SNP ministers splurged £50k taxpayer's cash on marketing for huge salmon multinationals
The Scottish Government gave half the funds for a campaign to boost 'Label Rouge' certified salmon in French and European markets.
Label Rouge logo
SNP ministers have been slammed after lavishing £50,000 of taxpayer's cash on a marketing campaign for huge salmon multinationals.
The Scottish Government gave half the funds for a campaign to boost 'Label Rouge' certified salmon in French and European markets.
Firms which produce premium Label Rouge salmon include Norway's Mowi, the world's largest salmon company, which raked in nearly £100million in profits from its Scottish operations alone last year.
Others benefiting from the cash are Faroese giant Bakkafrost and Canadian multi-national Cooke Aquaculture.
Andrew Graham-Stewart, of WildFish Scotland, said: 'The salmon farming industry has no shame in the way it sponges public money.
'Major corporations making money at the expense of Scotland's marine environment don't need subsidies. Why on earth can the industry not pay for its own marketing?'
Holyrood and Westminster governments have shelled out nearly £17million in four years to the farmed salmon industry.
Andrew Graham-Stewart, interim director of WildFish Scotland
The sector faces mounting controversy over mass fish mortalities and environmental impacts at farm facilities along the Scottish coast.
Eco charities also say the Label Rouge certification, viewed as a marker of quality, is 'highly problematic' as it requires salmon to be fed higher volumes of fishmeal and fish oil.
This is 'driving the plunder of wild fish around the world', warned Amelia Cookson, campaigner at Foodrise. Industry body Salmon Scotland said the marketing initiative is designed to counter a threat to Scotland's European exports caused by US President Donald Trump's tariffs regime.
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It and the Scottish Government are paying £50,000 each towards the campaign.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: 'Scottish salmon exports were worth a record breaking £844million last year and we will do everything we can to ensure our excellent Scottish exports build on their competitive position in Europe and beyond, particularly at this time of uncertainty in the US market.'
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