Salmon farming is wreaking ruin on marine ecosystems, through pollution, parasites and high fish mortality rates which are causing billions of pounds a year in damage, according to a new assessment of the global salmon farming industry. ‘Dead Loss’ describes some of the global economic, social and environmental costs of salmon farming including from associated pollution, parasites and high fish mortality rates. They also find that transparency and accountability are extremely weak by comparison with land-based farming. The analysis focuses on the four big producing countries (Norway, Chile, Canada and Scotland). In Scotland, where the industry has grown by 91% since 1997, the costs studied over a seven year period to 2019 amounted to almost USD$4.6 billion. The environmental costs over this period were estimated to be £1.4billion.
Also in Scotland, two major supermarkets have suspended trading with a Scottish fish farm amid allegation of inhuman treatment of fish.
One of the largest farmed salmon producers in Scotland, The Scottish Salmon Company (SSC), have been accused of serious welfare breaches. Waitrose and the Co-op said they will suspend trading with SSC until they have conducted their own investigations.