Salmon farming off Oban in Argyll and the product being prepared for retail.
Picture by Stewart Cunningham
Inspections at fish slaughterhouses by a government agency are now a mandatory requirement, The Ferret can reveal.
The Animal, Plant and Health Agency (APHA) – a UK Government agency responsible for safeguarding the health of animals – said Scottish salmon firms slaughtering fish would be monitored from the 1 February 2022.
The news was revealed to campaign group Animal Equality in response to a freedom of information (FoI) request it submitted to APHA.
Animal Equality welcomed the step as “a move in the right direction” but argued it does not go “nearly far enough”. It is calling for legislation to ensure that CCTV is installed in every fish slaughterhouse in the UK, due to animal welfare concerns.
Salmon Scotland — which represents the farmed salmon industry — said in reply that “fish welfare is central to everything Scotland’s salmon producers do” and that CCTV is already used by every “harvest station”
The Scottish Government said the UK Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) is currently considering this issue and that it would “explore the need for any changes to current practice or legislation” once the committee’s findings have been published.
In February 2021 Animal Equality released a video after an undercover investigation into an onshore fish abattoir operated by The Scottish Salmon Company. It showed fish having their gills cut while still conscious and being clubbed by workers and left to asphyxiate on the ground.
The campaign group said its footage revealed “extremely serious animal welfare abuses”.
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