RSPCA-Assured Salmon Still Died by the Million

The salmon industry wants the public to picture clean water, wild landscapes and responsible farming. The reports tell a different story.

Inspection documents released after an Information Commissioner’s Office ruling show the scale of death inside salmon farming. More than 100,000 fish suffocated at a Mowi site in 2021 after a worker left them unattended and their oxygen stopped. In the same month, more than one million fish died in 10 hours after hydrogen sulphide built up at the same site. APHA took no enforcement action.

At a Bakkafrost site certified by the RSPCA, 600,000 fish died from hydrogen sulphide in 2022. Months later, the same problem returned on an even larger scale and killed more than 1.5 million fish. Again, no enforcement action followed. This is what “high standards” look like when the victims are trapped underwater and the public is not meant to see the paperwork.

Animal Equality UK has reported that Scottish salmon farms recorded 35,867,788 unexpected fish deaths between 2023 and 2025. APHA inspected only 21 out of 213 farms in that period. There were zero unannounced inspections in 2023 and 2025, and only two in 2024. None of the 20 worst-performing sites, which accounted for more than 10 million deaths, received inspections at all.

Even those numbers are incomplete. Fish killed during transport, fish killed deliberately, fish who die in their first six weeks at sea and cleanerfish are excluded from official totals. Animal Equality estimates that at least seven million cleanerfish have died on Scottish farms since 2020. Imagine any other industry losing animals by the million and calling this regulation.

Aquaculture is sold as a solution to fishing. The story goes like this: farming fish protects wild fish, feeds people and saves the oceans. Carnivorous farmed fishes, including salmon, are fed other fishes. Anchovies, sardines, mackerels and other forage fishes are dragged from the ocean, turned into fishmeal and fish oil, and fed to animals humans have chosen to imprison. These smaller fishes are not waste. They are part of marine food webs. Larger fishes, seabirds and marine mammals rely on them. Coastal communities rely on them too.

One study found that the true wild fish input to farmed fish output ratio is up to 307% higher than previous estimates. Salmon farming alone can require 1.86 to 6.24 pounds of wild fish for every pound of salmon produced.

So fish farming does not replace fishing. It launders fishing through farming. The industry has tried to clean up the image by changing the feed. But shifting from marine ingredients to crop-based ingredients does not make the system harmless. Between 1997 and 2017, aquaculture’s use of feed crops increased by 468%. The burden was not removed. It was moved. Hide one cost. Create another. Call it sustainable.

The salmon industry also hides behind certification schemes, audits and supermarket promises. Co-op says they use RSPCA-assured Scottish salmon. The industry says farms operate to world-leading standards. Salmon Scotland talks about regulation and record survival rates.

But what do those phrases mean when RSPCA-certified sites can lose hundreds of thousands of fish? What do they mean when APHA can refuse inspection reports because releasing them may damage company reputations? What do they mean when mass deaths produce advice emails instead of consequences?

The reputation of a company is not more important than the life of an animal. The secrecy does not stop with paperwork. Guardian reporting found that activists who filmed Scottish salmon farms were subjected to surveillance by private operatives. Corin Smith and Don Staniford exposed fish with sea lice, torn flesh and spinal deformities. After that, an intelligence report gathered Smith’s address, phone number, business interests and social media activity. Surveillance was proposed. The fish are hidden in cages. The reports are hidden behind bureaucracy. The activists are watched. The public is sold “responsible salmon.”

The same pattern appears elsewhere. In Tasmania, at least four million salmon died prematurely at fish farms in 2025. Around 500,000 died in November and December as waters warmed. Atlantic salmon struggle as sea temperatures approach 18°C. Warmer water carries less oxygen and leaves them more vulnerable to disease. Yet the industry keeps placing cold-water animals into warming seas and calling the result production loss.

The language is designed to protect the industry. Losses. Mortality events. Stock management. Survival rates.

These are animals. Not units. Not biomass. Not products waiting to happen. Nobody needs salmon. That is the part the industry cannot market away.

People who want the flavour or convenience can choose plant-based versions instead. In the UK, Vivera Plant Salmon Style Fillets work for fillet-style meals. Squeaky Bean Beechwood Smoked Salmon Style Slices work for bagels and sandwiches. Squeaky Bean Salmon Style Flakes offer a quick lunch option. Biff’s Smoked Salmon Style Slices can be used in bagels, sushi, wraps and sandwiches.

Or people can eat beans, tofu, soy foods, grains, vegetables, nuts and seeds like adults who do not need every meal to involve someone’s body.

The existence of alternatives removes the last lazy excuse.

This is not survival. It is habit, marketing and permission.

Every packet of salmon says the same thing: the industry can keep killing them, hiding the evidence and protecting the brand, because enough people keep paying.