Video Nasty: Thermolicer - the Heated Torture Chamber for Scottish Salmon

When people think of Scottish salmon they think of majestic wild creatures leaping up waterfalls – not of factory farmed fish crammed in cages and heated in horrific washing machines called Thermolicers to rid them of parasitic sea lice. Here's exclusive video footage shot by a drone hovering about Scotland's 'best' salmon farm operated by Mowi (formerly Marine Harvest) in Loch Leven (accredited by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council and certified by RSPCA Assured).

Here's farmed salmon being sucked and forced up a pipe into the Thermolicer.

And here's video footage of farmed salmon which died before making the tortuous trip into the Thermolicer.

Last year, Scottish Salmon Watch called for a ban on Thermolicers and other water torture chambers for farmed salmon.

The press release continued:

Today (9 October), Scottish Salmon Watch wrote to Scottish Ministers reiterating their call for a ban and asking the Scottish Government to investigate whether salmon farms across Scotland were in breach of Section 19 ("Unnecessary Suffering"); Section 21 ("Cruel Operations") and Section 24 ("Ensuring Welfare of Animals") of the Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.

Scottish Salmon Watch's letter to Scottish Ministers cites the latest mortality data on Scottish salmon farms published by the Scottish Government which lists dozens of cases involving the Thermolicer, Hydrolicer and other mechanical treatments – including:

"Thermolicer treatment started on 24th June for 4 days. Fish with bleeding gills, "collision damage" and heart damage" (Mowi's Craig an Tsagairt salmon farm in Loch Hourn in July 2019)

"Biomarkers showed muscle fatigue, but a physical treatment for sea lice was required causing the increase in mortalities" (The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Taranaish in Loch Roag in June 2018)

"Thermolicer treatment on one cage. Decided not to treat other cages with Thermolicer" (Mowi's salmon farm at Caolas A Deas in Loch Shell in November 2017)

"Losses following Thermolicer treatment. Thought to be fish weakened by HSMI" (Scottish Sea Farms' salmon farm at Nevis A in Loch Nevis in April 2017)

"Post Hydrolicer treatment, fish with compromised health did not survive the treatment well – mechanical damage" (The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Quarry Point in Loch Fyne in March 2017)

Here's mortality event reports where physical treatments such as a Thermolicer and Hydrolicer are cited:

'Case Information' published by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate also cites welfare problems and mortalities due to the Thermolicer and Hydrolicer. For example, here's a case report in June 2019 for Mowi's Bagh Dail Nan Cean (Bay of the Dead Heads) salmon farm:

Video footage of mortalities at Mowi's 'Bay of the Dead Heads' salmon farm in Scotland was posted last month by diver David Ainsley:

Another case report in June 2019 for Mowi's Port Na Cro salmon farm cited "obvious mechanical damage from the Thermolicer treatment":

We know via Marine Traffic that the Voe Earl Thermolicer is currently (as of 9.30am on 9 October 2019) operating at Mowi's nearby Poll Na Gill salmon farm (rated by OneKind as the worst in Scotland for animal welfare).

When Scottish Salmon Watch visited Mowi's Poll Na Gille salmon farm in July 2019 the Voe Earl Thermolicer was in operation too.

Here's photos from a Fish Health Inspectorate visit to The Scottish Salmon Company's salmon farm at Portree in February 2019 – including "visible damage to the heads of fish", skeletal muscle necrosis, dermatitis, lesions "likely associated with mechanical damage", anorexia, bilateral exopthalmia, petechial haemorrhaging, salmon gill poxvirus, Neoparamoeba perurans (the causative agent of Amoebic Gill Disease), Paranculeospora theridon, Vibrio spp, Photobacterium sp and Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis virus:

Photos of a Scottish Government Fish Health Inspectorate visit in March 2019 to the North Papa salmon farm operated by Norwegian-owned Grieg Seafood reveal physical damage "attributed to a recent Optilicer treatment".

Here's video footage from Salmon & Trout Conservation Scotland of a Hydrolicer in operation on a Scottish salmon farm.

Another Grieg Seafood salmon farm in Shetland at Gob na Hoe reported over 3,000 mortalities due to an Optilicer treatment in March 2019.

Here's the FHI 'Case Information' detailing "physical damage to heads and tails" and "severe lesions":

In March 2019, another FHI 'Case Information' report for March 2019 details welfare problems and over 10,000 mortalities due to the operation of a Thermolicer at the Norwegian-owned Scottish Sea Farms site at Teisti Geo in Shetland.

In January 2017, nearly 6,000 farmed salmon died at a Grieg Seafood salmon farm due to the heated 'torture chamber' called the Thermolicer:

More details on mass mortalities due to the operation of the Optilicer, Hydrolicer and Thermolicer are available online here

Watch video footage of the Voe Earl Thermolicer at Mowi's Loch Leven salmon farm in May 2019.

And here's a closer look at the Voe Earl.

Authorities in Norway are considering a ban on the Thermolicer. Salmon Business reported in August 2019:

Back in 2016, Compassion In World Farming (CIWF) called for a ban on the Thermolicer in Scotland describing it as a "brutal treatment", "inherently stressful" and with "poor welfare". CIWF's call for a ban followed a report in The Sunday Herald detailing over 175,000 dead farmed salmon including 95,000 dead fish at a Mowi (Marine Harvest) salmon farm due to the operation of a Thermolicer.

In January 2018 a Norwegian veterinarian "highlighted major head injuries she has seen to fish treated with warm water delousing machinery".

This is the myth of Scottish salmon.

This is the modern reality of factory salmon farming – as exposed earlier this week by Compassion Over Killing.

Watch more video nasties via the BBC One Show – including 'The Dead Salmon Run'.

Scottish salmon are so disease-ridden that millions of morts (dead salmon) are crammed into skips and loaded onto trucks destined for incinerators. You're now more likely to see a Scottish salmon as roadkill rather than in a river.

The story of Atlantic salmon – in Latin it has the name Salmo salar which means 'The Leaper' – is sadly now a fairy tale told by foreign-owned corporations to unsuspecting consumers and shamefully sold by supermarkets as RSPCA Assured, "sustainable" and "organic" Scottish salmon.

Wild salmon on the West coast of Scotland have gone the way of the buffalo and are heading towards extinction along with the dodo. In a decade the most likely place you will see a wild Scottish salmon is in a museum.

Next time you see 'Scottish' salmon advertised in the supermarket or marketed online please stop to think about the true story behind your cheap and nasty salmon.