We, the undersigned, demand that the Scottish Government stop using public money to fund the industrial salmon farming industry.
Almost all of the "Scottish" salmon sold in UK supermarkets and restaurant chains is factory-farmed. The fillets come from the same industrial system, and almost none of it is owned by Scottish crofters, but by four foreign corporations: Bakkafrost, Cooke, Mowi, and Scottish Sea Farms.
The farms sit in deep-sea lochs, where they pack tens of thousands of fish into a single space, confining a migratory animal into an underwater cage. In the often dirty, crowded pens, sea lice thrive and eat the fish alive, stripping away chunks of flesh and leaving them with damaged and missing eyes. To fight lice and fungal infections, the industry floods the water with toxic chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide and formaldehyde, the chemical used to embalm the dead, and a known human carcinogen. Over 48,000kg of formaldehyde was discharged into Scottish lochs in a single year, and by 2017 at least 45 lochs had been polluted with fish farm chemicals.
The deaths do not stop at the cage. Sea lice bred in the farms swarm onto wild salmon migrating past, pushing infestation up to 73 times above normal levels and playing a proven role in driving Scotland's wild salmon toward collapse. Locals claim the chemicals poison wild lobsters and shrimp for miles around. And when farmed fish escape, they breed with the wild salmon that remain, leaving weaker offspring that struggle to survive.
Despite the enormous amount of pollution, the very obvious animal suffering, and the fact that these farms are almost all foreign-owned, taxpayers keep propping up this industry, which is run for private profit.
Between 2016 and 2018, Mowi, a company with revenues of £4.9bn, was given over £1m for a hydrolicer workboat, equipment to deal with lice, a hydrolicer and nets. This was followed by additional grants totalling more than £11m between 2019 and 2024.
Scottish Sea Farms received over £600,000 towards sea lice control technologies, including a thermolicer that killed an unknown number of the fish it “treats”. In 2018, it hit the jackpot with over £1m for research and development and “bulk bin process development”. Between 2022 and 2023, it received £5 million from the public purse, which was double the tax it paid that year. Astonishingly, in 2023, the company met with government ministers to press for even more handouts.
#EndSalmonFarming #DontBuyIt #EndFactoryFarming