Lost Lapdog: SEPA “completely gutted, destroyed & incapable of functioning” reports The Ferret!

Lost Lapdog: SEPA “completely gutted, destroyed & incapable of functioning” reports The Ferret! https://t.co/Iwb5JKKWyP @ScottishEPA pic.twitter.com/llNQ0MMZI4

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) February 7, 2022

The Ferret reported (6 February 2022):

The Ferret article – sourced from a Freedom of Information reply by SEPA to Corin Smith of Inside Scottish Salmon Feedlots – included:

Download the report released by SEPA via FOI to Corin Smith online here

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has admitted that it cannot recover information from its national monitoring, compliance and enforcement databases in 2019 and 2020 because “information no longer exists”.https://t.co/d996nQM34F

— The Ferret (@FerretScot) February 6, 2022

Inside Scottish Salmon Feedlots posted on Facebook (6 February 2022):

Scottish Salmon Watch reported last month:

As @TerryAHearn looks back on his 7 year tenure in charge of SEPA his legacy is so toxic that it may require years of rehab to recover from! https://t.co/agiEHPr1tF @ScottishEPA @ScotlandSalmon @MowiScotlandLtd @scotseafarms @scotgp @marinescotland @MairiGougeon @nature_scot pic.twitter.com/qN6HCREVII

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 23, 2022

When Scottish Salmon Watch visited SEPA's offices in Fort William in July last year they were closed to the public:

In view of the flood of toxic chemicals being discharged by salmon farms and well boats into lochs around Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency should be renamed the Scottish Environment Pollution Agency!

Scotland's Environmental Watchdog is Dead in the Water – read how @ScottishEPA was sliced to death by the Salmafia @ScotlandSalmon @MowiScotlandLtd @scotseafarms @marinescotland
Is @TerryAHearn now going to work for the salmon pharming lobby? https://t.co/sZLwL103qc @FerretScot pic.twitter.com/cw08a05rxZ

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 22, 2022

Back in 2013, two years before Terry A'Hearn became chief executive of SEPA, Fly Fishing & Fly Tying magazine famously portrayed SEPA as a lapdog sitting on the lap on the chief executive of Scottish salmon farming lobby.

In 2013, lobbying from the Scottish salmon farming industry stopped data on numbers of mortalities being reported publicly as it was deemed "commercially damaging". The Sunday Herald reported in October 2013:

If you're looking for data on numbers of @rspcaassured dead farmed salmon in Scotland they don't exist – in 2013 @SSPOsays lobbied @ScottishEPA not to disclose mortalities as it was deemed commercially damaging! https://t.co/cDEyvS04dO @strathearnrose @salmon_scottish @scotgp pic.twitter.com/FICRbrpGXJ

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) September 2, 2020

SEPA's culture of pandering to the Salmafia – just six foreign owned/controlled companies have a stranglehold over 99% of 'Scottish' salmon farming – became even more deeply rooted under the leadership of Terry A'Hearn. A Leader Comment published by The Sunday Herald in May 2017 branded SEPA a "poodle" which "seems more concerned to grease the wheels of industry":

How SEPA has been wined and dined by the salmon farming lobby – as well as other industries – has been reported extensively by The Ferret. Here's an article by Rob Edwards in December 2017:

Anne Anderson's slap-up dinner and smoked salmon breakfast was so satisfying that she left SEPA to join the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation. The Ferret reported in September 2018:

Scottish Salmon Watch reported in March 2021:

How greenwashing works – Anne Anderson leaves @ScottishEPA in 2018 to join @SSPOsays (after being wined and dined by lobbyists https://t.co/PYSHIAfAcU) and now joins Norwegian salmon farming giant @scotseafarms @LeroySeafood https://t.co/WeEvq6Xe6m

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) March 29, 2021

Scottish Salmon Watch reported in April 2018:

SEPA should be renamed the Scottish Environment Pollution Agency @ScottishEPA @TerryAHearn
Shame on SEPA for allowing salmon farming to pollute with impunity! @ScotlandMowi @scotseafarms @salmon_scottish @GriegShetland @SSPOsays @HamishMacdonell https://t.co/ugc4X7psEV

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) February 3, 2021

Scottish Salmon Watch reported last month:

Toxic Scottish Salmon – Chemical Use Doubles Since 2018! https://t.co/TAE9KRYcZv @ScottishEPA @ScotlandSalmon @marinescotland @MowiScotlandLtd @salmon_scottish @scotseafarms @GriegShetland @kamesfishfarm @vmdgovuk @MairiMcAllan @ASC_aqua @rspcaassured @sainsburys @Tesco @LidlGB pic.twitter.com/4CUyGTHUUU

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 25, 2022