Organic Scamon Alert on Skye: Self-Classification "Used to Dumb Down Public Dissent" Claims Resident

Organic Sea Harvest – fronted by Highland Councillor Alex MacInnes but controlled by Norwegian-owned Villa via Ole Magnar Thu and Canadian-owned Dom International via Domenic Proporo/Porporo – is facing a serious challenge over the use of the word 'Organic' in their name.

"It is a public scam for Organic Sea Harvest to promote their agenda of obtaining planning for fish farms under a banner which does not currently belong to them," writes Skye resident Jonathan Johnson in a letter to the Investigations and Enforcement Services branch of the Insolvency Service (who have power to investigate companies for fraud – including companies "running scams"). "This is a highly unsatisfactory situation and we ask you to address this worrying illegal name which is setting a precedent for future 'scams'."

"I would be grateful if you can address this matter before it snowballs and gets out of hand," concludes the letter dated 5 January 2020. "I used to work in the accreditation industry and this putting the cart before the horse. It is an affront to any accreditation authority and undermines the whole ethos of quality and third party approval if you can open up a new company implying confirmation at the flick of a pen."

Mr. Johnson signs the letter "Sir" and then points out: "I have not been knighted yet but I am working towards this title, please call me this in the meantime and when addressing your response to me. I hope this demonstrates where this is coming from and where it can lead to".

Here's the letter in full (PDF copy online here):

Here's 'Sir' Jonathan Johnson's letter dated 5 January 2020 to the Soil Association, United Kingdom Accreditation Services and BBC Panorama (who screened a critique of salmon farming in May 2019):

Download letter as a PDF online here

In a colossal conflict of interest, Organic Sea Harvest's web-site lists two members of Highland Council as directors but this is a Norwegian/Canadian controlled company:

The latest Companies House filing for Organic Sea Harvest (dated 28 August 2019) lists Villa Seafood UK as the controlling shareholder (records show that Villa Seafood UK became the controlling shareholder on 30 January 2018 with Alister Mackinnon ceasing control on 18 August 2017 and Alex MacInnes ceasing control on 23 August 2017):

A Companies House filing dated 5 September 2017 listed four equal shareholders.

Companies House list the "persons with significant control" of Villa Seafood UK as Canadian (Dom International/Domenic Proporo) and Norwegian (Villa Seafood Group/Ove Magnar Thu):

Another filing with Companies House dated 11 May 2017 names the Villa Seafood UK director as Domenic Porporo (not Proporo as listed elsewhere in the Companies House filings):

According to Linkedin, Domenic Porporo is the President and Owner of Dom International:

Here's Dom International's listing via Bloomberg:

Read more about Dom International's 'Story' online here

'Organic' Sea Harvest's entry into the world of 'Scottish' salmon farming would cement the 99% foreign control on the sector (and with a production of 5,000 to 10,000 tonnes it would rival US/Canadian-owned Loch Duart as Scotland's 6th largest salmon farmer and close in on Norwegian-owned Grieg Seafood in 5th and Canadian-owned Cooke Aquaculture in 4th).

This is not the first time the misleading and deceptive practices of 'Scottish' salmon farming companies have been brought into focus. The Ferret reported in April 2019:

The Mail On Sunday reported in July 2019:

The Press & Journal reported in July 2019:

Scotland On Sunday reported in 2014:

The Sunday Times reported in 2014: