Published on December 6, 2024 at 09:12.
4 mins. reading
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Scottish salmon farms have lost 17 million specimens in 2023. Wild salmon are also in decline.
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By concentrating thousands of fish in a small space, salmon farms encourage the multiplication of parasites, notably sea lice.
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Breeders are testing different solutions to protect fish. One of them plans to build an underground reservoir to avoid any contact between salmon and the marine environment.
It was a real massacre: more than a million fish died in the space of eighteen months. The carnage took place on the Loch Seaforth salmon farm, on the string of islands in the Outer Hebrides, located at the northwest tip of Scotland, its operator Mowi announced in October. The fish died after being attacked by micro-jellyfish, the diameter of which does not exceed 2 millimeters. Images filmed by the NGO Animal Rising show salmon with torn off scales, raw flesh and burst eyeballs.
This type of disaster has become common on Scottish salmon farms. In 2023, they lost 17 million specimens, well above the average for the previous six years. On the five farms most affected during the 2023-2024 cycle, the mortality rate oscillated between 66% and 87%, indicates Free Salmon, another NGO which relies on official statistics.
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