Scottish Sea Farms

A 2020 investigation found a considerable proportion of fish at Scottish Sea Farms sites to be in an extremely poor state. This included fish being eaten alive by lice, seaweed growing in open wounds, damaged gills and fins, abrasions, lesions, and damage to mouths. Some fish were missing eyes, while others had large chunks of flesh missing.⁴

In 2022, two Scottish Sea Farms’ sites reported huge numbers of deaths among the factory-farmed salmon. At Loch Nevis B, 323,784 fish died, while at Loch Nevis A 229,484 salmon died. The weekly mortality rates were as high as 59.8%. An investigation by the Fish Health Inspectorate found that fish were suffering from a multitude of diseases including complex gill disease, heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (viral), and aeromonas salmonicida (a bacterial infection).⁵ And they have the gall to call salmon a healthy option.

In 2024, Scottish Sea Farms was temporarily suspended from the RSPCA Assured welfare certification scheme after a video emerged of live fish being left to suffocate out of water.⁶

In 2025, Scottish Sea Farms was found to be above the industry’s own accepted threshold for sea lice infestation between 1 Feb and 30 June.⁷

At another Scottish Sea Farms’ site, investigated in 2025, fish were found to be suffering from lice, wounds, and blindness.⁸

Lice are so common in fish farms that either toxic chemicals are used to treat the fish or the animals are physically pumped through a de-licing machine.⁹ If you think that sounds like it could cause injury and death to the salmon, you’d be right. Don’t worry, says Scottish Sea Farms, the vast majority survive.¹⁰

Between 2013 and 2015, Scottish Sea Farms shot 56 seals in Scotland,¹¹ and between 2018 and 2019, it shot five seals just in Shetland alone.¹² In 2021, it became illegal to shoot seals without a license but still the killing continues.¹³ In 2021, Scottish Sea Farms chose to “humanely euthanise” a trapped seal by shooting the animal in the face after he became trapped inside a pen.¹⁴

Scottish Sea Farms withdrew from the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s (ASC) programme when it suggested veterinarian interventions should be made in specific circumstances. Scottish Sea Farms resented that kind of compassionate action and preferred to stick to their own advice, which seems to have been that the fish are “best left alone”.¹⁵ Can someone please lend Scottish Sea Farms a copy of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act? It could use a refresher course.

In 2024, an open letter was signed by over 50 local businesses, NGOs, and community groups calling for the government to urgently address salmon farming's impact on the environment and the local economy.¹⁶

Where to begin? Let’s start with Scottish Sea Farms’ deep aversion to people knowing how they conduct their business. In 2018, the company hired corporate lawyers to try to prevent government ministers from releasing photos of diseased and lice-infested fish. They argued that the photos would cause “reputational damage” if they were seen by the public.¹⁷ They failed in that bid, and yes, unsurprisingly, the photos showing the appalling suffering of animals on their farms did indeed tarnish their reputation.

In 2021, sick of the bad publicity that follows whenever people see the truth, Scottish Sea Farms applied to the court to ban an investigator from going near their farms.¹⁸ It took a while but by 2025, they had got their wish.¹⁹

The company appears rather wary of letting MSPs to see what actually goes on at their farms. Just hours before a group of MSPs arrived on a fact-finding mission in 2024, Scottish Sea Farms was filmed removing large quantities of dead and dying salmon from the site.²⁰ Coincidence?

Moving on to some shady deals… A consultancy firm which helped Scottish Sea Farms to lodge a planning application for a farm also took part in an “independent” government evaluation, which concluded that the application process for new salmon farms did not move quickly enough. Nope, definitely no conflict of interest there.²¹

Scottish Sea Farms is a member of Salmon Scotland,²² a lobbying organisation which represents its members and which is permitted to speak on behalf of Scottish Sea Farms.²³ Its Chief Executive, Tavish Scott is a former MSP. He has called the work of charities and campaigners who publicise the enormous problems with salmon farming “anti-democratic”²⁴ and even threatened to sue an MSP for asking questions about the problems caused by the industry.²⁵ Scott has been investigated for alleged serious breaches of lobbying rules, including failing to register his activities, and has been described as a “regular visitor” to Holyrood where he still holds a parliamentary access pass.²⁶

In 2022, Salmon Scotland provided the Rural Affairs Secretary with £1500 worth of tickets and hospitality, which were not initially registered as required.²⁷

All their lobbying seems to pay off. The industry no longer has to state on its packaging that Scottish salmon is farmed, even though almost all of it is.²⁸ Now, people thinking of buying salmon have no clue as to the toxic, filthy, chemically polluted conditions that the fish once swam in.

Scottish Sea Farms has also hired a lobbying firm called Message Matters, which goes to political party conferences and meets with politicians. One entry reads: “The purpose of the meeting was to inform the Member [of Parliament] of the activities of Scottish Sea Farms, particularly in relation to its intention to sustainably expand its operations, and to influence her to advocate for the need to improve infrastructure to allow for that expansion.”²⁹

Scottish Sea Farms also lobbies MSPs directly. The declaration of one meeting reads: “We sought to… influence them to support a regulatory and political environment which promotes that sustainable growth.”³⁰

Given the closeness of the salmon industry to the government, it probably won’t surprise you to learn that Scottish Sea Farms has been handed a big chunk of public money. In 2013, it was given £5,760 towards an “organisational development review” and another £3,645 towards “business efficiency”.³¹ In 2015, it received £3,300 of taxpayers’ money to spruce up its website and another £10,500 for “international brand building”.³² In 2016, it received £450,000 for that thermolicer³³ that kills an unknown number of the fish it “treats” and another £175,000 towards sea lice control technologies.³⁴ It also received £7,350 for “Innovation support” and £76,887 for research into freshwater farming.³⁵ In 2018, it hit the jackpot with £1,284,745 for research and development, £53,058 for “bulk bin process development” and £2,640 to help support their business.³⁶ Between 2022 and 2023, it received £5 million from the public purse, which was double the tax it paid that year.³⁷

Astonishingly, in 2023, the company met with government ministers to press for even more handouts.³⁸

A local fisherman whose business is impacted by this agri-giant's factory farms said: "It’s hard to figure out why our own council are hellbent on destroying our living for the gain of a few big Norwegians. It’s betrayal at the highest level and it’s a fine shame to all involved.”³⁹

Lice infestation in Scottish salmon farms is not just an animal cruelty issue; it is also an environmental hazard because the lice can infect wild fish, while the toxic chemicals used to try and treat them pollute waters and kill wildlife. In 2017, Scottish Sea Farms was named among the companies that had polluted 45 Scottish lochs with toxic chemicals including emamectin benzoate, which is poisonous to birds, mammals, fish, and other aquatic organisms.⁴⁰

In 2020, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) sent two “final warning" letters to Scottish Sea Farms for under-reporting, or failing to report, the use of chemicals. Sepa accused the company of supplying information that “was not true and accurate” in 2015, 2016 and 2017, saying this was a “serious matter” and that any further breaches could result in prosecution.⁴¹ And yet, somehow, it never does.

In 2022, evidence emerged that toxic pollution caused by Scottish Sea Farms had damaged rare and beautiful reefs in Loch Creran.⁴² While the company (obviously) denied there was anything wrong at all, there is no doubt that the reefs’ status is bad and getting worse.⁴³

Did you know that salmon farms are allowed to use formaldehyde? This toxic chemical is classified by the WHO as a carcinogen and was used 200 times over a three-year period by Scottish salmon farms.⁴⁴ There are supposed to be limits but do you think for a minute that Scottish Sea Farms stuck to those? Spoiler: it did not. Limits were breached 177 times in just seven months.⁴⁵ But really, who thinks that anything above no formaldehyde is an appropriate amount to discharge into the environment?

Continuing with the fuck-the-environment-just-give-us-the-cash theme, Scottish Sea Farms discharged into the loch another potent insecticide used to kill lice. Dr Mark Borthwick, a salmon farm expert, said azamethiphos is highly toxic to the aquatic environment and the recommended treatment concentration causes 100% mortality in crustaceans and can kill seafloor animals. He described a “lethal plume stretching 800m-plus around the farm”. Scottish Sea Farms had used 40kg of this toxic chemical.⁴⁶

In 2024, as the Scottish government tried to clean up this mess, Salmon Scotland – on behalf of its members including Scottish Sea Farms – reportedly simply refused to cooperate.⁴⁷

In 2024, when the Scottish government finally planned to introduce a safety limit on the use of the toxic emamectin benzoate, Scottish Sea Farms (and other industrial salmon farming corporations) lobbied hard and managed to get that proposal shelved.⁴⁸

2024 was a bad year to be a Scottish loch as one of Scottish Sea Farms’ apparently unseaworthy boats sank, spilling hundreds of litres of diesel into the water.⁴⁹ What does a company have to do to get fined? Not even this apparently.⁵⁰

In all, between 2023 and 2024, Scottish Sea Farms breached environmental regulations 22 times.⁵¹

Despite all this, Scottish Sea Farms has submitted an application to build Britain’s largest salmon farm, an offshore farm modelled on oil platforms,⁵² and astonishingly the government approved it.⁵³

Scottish Sea Farms’ environmental impacts are not confined to Scottish lochs. In 2022, the company was accused of “plundering” the Antarctic for krill for its salmon feed, thereby depriving whales, seals, and penguins of food and destabilising the ecosystem.⁵⁴

Despite everything, Scottish Sea Farms is planning to keep on expanding in Scottish waters.⁵⁵

In 2026, Scottish Sea Farms was fined £70,000 for failing to have leakage-detection systems in place for their fluorinated gas. The authority that brought the action affirmed its commitment to protecting Scotland’s environment,⁵⁶ which is hilarious given, well, all of the above.

Research has revealed high levels of dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and organochlorine pesticides in farmed salmon, which could be a risk to human health. As far back as 2005, scientists said that carcinogenic chemicals in European farmed salmon could pose “elevated cancer and non-cancer health risks when consumed at modest rates”.⁵⁷

In 2011, Scottish Sea Farms was fined £600,000⁵⁸ after admitting health and safety breaches which led to the deaths of two workers in 2009.⁵⁹