Media Backgrounder (March 2018)

Hard Evidence

- Dossier of Data on Lice, Diseases & Mortalities at Scottish Salmon Farms

61 salmon farms breaching lice limits between November 2016 and December 2017

Salmon Gill poxvirus, Paranucleospora theridion, gill pathology, complex gill issues,
Vibrio anguillarum, Proliferative Gill Disease, Amoebic Gill Disease, Pancreas Disease,
fungus, Sardiomyopathy Syndrome, Haemorrhagic Smolt Syndrome, Heart & Skeletal
Muscle Inflammation, Enteric Redmouth Disease and Anaemia reported during 2017

Record level mortalities in 2017 at over 25,000 tonnes (up from 5,000 tonnes in 2002 and
10,000 tonnes in 2011) with estimated losses of 15-20 million farmed salmon at a
mortality rate of 26.7%

Key documents for hard data on lice, diseases and mortalities:

Sea Lice Breaching Farm List

Scottish Salmon's Mort Mountain Leaps Over 10 Million - FOI reveals 2.3 million dead
salmon at Marine Harvest farms in 2017
Data on Mortalities & Diseases at Scottish Salmon Farms
In terms of data on lice infestation, infectious diseases and mass mortalities there is now a
great deal of information available via Freedom of Information disclosures. Shamefully,
except for weight of mortalities this damning data is not published officially via the Scottish
Government's & SEPA's 'Scotland's Aquaculture' database. In April 2018 the Scottish
Salmon Producers Organisation have pledged to publish site specific disease and mortality
data. However you spin it, the data makes for uncomfortable reading.
Lice Data:

Thanks to Salmon & Trout Conservation's repeated FOI requests and appeal victory via the
Scottish Information Commissioner site specific data on sea lice infestation on salmon farms
is now available - with the following 61 salmon farms identified as breaching lice limits
between November 2016 and December 2017.
Read more via:

"Scottish salmon sold by a range of supermarkets in the UK has sea lice up to 20 times
acceptable limit - Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Co-op are among those who have stocked salmon
from the worst affected farms"
"Supermarket salmon riddled with sea lice - Ministers tried to bury figures showing a pest
that can spread to and kill fish in the wild is rife in Scottish farms"
"Scottish salmon farming’s ‘liciest’ farms named and shamed"
"Scottish Ministers ordered to disclose names of Scotland’s ‘liciest’ salmon farms to Salmon
& Trout Conservation Scotland"
Guy Linley-Adams of Salmon & Trout Conservation told the Scottish Parliament in March
2018:
A FOI reply by the Scottish Government in January 2018 also provided sea lice data:

The FOI data disclosed by the Scottish Government included:

And this warning letter to Grieg Seafood:
A FOI reply by the Scottish Government in March 2018 also detailed:

Download Excel spreadsheet online here

Another metric to measure lice problems on salmon farms is the use of toxic chemicals to kill
lice. In many respects the use of Azamethiphos and Emamectin benzoate can be viewed as a
proxy for lice infestation (i.e. salmon farms using chemicals to kill sea lice can be assumed to
be indicative of lice problems).
Here's data for December 2017 (the latest data available) detailing salmon farms which used
Azamethiphos (sourced from Scotland's Aquaculture database):

Here's data for December 2017 (the latest data available) detailing salmon farms which used
Emamectin benzoate (sourced from Scotland's Aquaculture database):
The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation also publishes 'Fish Health Management
Reports' every quarter detailing regional sea lice data (with site specific data expected to be
published by the SSPO in April 2018).

Further data is available via the Scottish Government's FOI reply in December 2017: "Sea
lice reports since introduction of policy: EIR release".
The Scottish Parliament's "Report on the Environmental Impacts of Salmon Farming" (5
March 2018) included in relation to sea lice:
The Ferret reported in February 2018:

Including:
Disease Data:

In February 2018, the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture published site specific
disease data for 2017 sites operated by Scotland's three largest salmon farming companies
(Marine Harvest, Scottish Sea Farms & the Scottish Salmon Company) via FOI replies from
the Scottish Government - read online here.

The following reasons for mortalities were reported during 2017: Salmon Gill poxvirus,
Paranucleospora theridion, gill pathology, complex gill issues, Vibrio anguillarum,
Proliferative Gill Disease, Amoebic Gill Disease, Pancreas Disease, fungus, cardiomyopathy
syndrome, Haemorrhagic smolt syndrome, HSMI, Enteric redmouth disease, anaemia and
deaths due to the Hydrolicer, Thermolicer, hydrogen peroxide treatment, Salmosan treatment,
freshwater post treatment, physical damage, plankton, water quality issues, algal bloom, seal
predation and jellyfish.

In summary:

Marine Harvest mort events in 2017 - The Excel spreadsheet details 572,488 mortalities in 56
separate reports/incidents during 2017 - including:

24 reported as CMS
22 reported as Gill Diseases (Gill Pathology, AGD, PGD, gill issues and complex gill issues)
18 reported as Treatment
13 reported as Anaemia
4 reported as PD

Scottish Salmon Company mort events in 2017 - The Excel spreadsheet details 1,512,077
mortalities in 131 separate reports/incidents during 2017 - including:

85 reported as Gill Diseases (Gill Pathology, AGD, PGD, gill issues and complex gill issues)
41 reported as Treatment
14 reported as CMS
11 reported as PD (Pancreas Disease)

Scottish Sea Farms mort events in 2017 - The Excel spreadsheet details 356,082 mortalities
in 46 separate reports/incidents during 2017 - including:

27 reported as Gill Diseases (Gill Pathology, AGD, PGD, gill issues and complex gill issues)
18 reported as Anaemia
14 reported as Treatment
7 reported as CMS
The top twenty mortality events reported by Marine Harvest in 2017 (up to November) were:
The top ten mortality events reported by the Scottish Salmon Company in 2017 (up to
November) were:

The top ten mortality events reported by Scottish Sea Farms in 2017 (up to November) were:
Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD), Proliferative Gill Disease (PGD), Chlamydia and other
conditions listed as "complex gill issues" and "gill pathology" have decimated Scottish
salmon farming over the last decade (read more via "Gill Diseases: Scottish Salmon's Dirty
Big Secret"; "Chlamydia and gill disease ravage Scottish salmon: GAAIA"; "Fit for the
Queen - Loch Duart’s Chlamydia-Contaminated Salmon?"; "Characterization of “Candidatus
Piscichlamydia salmonis” (Order Chlamydiales), a Chlamydia-Like Bacterium Associated
With Epitheliocystis in Farmed Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar)"; "Characteristics of
chlamydia-like organisms pathogenic to fish" and "Characterization of ‘Candidatus
Syngnamydia salmonis’ (Chlamydiales, Simkaniaceae), a bacterium associated with
epitheliocystis in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)").

Pasturella skyensis was first reported on Scottish salmon farms in 2002 with another
scientific paper co-authored by scientists at the University of Glasgow published in 2015.
Cardomyopathy Syndrome (CMS) was first reported on Scottish salmon farms in 2000 with
Scottish Quality Salmon (the forerunner to the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation)
claiming "there is no cause for concern" in an interview with The Independent newspaper.

'Case Information' published by the Scottish Government's Fish Health Inspectorate (the
latest data available is for April to June 2017) includes details of very high mortality at
Marine Harvest's MacLeans Nose salmon farm due to Cardiomyopathy syndrome (CMS).

An email obtained via FOI from the Scottish Government revealed that Marine Harvest was
experiencing increases in mortality from a number of sites in late October 2017 citing
"Anaemia issues", "CMS" and "complex gill issue":
The latest mortality and disease data published on Marine Harvest's web-site is for September
2017 - including:

Data for August 2017 includes:

Other data published monthly by Marine Harvest indicates that Cardiomyopathy Syndrome
(CMS) started causing mortality problems at MacLean's Nose in February 2017 (10.79%
mortality) with problems continuing in March 2017 (11.17% mortality - with 4.02% mortality
also reported at Loch Alsh); April 2017 (12.6% and 3.79% at Loch Alsh); May 2017
(13.96%); June 2017 (9.77%) and July 2017 (4.07%).

Read more via "Data on Mortalities & Diseases at Scottish Salmon Farms" and "Scottish
Salmon's Mort Mountain Leaps Over 10 Million - FOI reveals 2.3 million dead salmon at
Marine Harvest farms in 2017".
Another FOI reply by the Scottish Government to journalist Rob Edwards in October 2017
included the disease and mortality data for Scottish salmon farms in 2016 and 2017.

The data included:

Read more articles written by Rob Edwards published in The Sunday Herald: "A disgrace:
Ten million salmon thrown away by fish farm industry in last year alone" (8 October 2017)
and The Ferret: "We threw away 10 million dead fish, says salmon farming industry" (10
October 2017).

Download high res images via Photo Gallery: Dead Salmon from Scotland's Disease-Ridden
Salmon Farms
An FOI reply from the Scottish Government in February 2018 detailed Marine Harvest's
North Shore salmon farm as being affected by Pasteurella skyensis in 2017:
The Case Information referred to above is available online here
The previous FOI request is available online here
The Parliamentary Question is available online here

Another metric to measure disease problems on salmon farms is the use of hydrogen peroxide
(used to treat Amoebic Gill Disease) and antibiotics. In many respects the use of hydrogen
peroxide and antibiotics can be viewed as a proxy for infectious diseases (i.e. if salmon farms
are using chemicals to treat gill disease and antibiotics to treat infections then it could be
indicative of disease problems).
Here's data detailing the top 20 sites using the largest quantities of hydrogen peroxide during
2015 (sourced from SEPA via FOI):

Here's data for December 2017 detailing salmon farms which used antibiotics in 2014-2015
(sourced from SEPA via FOI):

Shamefully, SEPA does not publish data on the use of hydrogen peroxide or antibiotics
online via Scotland's Aquaculture database. Hence Scottish Salmon Watch have filed a FOI
for data on the use of hydrogen peroxide and antibiotics during 2017.
Up-to-date data on diseases on Scottish salmon farms is not readily accessible - but we know
from previous data accessed via FOI that diseases increased significantly between 1980 and
2007:

Download data obtained via FOI from the Scottish Government via:

Diseases in Scottish Diseases 1980 to

salmon farming.xls 1998.xls
Read more via "Gaining Transparency: using the FOIA process to track down data on the
impacts of fish farming"; "Fish Farmageddon: The Infectious Salmon Aquacalypse" and "The
Infectious Salmon Aquacalypse"

Excerpt from "Scottish Farmed Salmon Exposed" (2008):

Disease data accessed via FOI in 2012 includes:

And data for 2011 includes:

And data for 2010 includes:

And data for 2009 includes:

And data for 2008 includes:

The Scottish Parliament's "Report on the Environmental Impacts of Salmon Farming" (5
March 2018) included in relation to diseases:
Mortality Data:

Mortality data obtained via by the Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture from
SEPA revealed that Marine Harvest had 2.29 million mortalities (4,211 tonnes) during 2017
(up to September).

Download Excel spreadsheet: Marine Harvest mort numbers & weights (Jan to Sept 2017)

The data also revealed that the ten biggest monthly losses at Marine Harvest salmon farms
during 2017 (up to September) were:

149,949 at Colonsay in August (reported via Scotland's Aquaculture as 12,439kg)

97,235 at MacLeans Nose in March (reported via Scotland's Aquaculture as 107,760 kg)
87,914 at MacLeans Nose in April (reported via Scotland's Aquaculture as 135,641kg)
85,147 at MacLeans Nose in May (reported via Scotland's Aquaculture as 156,754kg)
76,913 at Tabhaigh in August (reported via Scotland's Aquaculture as 265,069kg)
70,627 at MacLeans Nose in February (reported via Scotland's Aquaculture as 67,757kg)
62,747 at Erisort (North Shore East) in September (reported via Scotland's Aquaculture as
214,813kg)
48,620 at Soay Sound in August (reported via Scotland's Aquaculture as 3,645kg)
41,946 at Creag an Sagairt West in June (reported via Scotland's Aquaculture as 116,536kg)
41,615 at Ardintoul in February (reported via Scotland's Aquaculture as 4599kg)
Previous data accessed via FOI from SEPA by Rob Edwards of The Sunday Herald revealed
that there were 8.5 million mortalities in 2012, 6.8 million in 2011 and 5.5 million in 2010.
Estimates of mortalities since 2012 range between "20 million" (based on a report published
in June 2017 by Salmon & Trout Conservation assuming that each dead farmed salmon
weighed 1kg - i.e. 20,000 tonnes of mortalities = 20 million fish) and "losses of between 6 to
10 million" (Scott Landsburgh of the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation quoted in The
Sunday Herald in October 2017). Data collated by Rob Edwards for The Sunday Herald
reported that the weight of mortalities had increased from 10,599 tonnes in 2013 to 22,479 in
2016 - suggesting that the number of mortalities also doubled between 2013 and 2016.

Data on the weight of mortalities from 2002 to 2016 was also obtained via FOI from SEPA -
revealing a leap from 7,860 tonnes in 2010 to 18,650 tonnes in 2015.
The Sunday Herald reported in October 2017:

In the absence of official statistics the best available source of data is the annual Scottish Fish
Farm Production surveys published by Marine Scotland Science. This data was cited by
Fergus Ewing in a Scottish Parliamentary Reply in January 2018 - reporting a mortality rate
at Scottish salmon farms is a staggering 26.7% (five times higher than the 5% mortality
tolerated on intensive chicken farms) with an estimated 12.85 million mortalities in 2014.

Read more via "Scottish Salmon's Mort Mountain Leaps Over 10 Million - FOI reveals 2.3
million dead salmon at Marine Harvest farms in 2017".
- New mort data published by SEPA - over 25,000 tonnes of morts in 2017:

In early March 2018, SEPA made available all the mortality data (by weight) for 2017 via
Scotland's Aquaculture database.

An Excel spreadsheet of the data for mortalities during 2017 - including graphs summarising
the data - is available online here
Mortalities spiked in late Summer with higher mortality rates in September:
Here's a Tweet by Joe Crowley (note that his data also includes farmed sea trout mortalities
which explains the slightly higher figures):

Joe Crowley (who exposed leaking wastes from diseased farmed salmon on The One Show's
'Dead Salmon Run' in December 2017) Tweeted:
The 100 worst salmon farm sites for mortalities (by weight and month) between 2002 and
2017 were:
Download 2017 Excel SEPA data from Scotland's Aquaculture Database with summary
tables & graphs

Marine Harvest had the most mortalities followed by the Scottish Salmon Company, Cooke
Aquaculture, Scottish Sea Farms, Grieg Seafood and Loch Duart all with over 1,000 tonnes
of dead farmed salmon in 2017:

The worst monthly mortalities during 2017 were reported at the following salmon farming
sites with Gravir Outer (Scottish Salmon Company) and Poll na Gille (Marine Harvest)
featuring twice with most morts appearing in October/Novermber:
Read more via "The Herald: "Video: Disease concern as Scots salmon farmers' produce
'stomach-churning' record levels of fish deaths ".

Note that the increase in mortalities is not merely a function of increases in Scottish salmon
farming production (in fact salmon farming production back in 2003 was higher than
production in 2016!):
Data disclosed by SEPA in March 2018 detailed other sites operated by Kames and Scottish
Sea Farms where mass mortalities are occurring:

Download the data as an Excel spreadsheet online here

Note that a letter from SEPA dated 6 March 2018 explained:

Annual mortality data for 2010-2012 was provided by SEPA:

The spreadsheet summarising fish farm mortalities in 2010, 2011 and 2012 released by SEPA
can be downloaded here (188KB Excel)
For 2012, here's the worst sites in terms of # of morts:

However, later in 2013 SEPA bowed to pressure from the Scottish Salmon Producers
Organisation to keep the number of dead salmon secret:

Read more via "Public denied info on full scale of salmon deaths" and "Scottish watchdog
labelled ‘lapdog’ after agreeing to keep fish farm deaths secret"
Here's the letter from SSPO Chair, Phil Thomas (download as a PDF online here):

And here's the reply from your predecessor James Curran, Chief Executive of SEPA
(download as a PDF online here):
Other data on mortalities include this 'Mortality Event Report' obtained by GAAIA from the
Scottish Government via FOI detailing 60,000 morts at Marine Harvest's Soay farm in 2016
due to hydrogen peroxide treatment for Amoebic Gill Disease:
Nearly 100,000 farmed salmon were 'Thermoliced' to death by Marine Harvest during 2016:

Read more via "'Thermolicer' Back-Fires Killing 95,400 Farmed Salmon"; Fish farm firm
kills 175,000 salmon by accident; "Oops: fish farm firm kills 175,000 of its salmon by
accident" and "Thousands of fish poached alive in lice treatment bungle"

A Thermolicer treatment caused the deaths of 5,794 salmon at Grieg Seafood Shetland’s
North Havra site in November 2016:

Read more via "Thermal treatment for lice blamed for salmon deaths" and "Treatment leads
to morts in Shetland"
Mortality events reported by the Scottish Salmon Company in 2017 include eight cases
involving 90,000 dead salmon due to using a Hydrolicer:

Mortality events reported by Scottish Sea Farms in 2017 include six cases involving over
25,000 dead salmon due to using a Thermolicer:
Mortality events reported by Marine Harvest in 2017 include three cases involving over
20,000 dead salmon due to using a Thermolicer:

Online via: "Scottish Salmon's Mort Mountain Leaps Over 10 Million - FOI reveals 2.3
million dead salmon at Marine Harvest farms in 2017".

A Parliamentary Question from Donald Cameron also provided the following information:
In June 2017 Salmon & Trout Conservation published a report - "RSPCA Assured
certification of Scottish farmed salmon" - estimating mortalities at 20 million farmed salmon
per year.

Read via "New report estimates that Scottish salmon farming mortalities are now running at
20 million fish a year despite 2/3rds of the industry being certified as RSPCA Assured"

An FOI reply from the Scottish Government in November 2017 also detailed: "Salmon
mortality rates at farming sites 1997-2016".
The mortality and disease data disclosed included:
And the FOI reply detailed various 'Mortality Reason Reports':
The Scottish Parliament's "Report on the Environmental Impacts of Salmon Farming" (5
March 2018) included in relation to mortalities:
- Media Coverage on Mortalities:

The Herald: "Video: Disease concern as Scots salmon farmers' produce 'stomach-churning'
record levels of fish deaths"
"Scotland's fish farmers to release salmon mortality figures"
"Scottish Salmon's Mort Mountain Leaps Over 10 Million - FOI reveals 2.3 million dead
salmon at Marine Harvest farms in 2017".
Data on Mortalities & Diseases at Scottish Salmon Farms
Photo Gallery: Dead Salmon from Scotland's Disease-Ridden Salmon Farms
Press Release: "Diseased Salmon Slip Net & Spill on Road - Failure to police the transport of
dead fish prompts EC complaint"
Sunday Times: "Scots councils ‘failing to enforce EC laws on leaky salmon trucks’"
Daily Mail: "Thousands of fish thrown in a truck - and troubling new questions for salmon
farms"

"Parliamentary Question: to ask the Scottish Government how many farmed salmon have
died in each year since 2012"
"First Minister questioned on leaking wastes from morts - call for a moratorium from Greens"
"BBC's 'Dead Salmon Run' Opens Can of Worms"
"Millions of Scottish Salmon Going Up in Smoke"
BBC's The One Show: "The Dead Salmon Run"
BBC's The One Show (Part 2)
"125,000 salmon die in disease outbreak at Lewis fish farms"
"Campaigners say 'no more salmon farms' after disease on Lewis kills 125,000 fish"
"A disgrace: Ten million salmon thrown away by fish farm industry in last year alone"
"Death rate at salmon farms doubles to 20m fish a year"
"Welfare fears after claim deaths of farmed salmon have doubled"
"Thermal treatment for lice blamed for salmon deaths"
"Poached alive - fish die as farm overheats water"
"Oops: fish farm firm kills 175,000 of its salmon by accident"
"European Commission complaint over dead fish dumping forces rule change"
"Scottish watchdog labelled ‘lapdog’ after agreeing to keep fish farm deaths secret"
"Farmed salmon killed by disease leaps to 8.5 million"
"Where have all the dead fish gone?"

- Mortality & Disease - Increased Incidence in Summer?

A scientific paper - "Using fish mortality data to assess reporting thresholds as a tool for
detection of potential disease concerns in the Scottish farmed salmon industry " - authored by
Marine Scotland Science in 2016 reported:

The paper also referred to a "mortality database":

Another scientific paper published in 2013 reported:

The scientific paper also included:

And reported:
When asked for a copy of the data referred to above, one of the co-authors explained:

From: Jimmy Turnbull [mailto:j.f.turnbull@stir.ac.uk]

Sent: 09 March 2018 10:46
To: Don Staniford
Subject: Re: Database on diseases on Scottish salmon farms?

Dear Mr Staniford

The data were provided on the basis that they would not be retained past the end of the
project and were deleted from our file storage in 2013, once the paper was accepted for
publication. For more recent data you would need to approach the production companies
directly.

Jimmy Turnbull

James F Turnbull BVM&S, MSc, PHD, MRCVS

Professor of Aquatic Population Health and Welfare
Institute of Aquaculture
Faculty of Natural Sciences
University of Stirling
Stirling, Scotland, UK
FK9 4LA
Tel: +44 (0) 1786 467913
Email: jft1@stir.ac.uk

Another scientific paper published in 2012 included:

Speaking on BBC's Reporting Scotland (5 March 2018), Scott Landsburgh of the SSPO also
suggested that global warming was linked to rising mortality with marine water temperatures
rising 15%.
- EC Complaint regarding disposal of mortalities

Following a BBC exposé on 'The One Show' broadcast in December 2017, campaigners
called on local authorities and the Scottish Government to properly police the transport of
mortalities from Scotland's disease-ridden salmon farms.

Photo: Fluids leaking from a Billy Bowie haulage truck transporting diseased farmed salmon
from Loch Kishorn - broadcast by the BBC's 'The One Show' on 11 December 2017
The Global Alliance Against Industrial Aquaculture (GAAIA) filed a complaint to the
European Commission in January 2018 regarding a breach of the Animal By-Products
Regulations by the United Kingdom. GAAIA also wrote to the Scottish Government
requesting an urgent investigation into disease-ridden mortalities from Scottish salmon farms
(Download Letter to Fergus Ewing 28 Jan 2018).

Footage from the BBC screened on 11 December 2017 showed a haulage truck operated by
Billy Bowie flouting the law by leaking fluids from diseased salmon farmed by Scottish Sea
Farms in Loch Kishorn (read more via Scottish Sea Farms mort events in 2017). There have
been other reported cases of farmed salmon spilling onto roads across Scotland including the
A9.

Read more via:

Press Release: "Diseased Salmon Slip Net & Spill on Road - Failure to police the transport of
dead fish prompts EC complaint"
Sunday Times: "Scots councils ‘failing to enforce EC laws on leaky salmon trucks’"
- Publication of site specific mortality data in April 2018?

The National reported (7 February 2018):

David Sandison of the SSPO pledged to publish site specific data on diseases, lice and
mortalities in the Scottish Parliament on 6 February 2018 online here.

On BBC Radio Shetland (5 March 2018) David Sandison pledged to publish the data in April
2018. Listen via BBC Radio Shetland grills Scottish Salmon Producers on "damning" report.
- Deformities and welfare problems lurking on Scottish salmon farms?

With over 25,000 tonnes of mortalities representing an estimated 15-20 million morts during
2017 the scale of Scottish salmon farming's welfare problems could be staggering. What
horrors are hiding in Scotland's 253 active salmon farms?

Read more via "Scottish Salmon Farming 101" and Scottish Salmon Watch's "Welfare" and
"Diseases"