For years, OneKind has raised our voice in defence of farmed salmon, who suffer and die in large numbers.

They are affected by disease, sea lice, and poor water quality. They live restricted lives in barren, crowded sea cages, with little interest and no autonomy. As well as these welfare violations, other individuals and organisations point out the harms to ecosystems and human communities living near sea cages.

In 2018 two committees in the Scottish Parliament investigated and reported on this industry, documented many of these harms, and concluded that reform was needed and “the status quo is not an option.” Now, the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee is conducting a follow up inquiry, to assess how much progress has been made towards recommendations made in that report six years ago.

Little or no progress has been made when it comes to welfare, and we made this point to the committee in a detailed written submission, which we asked to be considered as part of their inquiry. Here we will give a brief summary of what we wrote for the committee.

 

Salmon mortality levels have continued to increase and are unacceptably high. The salmon farming industry has invested heavily in trying to reduce disease, parasite and mortality rates, and yet is failing to do so.  Many of the treatments are themselves harmful and cause poor welfare and death, as do handling procedures. Climate change is exacerbating these challenges, and the technological fixes the industry promotes bring further risks of mass mortality as they enable production in riskier locations, such as offshore sites, and are vulnerable to human error or technical failing. 

Physical health is only one aspect of welfare, as we pointed out to the committee, but an industry that cannot even meet the fundamental, legal requirement, to protect animals in their care from suffering, injury and disease, requires urgent, radical reform. The vicious cycle of failing to balance competing harms within the interplay of environmental conditions, diseases and treatments does not seem likely to be resolved.

We also described for the committee the lack of regulation that is part of the problem. Recent Freedom of Information requests have shown that, while the Animal and Plant Health Agency is responsible for welfare inspections, these are carried out infrequently and rarely, if ever, lead to any repercussions for poor welfare or mass mortalities. Any problems that happen across the industry and/or where the protocols agreed by the industry are being taken do not seem to be viewed as “unnecessary suffering”, regardless of the experience of the fish.

Finally, we explained that a modern, holistic understanding of animal welfare sees the animal’s mental and emotional state as the key aspect and emphasises the importance of positive experiences and agency.

Agency is the ability of the animal to make choices and have control over some aspects of their lives. This enhances their lifelong wellbeing in a range of ways. It allows them to learn skills and strategies to better respond to different circumstances they might encounter throughout life, including unexpected events. The ability to choose what they do allows animals to follow their motivations and fulfil their needs and desires, which makes them happier. Having some control over aspects of their lives, by being able to predict the outcome of choices, gives animals the security to challenge themselves, which contributes to learning and building competence. Ultimately, agency can enrich and deepen an animal’s umwelt – their unique experience of life based on how they perceive and interact with the world.

The impoverished environment in a sea cage does not allow salmon to exercise agency and probably leads to negative emotions such as frustration, boredom, depression and helplessness.

 

So, while emphasising the urgency of addressing the poor physical health of farmed salmon, we also pointed out to the committee that there is far more to welfare than the salmon farming industry is currently grappling with. If the Scottish Parliament and Government are serious about improving fish welfare, scrutiny must shift to how to achieve acceptable holistic welfare for farmed salmon – if that is even possible.