By Bill Heaney
The Scottish Government has been criticised after one of its advisory groups insisted that salmon and other fish have feelings and should be treated more carefully.
This comes after it was reported to the Scottish Parliament that fish farming – one of the most lucrative industries in Scotland after Scotch whisky – has seen fish deaths rise exponentially in farms off the West Coast and Scotland’s lochs and rivers.
And questions are being asked at Holyrood about an application for a new fish farm at filthy Loch Long by Whistlefield and Finnart, heading north towards Arrochar, as to why the Dumbarton parliamentry constituency has been left in the pending file by government for more than two years.
The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission (SAWC) has been laughed out of court in some quarters for stating that the welfare of fish must be protected when farmed.
Opponents are being lined up to heap opporobrium on the heads of opponents of the fish farming industry.
Concern is being expressed that this could impact on the success of the salmon industry which, with Scotch whisky, is one of the country’s biggest exports.
Companies involved in it do not want to be asked akward questions about facts and figures about salmon deaths, disease, injuries and pollution or deal with additional “red tape” that would inevitably be involved in strengthening the current health and safety [welfare] regulations.
They have hired expensive spin doctors and a former Scottish Government Minister, LibDem Tavish Scott, to handle questions put to them.
The SAWC has published a report called Ascribing sentience to fish: potential policy implications which highlighted how fish should be treated as they are caught. They are one of Scotland’s biggest exports, with Scottish salmon famous around the world.
The group suggest that wild fish should be treated the same way as mammals and birds and says that the government should offer them better protections under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, which excludes acts carried out while fishing.
This “places a duty of care on pet owners and others responsible for animals to ensure that the welfare needs of their animals are met” and there are claims it would make it more difficult to fish in Scottish waters.
The report says that “there is considerable evidence from neurological, behavioural, anatomical, physiological and cognitive studies, relative to reasonable thresholds, for ascribing sentience to a variety of fishes.
“Fish species can exhibit complex aspects of behaviour, such as self-recognition, use of tools, intraspecific and interspecific communication and cooperation, numerical ability, judgment bias and motivational trade-offs, which would all be considered evidence of higher order cognitive abilities in mammals or birds.
Before, the scientific evidence supports the recognition of fish as sentient, i.e., able to have physical and emotional experiences that matter to them, in the way we understand the term for mammals and birds. There is no scientific or ethical reason fish should not be treated and considered in an equivalent manner to terrestrial vertebrates.”
“The capacities of fish, their needs and wants, may differ from terrestrial animals’ and may vary between different fish species, individuals and stages of development. Nonetheless, the evidence suggests that fish are individuals with personal experiences, as are other sentient animals.”
The SAWC also suggests that “biases” is why people don’t believe that fish have feelings and treat them differently from other animals. The government were warned not to introduce new rules for the fishing industry which is already struggling with red tape.
Scottish Tory fishing spokesman Tim Eagle said: “The threat of more SNP red tape is the last thing the fishing industry needs.” The UK Government surrendered Scottish waters to the European Union for another 12 years in a deal signed on Monday.
Elena Balestri, senior fisheries policy and science manager at the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, urged caution “against introducing new regulations.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said it “will consider the Commission’s work on this important subject in due course.”
THE RSPCA HAVE ISSUED THIS BRIEFING:
Farmed fish
We’re doing everything we can to ensure that all farmed fish are reared to high standards of animal welfare and transported and slaughtered humanely. Here we look at fish natural behaviours, UK farming systems, key welfare concerns and how we’re working to address these, and what you can do to improve the quality of life of farmed fish.
Fish behaviour and needs
We believe that fish have the mental capacity to feel pain and suffer and that their welfare should be safeguarded in the same way as that of any other farmed animal.
There’s increasing evidence that fish in general are more sentient (capable of sensing and feeling things) than many people think. In scientific studies, it’s been shown that many fish species:
- have good memories
- are capable of learning and remembering fairly complicated tasks
- can learn from the actions of other fish.
Fish farming in the UK
Many species of fish are used in aquaculture and may be farmed in both freshwater and seawater. They’re produced in a variety of systems, ranging from closed systems, where the water is artificially re-circulated, to open systems where the fish are contained in more natural bodies of water, such as a pond or sea enclosure. Here’s more on how salmon farming works in the UK.
Farming of Atlantic salmon
Atlantic salmon is the most commonly farmed fish species in the UK, with farms mainly located in the Scottish Highlands and Islands. There are freshwater and seawater stages to their lives.
- Freshwater stage – fertilised salmon eggs are usually grown in trays. The eggs hatch into ‘alevins’ or ‘yolk sac fry’ and spend time on the bottom of their trays until their yolk sac has been absorbed. They then start to rise up into the water column as ‘first feeding fry’, before being transferred to larger tanks or freshwater lochs. They spend a significant time in freshwater before they’re ready to go to sea.
- Seawater stage – when they’re six to 12 months old, the fish begin to adapt so they can cope in a seawater environment (‘smoltification’). The salmon will then be reared in seawater enclosures for the next one to two years.
- End of production – once salmon have reached the desired weight, they are removed from their enclosure and slaughtered.
Transportation
The most common ways of transporting fish are by road, boat or helicopter. One method is ‘wellboats’, where the fish are carried in a specially designed well in the hold of the boat. The water quality in the wellboats can be controlled and underwater cameras monitor the fish.
Farmed fish welfare
Here are some of our key concerns about the welfare of farmed fish in the UK.
Water quality
The quality of water (its temperature, pH, oxygen levels, etc.) has a big impact on fish welfare. Different fish species survive better in different conditions.
We believe more work is needed on aspects of water quality such as carbon dioxide levels, which can impact fish welfare if they’re too high. Increasing the water temperature when the fish are small can make them grow more quickly, but if fish grow too fast during this time they can end up with spinal deformities.
Handling procedures
Farmed fish are sometimes handled, for example when they’re being vaccinated or graded according to their size. These procedures can be stressful for the fish, especially if they’re taken out of the water. It’s essential to keep handling to an absolute minimum.
Stocking densities
Stocking density is the weight of fish kept in a given volume of water. Research and practical experience has shown that – on its own – stocking density isn’t necessarily one of the most important things affecting fish welfare. Some fish seem to prefer a higher stocking density, while others prefer a lower density. Stocking densities that are too low can cause certain species of fish to become territorial and aggressive towards each other.
Transport
All transport, whether by road, boat or helicopter, can be potentially stressful for the fish. Extra attention is needed during transport, particularly when the fish are loaded and unloaded. It’s also essential to be able to maintain the correct water quality for the whole length of the journey, especially if delays or emergencies make the journey much longer than expected.
Slaughter
There are a number of slaughter methods used in aquaculture. We believe that the only methods of slaughter that are acceptable in terms of animal welfare for Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout are percussive stunning followed by bleeding, and electrical stunning.
- Percussive stunning is when a blunt object is used to destroy the brain of an animal. It renders them unconscious, but can also cause immediate death. In aquaculture, this is followed by bleeding to ensure the animal dies. Our welfare standards require automated devices to be used for stunning as these ensure a more consistent blow.
- Electrical stunning, when used correctly, can either cause a fish to lose consciousness before they are killed through bleeding (most common in larger fish, above 2kg) or cause immediate death (most common in small fish, less than 1kg).
- Methods such as the use of carbon dioxide, suffocation in air or on ice, and bleeding the fish without stunning, are all unacceptable on animal welfare grounds.
Improved farmed fish welfare
We’re working to increase awareness of fish welfare issues and engaging with the salmon and trout farming industries, governments and retailers to encourage better fish welfare. Here are some of the things we’re doing.
Developing welfare standards
We’ve developed a set of detailed welfare standards for farmed Atlantic salmon and farmed rainbow trout. These cover the key areas affecting fish welfare, including water quality, stocking density, handling, health, slaughter and wider environmental impact.
We’ve also written what we believe are the world’s first welfare standards for wellboats and cleanerfish.
Working with the fish farming industry
We take every opportunity to engage with decision makers in the fish farming industry and to put forward our views to encourage better welfare for farmed fish. We also regularly engage with other NGOs, governments and other stakeholders to advocate for improvements to fish welfare. For example, we were part of the British Veterinary Association working group for developing their policy position paper on Sustainable Finfish Aquaculture. In the past, we’ve been part of many other working groups to develop industry standards, consult on policy changes and provide unbiased and factually correct feedback.
Scientific research
We’ve conducted our own applied research looking at how freshwater stocking densities affect fish welfare. We’re also developing a welfare outcome assessment to make it easier to tell whether fish welfare on a given farm is as good as possible or could be improved.
How you can improve the welfare of farmed fish
Here’s how you can do your bit to help improve the welfare of farmed fish in the UK. If more consumers insist on higher welfare products, more supermarkets will want to stock them, which will encourage more farmers to improve their farming practices. Ultimately, more farmed fish will benefit.
Looking for the RSPCA Assured label
If you eat salmon or trout and you’re concerned about farmed fish welfare, look for products carrying the RSPCA Assured logo. RSPCA Assured is our farm assurance and food labelling scheme, which aims to ensure that animals are reared, handled, transported and slaughtered according to our strict welfare standards. Here’s where you can buy RSPCA Assured labelled food.
But big money talks big and the industry has the politicians and the regulators in their pocket.
And woe betide any campaigner who tries to comment on levels of fish deaths, disease and pollution. The industry has an answer to that in the form of what is known as a SLAPP or Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation. Used against a campaigner a few years ago the legal strategy was to secure a Court Interdict. Scottish Salmon farming is an abomination.
It is over 90 percent owned by three big Norwegian corporate interests. Neither is it farming as people would understand it. Salmon is big business’s answer to chlorinated chicken. Grown in a soup of anti lice treatment some of the pens can have up to 70 percent death and disfigurement. Truly it is an abomination off our coasts.
And the environmental damage that it does killing the shell fish and other creatures on the sea bed below and downstream of the pens is, like the fish husbandry, kept carefully away from a public who would be aghast if they knew what was going on. Restraining the individual from making any comment on the company’s fish farming and restraining the individual from paddling his canoe on the open sea anywhere near the fish farm and or from flying a drone over any fish pens.
Utterly draconian restriction on civil liberty to travel on the sea, or to fly a drone over air space above, or to make free speech, breach of an interdict is an automatic immediate jailing. Thankfully, supported by an Oban solicitor and a very high powered team of eminent advocates working pro-bono they managed to get the absolutely brutal restriction interdict lifted. But otherwise who has tends and tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of pound to fight these billion pound turnover corporates. They think they rule the sea, the air and the right to free speech and in effect as the case of Don Staniford showed they did.
But there is a wider theme in all of this and that is the takeover and corruption of the entire political system by big corporate business, and the reduction of ordinary people to peasants in their own land. Restricting people to move on the sea, restricting air space to presumably the stars, censoring free speech to the extent of deploying algorithm software to prowl social media looking for breach comments is one thing.
But what about Flamingo Land nodded through after rejection by due process.
Or what of the power companies, once owned by the country, but now owned by only God knows who and where offshore, who make huge profits and are now turning Scotland into one big wind farm and battery park and where all the manufacturing is sourced from far away lands.
Or Glasgow Airport where fifteen minutes drop off costs £6.00 and £1.00 per minute after that. Profiteering unless you want to walk to the airport, Glasgow along with many other Scottish airports is owned by the Spanish conglomerate Ferrovial and the Australian investment corporate Macquarrie Group. Not quite the “power from the glens, for the glens” concept of yesteryear. But I digress.
There’s a theme here right at the heart of our hollowed out society. Big money talks and the little folks take what they get. It’s that simple and now, not too far on the horizon a privatised NHS beckons. Starmer has said he wants to have more private sector involvement and introduce charging whilst Farage is all out for privatisation US style.
Yep, the Salmon industry is just another example of glass beads and Indians.