Farmed Scottish Salmon is the UK’s top food export and represents 11% of Scotland’s total exports, with sales from Orkney alone up 19% year-on-year, rising from £65 million to £77million.
On Wednesday 2nd of October the industry came under the scrutiny of the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs and Islands Committee after reports appeared in the media that hundreds of dead fish were removed from a site prior to a recent visit by the MSPs.
The cross party committee chaired by Conservative Finlay Carson, is following up on the recommendations made by a previous committee about improvements that were needed to the farming of salmon in Scotland. In November 2018, the then Rural Economy & Connectivity Committee (RECC) said that urgent action needed to be taken to improve the regulation of the Scottish salmon farming industry and to address fish health and environmental challenges.
At the time, the Committee set out its recommendations about how challenges, such as the control of sea lice, rising fish mortalities and the need to reduce the sector’s impact on the environment, should be addressed. The Committee also said that the current standards of regulation of the sector was ‘not acceptable’.
At the meeting on Wednesday, Finlay Carson, gave the representatives of the sector an opportunity to respond to the reports in the media of the removal of dead fish before the visit by the MSPs at the Dunstaffnage facility run by Scottish Sea Farms.
Tavish Scott, CEO of Salmon Scotland robustly defended the industry and said that the footage was part of a ‘deliberate orchestrated campaign’ by ‘extreme activists’. He went on to say that members of the committee had been ‘used’ by the anti-salmon campaigners.
It was an aggressive start to the meeting. MSPs on the committee are there to ask the questions members of the public do not get to and to delve into the current and future plans the Salmon industry in Scotland has to implement the recommendations as agreed to by the previous committee with the sector.
Explaining away the incident which captured the media attention, Dr Ralph Bickerdike, Head of Fish Health, Scottish Sea Farms, said that there had been no attempt to cover up and that the removal of dead fish was part of the daily routine. In this case 250 fish had died as a result of a ‘handling event.’
One of the challenges facing not just aquaculture but all of us is climate change. Warmer seas mean that fish farms are dealing with a rise in amoebic gill disease (AGD)
Amoebic gill disease (Neoparamoeba Perurans) is caused by the protozoan parasite Neoparamoeba perurans. It is a problem for salmonid aquaculture, resulting in severe economic losses in Tasmania and Australia and recently causing problems for the Scottish salmon industry. The parasites causes proliferative gill disease.
Clinical signs include increased mucus on the gills with white multifocal patches of swollen tissue. Fish may swim close to the surface and breathe rapidly. Scottish Government
The Scottish Salmon industry has invested in new craft, Well-Boats, fish are moved into holds of fresh water. They are then subjected to pressurised water to remove sea lice and to clean the gills. Due to this process many fish will die.
In 2022 blooms of micro jelly fish ( hydrozoans) were blamed for a significant rise in farmed salmon mortalities, 2.8 million in the month of September of that year. Although the jellyfish can be as small as 2 mm, they can sting or block the gills of fish, causing death or exacerbating other problems. Stings and cuts caused by micro jellyfish and sharp plankton (flagellates) also contribute to amoebic gill disease (AGD). – Fish Farming Expert
The Rural Affairs and Islands Committee asked the Fish Health Inspectorate for a response to the removal of dead fish at Pen 1 Dunstaffnage.
“To assist your understanding the FHI have discussed the current operation of the farm with the business on 26th September 2024. The site is currently stocked with 447,563 Atlantic salmon at an average weight of 2.6 Kg and has been taking actions to manage the gill health of stocks held at the site. The majority of the stocks had been treated with freshwater in week 36, between 03/09/2024 and 09/09/2024. Pen 1, the main focus of the video footage, received a freshwater treatment three days before the video footage was taken. The mortality levels have not been above the voluntary reporting levels, with 1,082 Kg of biomass overall having been removed from the site on the date the video footage was taken.”
Most of this lengthy meeting was taken up with the response to the media reports and of the mortality rates of farmed salmon. Also covered was the positive economic impact of the Farmed Salmon Industry particularly in island locations, their provision of Housing for the workforce, and other welfare issues such as escapes affecting wild stocks of fish, and the use of SLICE with new regulations coming in from SEPA. On this last issue Ben Hadfield, Chief Operating Officer Farming Scotland, Ireland, Faroes and Atlantic Canada, Mowi Scotland, suggested that SEPA had been responding to lobbying by a ‘niche level of activists’.
Under intense questioning by Edward Mountain MSP, who had chaired the previous committee (RECC), he put Ben Hadfield on the spot about fish mortalities which stand at 20 to 25% at sea. Ben Hadfield had given evidence to the RECC back in 2018 that the high mortality rates would be addressed. It seems that challenge remains.
Giving evidence to the Committee on behalf of the Farmed Salmon Sector were:
- Dr Ralph Bickerdike, Head of Fish Health, Scottish Sea Farms;
- David Brown, Shetland Seawater Manager, Cooke Scotland;
- Ben Hadfield, Chief Operating Officer Farming Scotland, Ireland, Faroes and Atlantic Canada, Mowi Scotland;
- Kimberley McKinnell, Head of Health, Bakkafrost Scotland;
- Constance Pattillo, Head of Farming Operations, Wester Ross Salmon;
- Tavish Scott, Chief Executive, Salmon Scotland.
More information and the full papers of the meeting can be found here: Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
And you can watch the recording of the meeting here:
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Fiona Grahame
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