Posts Tagged ‘morts’

A hearing held as part of the Scottish Parliament’s inquiry into the salmon farming industry yesterday was dominated by arguments over an alleged “cover-up” ahead of the MSPs’ visit to a fish farm on 23 September.

The Rural Affairs and Islands Committee of the Scottish Parliament is following up on a previous report, in 2008, on the salmon industry. As part of the inquiry, members of the committee visited a Scottish Sea Farms site at Dunstaffnage, near Oban on Scotland’s west coast, on 23 September.

Later that week, campaigning group Animal Equality UK released video footage which, it said, showed dead fish being removed from the pen in the early morning, ahead of the MSPs’ visit. Animal Equality UK Executive Director Abigail Penny said the removal of dead fish – “morts” – indicated that the salmon industry wants to “hide the truth” about mortality in farms.

She argued: “We urge the committee to see the industry for what it truly is: deceptive and deadly.”

At yesterday’s committee hearing, MSPs quizzed representatives of the salmon industry about the issue.

Dr Ralph Bickerdike, Head of Fish Health at Scottish Sea Farms, stressed that the morts removal that had been filmed was a routine exercise carried out at pens regardless of whether any external visitors were expected.