Mowi Scotland's short video of fish feeding at its Ardessie site in Little Loch Broom.
Mowi Scotland slams 'misleading' video footage and comments by activist
Fish farmer releases its own film to show healthy stock at broodstock site
Salmon farmer Mowi Scotland has issued a strong rebuttal of “misleading” allegations made by anti-fish farming activist Jamie Moyes after he released a video he made last Sunday of injured fish in the company’s Ardessie farm, which is used for broodstock candidates.
“What I witnessed at this Mowi site is devastating. These huge brood fish are kept in small cages for several years and repeatedly stripped of their eggs. I observed blind fish - consistent with advanced sea lice injuries - colliding with enclosure nets, over time resulting in severe facial abrasion,” Moyes told Scottish Watch Watch, a website run by veteran activist Don Staniford.
The Ardessie farm in Little Loch Broom, Wester Ross, has a square pen assembly that contains salmon in their second sea winter, during which they approach sexual maturity.
Responding to Moyes’ video and claims, Mowi has released its own video showing healthy salmon feeding in the Ardessie pens (see above).
“The health and welfare of our salmon is the most important factor in our business and the basis of good farming to which everyone at Mowi is committed,” a spokesperson for Mowi said.
“We are therefore saddened to see this footage, which shows snout and eye damage on a very small number of individuals, but also disgusted that this individual is twisting this for his own gain. Both the footage and the accompanying comments made by the anti-fish farming activist Jamie Moyes from Abolish Salmon Farming, misrepresent salmon farming and mislead the public.”
Moyes’ claims are contained in a press release from Staniford, who says that the fish inside the Ardessie pens “are understood to have been sourced from Loch Leven - where Mowi breached lice limits by over 15 times”.
“The salmon at our facility in Ardessie come from many of our farms across Scotland, including Loch Leven,” stated Mowi. “They come to mature at Ardessie, for typically between six to eight months. At the end of this period, some of the salmon will be selected as broodstock and others will be harvested.”
99% seawater
Responding to Moyes’ claims that fish are kept in small cages for several years and repeatedly stripped of their eggs, the company added: “Whilst maturing in the pens at Ardessie, the stocking density is 1% fish to 99% seawater, not ‘small cages’ as suggested by Mr Moyes. Our Ardessie farm is certified under the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) programme from the Global Seafood Alliance.”
Mowi explained that the salmon that are selected for broodstock are then transferred to its newly built land-based Ardessie broodstock facility nearby.
It is simply false and therefore a lie to suggest that ‘brood fish are kept in small cages for several years and repeatedly stripped of their eggs’
“At the hatchery, the tanks holding the salmon each have their own freshwater RAS (recirculating aquaculture system) and temperature control. As is the case in the wild, the salmon spawn a single time. It is simply false and therefore a lie to suggest that ‘brood fish are kept in small cages for several years and repeatedly stripped of their eggs’,” said Mowi.
Humanely culled
As for the injuries sustained by the salmon in Moyes’ video, the company’s spokesperson said: “Mowi would like to clarify that at the time we believe this footage was captured, there were 17,354 salmon at our farm in Ardessie. The heavily edited footage repeatedly shows a few damaged salmon which are in the process of being humanely culled, and this in no way represents the salmon population.
“Our Fish Health Welfare and Biology Director, Professor Herve Migaud, carried out a health screening last week. As a result of this inspection, only 12 moribund salmon were identified, removed and culled humanely under veterinary supervision. The overall health of the salmon was deemed as excellent, and no evidence of any viral or bacterial infection was found.
“It is common for both wild and farmed salmon to develop snout and eye damage at the final stage of their lifecycle, like the salmon at Ardessie. This is because male salmon exhibit aggressive behaviour towards each other at this stage. All salmon are monitored by our farmers on a daily basis, and any health concerns are acted upon immediately.
“Scotland’s salmon farmers work to the highest welfare standards anywhere in the world. As in all farming sectors, it is inevitable that some fish within a population of tens of thousands will become unwell, but nobody cares more about the animals they look after than our farmers.”
Biosecurity breach
Mowi said it was wrong to claim that the injured fish represent the total population, and said “the act of capturing this footage is a critical breach of biosecurity which risks bringing infection to the salmon population at Ardessie and therefore significantly compromises the healthy salmon Mowi is striving to grow from Mowi-strain broodstock”.
Don Staniford has submitted a complaint about Mowi, based on Moyes’ video, to the UK Government’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).
A Mowi spokesperson said: “We have proactively reached out to the APHA and offered a site visit to our farm at Ardessie. Should the APHA wish to visit the site over the bank holiday weekend, we would welcome that. We are confident in the high standards of health and welfare of the salmon in our care.”
