Scottish salmon industry responds to “extreme activist” claims of poor welfare

“We, like any farmer, do everything we can to minimize [mortaility], but it is, regretfully, the reality of farming.”
A photo of Scottish Sea Farms employees removing dead fish from a net pen
Footage from Animal Equality UK, showing Scottish Sea Farms employees removing dead salmon from a net pen | Photo courtesy of Animal Equality UK
6 Min

Scotland’s salmon-farming industry is facing a “deliberate, orchestrated, and coordinated campaign by anti-salmon farming extreme activists,” according to Salmon Scotland Chief Executive Tavish Scott.

Addressing the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee of the Scottish Parliament, which is conducting an inquiry into the industry’s practices, Scott said Scotland’s salmon-farming companies and supply chain businesses should not have to put up with the campaign, adding that government ministers, civil servants, and industry regulators are also regularly “assailed with abuse and intimidatory tactics from extreme activists.”

The meeting, held 2 October, began with the committee seeking industry clarification on recent media reports that claimed Scottish Sea Farms swiftly removed a large quantity of dead fish from one of its facilities prior to a 23 September visit by Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs).

Before the media reports, farmed animal rights nonprofit Animal Equality UK released video footage showing dead fish being removed from a Scottish Sea Farms pen ahead of the MSPs’ visit, with the organization claiming the salmon industry wants to hide the truth about farm mortalities.

“This is an obvious and deliberate attempt to derail this committee's focus on what has changed in Scotland's salmon-farming sector since 2018,” Scott said, referring to the last inquiry the committee took into the industry. “No member of this committee can be in any doubt as to the motives of these extreme activists. We deplore that, and we are very sorry that the committee members have been used in this way.”

Scott petitioned for the committee’s help, saying the sector needs


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