A salmon farmed in Scotland.

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CLOPET / SIPA

It highlights problems related to animal welfare and damage to the environment and biodiversity.

In an investigative report, Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) deems a moratorium on the expansion of Scottish salmon farms "imperative".

The NGO indicates that during the winter of 2020 it sent a team of investigators to salmon farms in different parts of Scotland to observe their farming conditions: “the investigators found that the welfare problems are generalized, ”the report says.

Excess mortality caused by a parasite

An excess mortality of salmon produced in Scottish farms has thus been observed.

“Up to 28.2%” of young salmon placed in offshore breeding pens “die during production,” says the report, which is based on data from a survey provided by the Scottish Government.

Among the factors of excess mortality is a parasite, the sea lice, which feeds on the skin, blood and mucous membranes of fish such as salmon.

"Monthly averages from the Scottish Salmon Producers Organization (SSPO) suggest that the average rate of female and adult sea lice per fish increased by 96% between April 2018 and May 2019," says the report.

A phenomenon favored by the greater concentration of fish on breeding farms, suggests CIWF.

⚠Salmon are dying every day on factory intensive farming farms in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @ scotgov @FergusEwingSNP.

Between 2017 and 2019, more than 8.9 million salmon died there.

They deserve better than a life in a cage.

Take action: https://t.co/S8MUrTImQl #ScottishSalmonScandal

- CIWF France (@CIWF_FR) March 24, 2021

The problem of escaping salmon

The report also highlights the risks posed to biodiversity by salmon that escape from their farm.

"There is the possibility that the wild genetic reservoir is modified and compromises the physical condition of wild salmon, as well as their ability to adapt to changes in their environment," the report points out.

"Key passages in this report are false, inaccurate and misleading - which we would have reported to the CIWF if they had contacted someone in the Scottish salmon farming industry before publishing it," responded Tavish Scott, director of the organization of Scottish salmon producers, in a statement sent to AFP.

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