Under the Cloak of Coronavirus: SEPA open the floodgates to lobster-killing chemicals!

Under the guise of the Coronavirus crisis, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has opened the floodgates to the use of toxic chemicals (including the lobster-killing pesticide Emamectin benzoate which SEPA proposed to be banned back in 2016 before lobbying by the Scottish Government, salmon farmers and the chemical company Merck staved off a ban).

Fish Farming Expert reported (8 April 2020):

The Fish Site reported (8 April 2020):

Fish Farmer reported (9 April 2020):

A press release issued by the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation on 7 April 2020 stated:

SEPA's web-site explains:

SEPA's temporary regulatory position statement for the use of sea lice medicine at marine finfish farms dated April 2020 includes:

And:

The 20-page 'Temporary Regulatory Position Statement' continues:

And:

With respect to Emamectin benzoate (the lobster-killing pesticide which SEPA proposed to be banned back in 2016), SEPA states:

Read SEPA's 'Temporary Regulatory Position Statement' (April 2020) in full online here

SEPA's web-site also reads in relation to Emamectin benzoate:

The Ferret has reported on the scandal dubbed 'Slicegate' since 2017:

A review of 'Slicegate' was published in 2017 via Slicegate: Anatomy & Chronology of an Environmental Lobotomy – How the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency was Sliced to death by the Scottish Government and salmon farming lobby.

Last month, Scottish Salmon Watch revealed that SEPA had blocked the disclosure of documents relating to the use of the toxic neonicotinoid Imidacloprid (marketed by Benchmark as BMK08 & Ectosan).

The Ferret reported (17 March 2020):

"SEPA are permitting salmon farmers to pollute with impunity," said Don Staniford, Director of Scottish Salmon Watch in response to relaxed rules announced in March 2020. "Turning a blind eye to breaches of environmental rules is one thing but giving the salmon sector a special exemption is beyond the pale. What other sectors have been given a free pass to pollute with immunity from prosecution? Welfare abuse on salmon farms was shameful during 2019 and now SEPA is promoting conditions which serve only to exacerbate disease and mortality problems during 2020."

"It's scandalous that SEPA is now opening the floodgates to lobster-killing chemicals such as Emamectin benzoate – a toxic chemical SEPA planned on banning back in 2016," continued Staniford, author of 'Silent Spring of the Sea', in response to SEPA's relaxed rules on toxic chemicals. "Coronavirus is being deployed as a Trojan Horse by salmon farmers waging a never-ending war on sea lice. Heaven knows what environmental damage this toxic industry will be guilty of by the end of June when the temporary rules are lifted. Shellfish such as lobsters are collateral damage in the salmon farming industry's deadly battle. Consumers faced with chemically embalmed Scottish salmon in the supermarket would be wise to keep a safe distance. The relaxed rules may mean more contaminated salmon slipping through the regulatory net and into shopping baskets."

The Ferret reported (7 April 2020):

The relaxation of rules in Canada prompted a petition from Clayoquot Action:

In other Coronavirus news, it seems that the toxic pesticide Ivermectin (used by salmon farmers in the 1990s to kill sea lice) could be rearing its ugly head as a treatment for Covid-19.

The Conversation reported (6 April 2020):

The Fish Site reported (6 April 2020):

Two decades ago the use of Ivermectin caused controversy with supermarkets refusing to sell farmed salmon treated with the dangerous pesticide.

In 2017, documents obtained from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate via Freedom of Information revealed that the Scottish Salmon Company breached safety levels for Emamectin benzoate in the flesh of Scottish salmon three times in 2016 at two salmon farms in Loch Roag on the Isle of Lewis (Vacasay and Taranaish) due to an "overdose".

Emamectin contamination of Scottish farmed salmon has occurred at least eight times with other cases reported by the VMD in 2012 (Scottish Salmon Company), 2010 (Lakeland Marine), 2009 (Skelda Salmon), 2006 (Scottish Sea Farms) and 2005 (Marine Harvest, re-named Mowi in 2019 due to negative consumer perception).

The Daily Mail reported (14 March 2017):