experts to look at further ways to enhance the welfare of fish and reduce the risk of sea lice infestations and disease. We won’t give up trying to bring about further welfare improvements.

RSPCA Assured is a charity and, as explained to you previously, we do not profit from salmon farming. Our sole mission is to help improve farm animal welfare.

You may not agree with us but we hope this helps explain why we are involved in salmon farming. We firmly stand by the approach we have taken, as it has helped bring about many significant improvements to the welfare of many millions of farmed salmon and will continue to do so.

If we walked away from the salmon industry because of challenges like sea lice and disease, it could result in many millions of fish being reared to lower standards and an increase in health and disease problems. And, as an animal welfare charity, we will not turn our back on helping improve the lives of all farm animals.

Kind regards

RSPCA Assured

In 2020, Chris Packham claimed he would use his position as vice president of the RSPCA to tackle the problem of salmon farming in Scotland. "I'm on it" he said @ChrisGPackham @onekindtweet
Two years later millions of @rspcaassured salmon are dying cruel deaths @ScotlandSalmon https://t.co/ljJvCxF8FX pic.twitter.com/hN3yA6gBMa

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) October 28, 2022

The Sunday Times reported in February 2020 that the RSPCA earned over £500,000 per year from certifying Scottish salmon as 'welfare friendly' via RSPCA Assured:

RSPCA sell their soul to Scottish farmed salmon for £500k per year https://t.co/2pKeU23WiP @rspcaassured @SundayTimesScot @onekindtweet @ciwf @RSPCA_official @RSPCAChris

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) February 9, 2020

As RSPCA 'VIPs' you have the power to stop suffering on salmon farms in Scotland – please tell the RSPCA executive to end certification of Scottish salmon! @rspcaassured https://t.co/oFC20taxzO @ChrisGPackham @brianblessed @BillOddie @DrBrianMay @PeterEgan6 @CarolineLucas #RSPCA pic.twitter.com/nYwOM5yTF6

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) February 5, 2020