Skye salmon farm suspended by RSPCA over alleged abuse videos
A fish farm on the Isle of Skye has been suspended from an animal welfare scheme after campaigners filmed videos allegedly showing "systemic cruelty" to salmon.Animal rights campaigners from the Green Britain Foundation said the footage from the Mowi farm at Loch Harport showed the fish being beaten and suffocated to death.They urged the RSPCA to suspend the company's 54 other salmon farms in Scotland, which are still certified under the charity's Assured labelling scheme.Mowi said it was fully cooperating with the RSPCA on its investigation, adding that its salmon are well cared for and the footage had been misconstrued.
The Green Britain Foundation said its videos showed more than 18 incidents of animal cruelty across multiple days in March 2025.
'Extremely upsetting'
The RSPCA is investigating the fish farm rather than SSPCA because the salmon is sold under one of its schemes.It has now instructed supermarkets to remove Mowi salmon products from their shelves.The RSPCA said the videos were "extremely upsetting" and it was "totally unacceptable for any animal to be treated in this way".The footage has also been reported to the Animal and Plant Health Agency - a government body which can take legal action if necessary.Animal welfare standards require that the time a fish spends out of water should "never exceed 15 seconds for a live fish" and that dying fish should be given "a non-recoverable percussive blow to the head of the fish to render it immediately insensible".
But the Green Britain Foundation claimed the footage showed fish being left out of the water to suffocate for minutes at a time, and some being beaten several times before they finally died.Founder Dale Vince said: "This footage of cruelty on a Mowi fish farm is absolutely horrifying. "These are not isolated incidents - this is systematic cruelty showing a complete disregard for animal welfare, for sentient life. "This isn't just a breach of standards - it's a culture of cruelty that has no place in any industry - let alone one claiming to meet RSPCA welfare standards."He urged the RSPCA should "drop Mowi entirely - not just this one farm"."Anything less would be a betrayal of their own standards and the animals they claim to protect," Mr Vince added.
'Humane method'
However Mowi Scotland said the Green Britain Foundation was "known for its opposition to farming animals for people to eat". A spokesperson said: "The husbandry staff featured in the footage were removing around 12 poor performing salmon from a large pen holding more than 40,000 healthy salmon. "Our salmon at the farm are in great condition, are looked after and are reared in clean water off the west coast of Scotland."We are fully cooperating with the RSPCA while its team conducts a full investigation. While we do understand that the footage showing these fish being dispatched may be concerning to some people, percussive stun to dispatch fish is the most effective and humane method in these circumstances."They added: "The staff are working on floating pens in what appears to be a very windy day so would be trying to ensure that the fish are stunned as quickly as possible and so some fish received multiple blows, but that is to ensure they are quickly euthanised."Mowi Scotland said it would refresh animal welfare training for its farming teams to ensure they meet RSPCA standards.
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