Scottish salmon farms warn the public to keep 15 metres away but the public have an inalienable right to navigate the public waters where salmon farms operate*. Scottish Salmon Watch honestly believes that it is in the public interest to expose ongoing welfare abuse including breaches of the Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.
"No Unauthorised Access – Keep 15m Away" warn The Scottish Salmon Company. Nothing to See Here (Honest)! https://t.co/MI8Ui8POaf@salmon_scottish @Folketrygdfond pic.twitter.com/ZUD7Cnaywb
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) November 6, 2020
When salmon farming companies claim to operate in a "biosecure" manner it ignores the fact that virus-laden farmed salmon imported as eggs (ova) from overseas is slipping untested into Scottish waters. If the Scottish Government and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency will not close the net then 'Citizen Science' and secret filming with Go Pro cameras can hopefully expose the scale of disease-ridden salmon farming.
Mr Staniford, an award-winning campaigner & author, hailed it as ‘watershed victory’. "Police Scotland has effectively reinforced the legality of filming at salmon farms. Salmon farms cannot keep the public out of public waters" https://t.co/Uenouv8FBV @obantimes @policescotland
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) October 19, 2020
When Scottish Salmon Watch visited The Scottish Salmon Company's disease-ridden salmon farm at Quarry Point in Loch Fyne on 8 September 2020 we found dead salmon floating on the surface of one of the cages.
The dead salmon contrasts with the glossy marketing by the Faroese/Norwegian-owned Scottish Salmon Company (previously controlled by a Ukrainian banker via an anonymous bank account registered at the Swiss stock exchange).
Earlier that week, Scottish Salmon Watch saw workers at The Scottish Salmon Company's nearby salmon farm at Ardcastle collecting dead salmon floating on the surface of the cages (you can see a worker inside the cage in a green boat fishing out morts).
When Scottish Salmon Watch asked workers for disease details of the dead salmon at Quarry Point they ignored the question and turned their back on the welfare of their stock.
During filming at Quarry Point salmon farm in September 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch recorded the constant noise pollution of Acoustic Deterrent Devices – believed to be in breach of European law and shown by peer-reviewed science to impact on cetaceans.
Surely someone on inside track at @marinescotland & @nature_scot has the bottle to affirm to @GreenerScotland @NicolaSturgeon @strathearnrose that unlicensed use of ADDs in aquaculture is contrary to European Protected Species legislation and completely immoral? pic.twitter.com/yfQQZhjaI8
— david nairn (@ClydePorpoise) October 12, 2020
When salmon farming companies warn the public to stay away from their feedlots it is difficult not to have an unhealthy degree of scepticism.
The manner in which salmon farming companies have desperately tried to prevent filming and sampling near salmon farms is comical.
And deadly serious in equal measure.
Caught on Camera – Mowi's Reckless Breaches of Health & Safety in Loch Alsh! https://t.co/0nvWGe0MkQ Complaint vs @MowiScotlandLtd filed with @H_S_E & @MCA_media Who's policing salmon farms? @policescotland @marinescotland @APHAgovuk @CrownEstateScot @ScottishEPA @HumzaYousaf pic.twitter.com/f4oClqkpiA
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) November 15, 2019
That is a deliberate and very dangerous act. It's the most apalling seamanship and I'm contacting the MCA Office in Paisley directly about it. Somebody needs to lose their license over this and I'll do my best to ensure that happens. https://t.co/d7FccSdimN
— Niall McKillop (@Badabrach) October 5, 2020
Read more via Letter to Police Scotland re. violence & hostility by salmon farmers blocking filming
Whether you laugh or cry, it is crystal clear from video footage and photographs accessed via Freed0m of Information that the salmon farming industry is hiding serious problems which they do not want the public seeing.
Photos slipped out last month @marinescotland provide yet more damning evidence of welfare abuse on salmon farms – please boycott Scottish salmon! https://t.co/bp2h3Rylag @salmon_scottish @Try_Lochlander @Folketrygdfond @GreenerScotland @scotgp @coopuk @rspcaassured @SSPCA_Mike pic.twitter.com/Sngg29WYTp
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) November 4, 2020
The Scottish Salmon Company was caught selling deformed fish at Billingsgate Market in London by French TV in 2018:
Here's video footage of mass mortalities at Quarry Point in 2019 filmed by Inside Scottish Salmon Feedlot's Corin Smith:
Data published by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate details mass mortalities at Quarry Point in 2019 with mortality rates up to 33%.
Corin Smith exposed shocking welfare abuse at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Vacasay in Loch Roag in 2018 – leading to media exposure on BBC Panorama and the BBC One Show:
Here's what Scottish Salmon Watch found in 2018 when we visited The Scottish Salmon Company's Quarry Point salmon farm:
When Scottish Salmon Watch filmed at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Strone Point in Loch Striven in July 2020 the video footage showed disease-ridden fish:
Secret Filming Inside The Scottish Salmon Company in Loch Striven – the King of Fish does not deserve to wear "death crowns"! https://t.co/HVsMv2SPxK @salmon_scottish @Folketrygdfond @SSPOsays @ciwf @onekindtweet @HSIUKorg @PETAUK @FishEG4A @group_fish
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) August 4, 2020
Read more via "Secret Filming Lifts Lid on Sickening Scottish Salmon"
If we had visited Loch Striven a month later then we would have uncovered mass mortalities on a shocking scale – including over 100,000 morts in one week at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Sgian Dubh and 79,000 in one week at Strone Point.
"Environmental Insult": 79,381 dead farmed salmon (32.8% mortality) in one week in August at one farm (Strone Point) in Loch Striven @salmon_scottish
Scottish salmon is an insult to the environment! @marinescotland @coopuk @SSPOsays @Try_Lochlander @Folketrygdfond @LidlGB pic.twitter.com/uxXLVH27VQ— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) November 3, 2020
Revealed: 102,344 dead salmon (40% mortality) in one week at one farm @salmon_scottish in August https://t.co/AsVyIRDGip
Please boycott Scottish salmon! @coopuk @Try_Lochlander @sainsburys @LidlGB @waitrose @marksandspencer @Morrisons @asda @Tesco https://t.co/FpKosacuJq pic.twitter.com/NEsA57HP99— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) November 3, 2020
Secret filming in September 2020 revealed dead cleaner fish and salmon at The Scottish Salmon Company's processing plant at Toward (the site where a whistleblower leaked photos back in 2018).
Read more via "Dead in the Water – New Data Reveals Mass Mortalities & Disease on Scottish Salmon Farms"
But when we filmed at The Scottish Salmon Company's Sgian Dubh salmon farm on 6 September 2020 most of the diseased salmon had been harvested out and the remaining large fish (which may have breached their biomass limits) were being kept alive via oxygen pumped into the cages.
Filming at The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm in Loch Shieldaig in June 2019 led to a welfare complaint and media exposure via The Ferret and STV News.
Read more via "Ground-Truthing Disease-Ridden Scottish Salmon"
Prior to filming at salmon farms, Scottish Salmon Watch follows a strict bio-security protocol recommended by the Scottish Government.
Read more via "Biosecurity Precautions for Filming Salmon Farms"
During 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch has also visited salmon farms operated by Norwegian giants Mowi, Scottish Sea Farms and Grieg Seafood (despite repeated legal threats).
In September 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch exposed welfare abuse at Kames Fish Farming in Loch Tralaig:
Secret Filming Exposes Welfare Abuse at RSPCA Assured Kames @kamesfishfarm @rspcaassured @MairiGougeon @APHAgovuk @ProfCMDwyer @LynneUSneddon @Animallawyersuk @SSPCA_Mike @SSPOsays @GreenerScotland @SaveOurLochs @andrholder @obantimes @strathearnrose https://t.co/Dtc6rSKG1L pic.twitter.com/7VEmiyUsUA
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) September 24, 2020
In July 2020, Scottish Salmon Watch filmed at a salmon farm operated by Norwegian-owned Scottish Sea Farms at Fiunary in the Sound of Mull – leaving when the manager of the salmon farm came out in his boat.
If you have doubts about RSPCA Assured Scottish salmon then here's some photos from inspections by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate:
In view of the shocking state of Scottish salmon it is not surprising that lawyers for The Scottish Salmon Company and Scottish Sea Farms threatened legal action against disclosure (unsuccessfully as it turned out). The Ferret reported in August 2018:
Here's some close ups of the gruesome photos which lawyers representing Scottish Sea Farms argued would expose the company to "reputational damage":
Read more via "EXPOSED: Photo Disclosures Opens Floodgates to More Diseased & Deformed Scottish Salmon"
Data on mass mortalities, infectious diseases and welfare problems is also published regularly by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate and the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation.
2.52 million dead farmed salmon in 233 'Mortality Events' during the first six months of 2020. This has been a catastrophic summer for Scotland's fish farms. Our seas are getting warmer. Expect more of this to come. Tens of thousands of these fish are killed by disease treatments https://t.co/NwCaDvhKG9
— John Aitchison (@JohnAitchison1) September 21, 2020
RSPCA Assured Mowi tops the mortality charts with a 17.4% monthly death rate in July at Stulaigh in Loch Eynort & 28.7% overall mortality in Loch Greshornish on Skye https://t.co/a3w08wp8bt @SSPOsays @MowiScotlandLtd @GriegShetland @salmon_scottish @rspcaassured @KateForbesMSP pic.twitter.com/wWrVYNxUrS
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) September 2, 2020
Mortalities during 2020 are staggering and could be the worst on record !
Now wonder lawyers representing salmon farmers are getting twitchy.
Mowi Scotland: "will be forced to take further action unless you co-operate with its requests & desist from further unauthorised access….no choice but to take steps to protect the Company’s Sites, and its rights in relation thereto, through the courts" https://t.co/TRIgbdBz1q pic.twitter.com/PNZpWmva3f
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) September 25, 2020
Scottish Salmon Watch will not be intimidated by legal threats and will continue to shine a light on the deadly world of Mowi & other salmon farming companies operating in Scotland https://t.co/TRIgbdBz1q @ScotlandMowi @MowiScotlandLtd @AbdnConsidine
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) September 25, 2020
Read more via:
- Video Nasty: Death Threat & Assault by Salmon Farmer for Questioning Use of Carcinogenic Chemicals at Kames!
- The Camera Never Lies About Scottish Salmon!
- Welfare Warning for Scottish Salmon – stormy waters & prolonged periods of pain forecast!
- Herald: "Scottish salmon found in ‘sickening’ conditions across Scotland as sea lice problem escalates"
- Video Exposes Welfare Abuse at RSPCA Assured salmon farm sourced by M&S 'Lochmuir'
- Letter to Police Scotland re. violence & hostility by salmon farmers blocking filming
- Oban Times: "Police apologise to fish farm welfare campaigner"
- Ongoing Welfare Abuse & Unnecessary Suffering on Salmon Farms – Why No Prosecutions?
- The Ferret: "Police apologise to anti-fish farm campaigner over access"
- Policing Scottish Salmon: Landmark Victory for Surveillance of Fish Farms
- Mowi's Legal Threat Over Filming
- Lithgow Baron Warned by Police for Threatening Behaviour Over Filming at Hendrix Genetics
- Hendrix Boss Plays It Heavy Like Jimmy!
- Salmondemic Plagues Scotland
- Salmon Farmer Charged by Police Scotland for Assault Over Filming of Carcinogenic Chemicals!
- Assault at Kames Over Use of Carcinogenic Chemicals on Scottish Salmon!!
- Verbal Abuse by Salmon Farming Proponent Prompts Police Scotland Warning
- Prisoner Cell Block Salmon – Secret Filming Exposes Cruelty of Caged Fish Farming!
- The 'Sealicehunter' – the Washing Machine for Dirty Scottish salmon
- Policing Scottish Salmon – Police Scotland Acting as Private Security for Scottish Sea Farms?
- Video Nasties – Disease-Ridden Scottish Salmon & Toxic Soup!
- Complaint re. MOWI's reckless behaviour & subsequent fatality in Loch Alsh
- "Leave Our Farms Alone" Demand Mowi. Here's What They're Hiding & Why Mowi Want the Public to Keep Away!
- Fighting Mowi's Legal Action Over Filming at Salmon Farms
- Caught on Camera – Mowi's Reckless Breaches of Health & Safety in Loch Alsh
- Welfare Abuse at Scottish Salmon Farms – Why No Legal Enforcement Or Prosecutions?
- The Fish Pharm Menace – Mowi is Like a Bad Movie (& Dick Dastardly)!
- Protest "Poses Serious Risk to Our Salmon" Claim Scottish Sea Farms – Who's Calling Who "Dangerous"?
- Police Scotland acted as ‘private security’ for fish farm, claims campaigner
- Police Scotland Acting as Private Security Enforcement for Norwegian-Owned Scottish Sea Farms?
* Read more online here
Includes:
A Scottish Law Commission report was published in 2003:
Including:
Walford v David 1989 S.L.T. 876 included:
Read also Walford vs David (1987) online here
