Mowi Salmon MultiNational Under Fire After 700,00 Deaths

Mowi has disclosed that its Bagh Dail nan Ceann salmon farm in Loch Shuna north east of the island of Jura was visited recently by APHA inspectors. In a letter in September 2019, APHA told the company that it had failed to take “adequate actions” between 10 July and 12 August to ensure the welfare of lumpfish. “Not taking effective decision at earlier date has prolonged the period while the lumpfish still at the site have been in need to be protected from suffering and disease,” APHA said. Lumpfish are used by fish farmers to eat the lice that can infest caged salmon and damage them. Dead lumpfish at Bagh Dail nan Ceann – which some say translates as ‘Bay of the Dead Heads’ – were filmed on 2 July by the anti-fish farming campaigner, Don Staniford, who then filed a complaint to APHA. The farm was also criticised in a report by the Scottish Government’s Fish Health Inspectorate after a visit on 26 June. Lumpfish had suffered “issues with mortality increasing with the warmer weather,” the report said. “This was visible when inspecting the pens as some fish looked very lean, and others with a clear fungal challenge.” In 2018 The Ferret reported that the Scottish animal campaigns charity, OneKind, had ranked Bagh Dail nan Ceann as one of the worse for animal welfare in Scotland. That was based on an analysis of death rates, overcrowding, lice infestations and other factors in 2017. On 7 November 2019 the Scottish Environment Protection Agency announced that it was planning to grant Mowi permission to increase the mass of salmon at Bagh Dail nan Ceann from 2,500 tonnes in 10 cages to 3,000 tonnes in 12 cages. Objectors say they will now ask the Scottish Government to intervene to prevent the expansion.