Salmon farming controversies for UK-based fish farming companies: Mowi, the Norwegian fish farming giant, has lost its royal warrant after footage of company employees allegedly mistreating salmon was released, according to the Telegraph. Undercover footage taken earlier this year appeared to show a member of staff at a Mowi fish farm on the Isle of Skye allegedly beating salmon the death. This caused the RSPCA to remove Mowi from its animal welfare scheme, and a number of supermarkets also temporarily stopped stocking the company’s fish. Mowi has been a supplier of salmon to the Royal Household since 1990, with its warrant being renewed in December of last year. Mowi told the Telegraph that it did not comment on decisions made by the Royal Household. Read more on the Telegraph website here. In related news, Tesco has suspended supplies from a fish farm in the north-west Highlands after covert footage allegedly appeared to show salmon infested with sea lice in a pen that should have been empty. The investigation was carried out by Animal Equality UK, which says the images from a Bakkafrost Scotland site on Loch Torridon reveal breaches of animal welfare rules. Tesco described the footage as “extremely concerning” and said the farm would remain suspended while it worked with its supplier to understand what happened. Bakkafrost Scotland, which runs more than 45 sites across the nation’s west coast and employs over 400 people, confirmed that a “very small number” of fish were discovered five months ago in a pen that had been declared fallow. The company said the fish were promptly removed and that it has strengthened its procedures to prevent a repeat. Sea lice are naturally occurring parasites that feed on the skin, mucus and blood of fish, although they are much more common in farmed salmon (when compared to wild salmon) due to the very close proximity in which the fish are kept. In salmon, they can cause painful wounds, bleeding and damage that may affect the quality of the final product. Animal Equality UK said it submitted a formal complaint in August. Its executive director, Abigail Penny, called the incident “unlawful and cruel.” Read more on the BBC News website by clicking here.
Southern Water apologises over beads spill: Southern Water has admitted responsibility for a major spill of plastic “biobeads” that has polluted stretches of the Sussex coastline, including the popular beach at Camber Sands. Local environmental groups reported that millions of tiny pellets washed ashore this month, with campaigners describing the incident as the worst plastic pollution they have seen in the area. The company says the spill originated at its Eastbourne sewage works after a screening filter failed during heavy rainfall. Biobeads are used in the final stages of wastewater treatment before the water is released into rivers or the sea. Southern Water said the filter should have stopped the beads escaping and apologised for the failure, adding that staff and volunteers are assisting with the clean-up. The beads pose particular concern because they can contain toxins such as lead and bromine, as well as carcinogenic chemicals. Once in the ocean, they attract algae and can then poison marine wildlife species which mistake them for food. Helena Dollimore, the Labour MP for Hastings and Rye, criticised the company for taking two weeks to declare the loss, calling the delay “astonishing”. It remains unclear whether Southern Water will face penalties as investigations continue. Read more on this story on the Guardian website here.
Giant oarfish washed up on Australian beach: A giant oarfish was found on an Australian beach this month. Tony Cheesman was walking his dogs along the beach at Preservation Bay, Tasmania, when he found the giant oarfish washed up on the beach. Cheesman told the Guardian: “When I got to it, I saw this massive fish, then I noticed the beautiful colours, and it had these long fans coming out of its chin and the top of its head … I’d never seen anything like it.” Prof Culum Brown, an expert in fish at Macquarie University, said there were several species of oarfish, but one found by Cheesman was the largest and most well-known – the giant oarfish. Giant oarfish live at depths of over one thousand metres and are one of the world’s most mysterious and little-understood species, with a giant oarfish being found anywhere in the world, making headlines and being of great interest to the scientific community. The species is also seen as a sign that earthquakes are coming, with folk stories in many Asian countries warning that a surfaced or washed up giant oarfish meant that an earthquake was coming (in reality, there is no correlation between oarfish and earthquakes). Read more by clicking here.
Fewer sharks die when handling guidelines followed: Most sharks caught by recreational anglers survive after being released, provided best-practice guidelines are followed, according to new research. Scientists from the University of Exeter tagged nearly seventy sharks, which was made up of a mix of blue sharks, porbeagles, and tope, to monitor their behaviour following capture and release by non-commercial fishermen in UK and Channel Island waters. The study sought to assess the welfare and survival rates of sharks caught using the increasingly popular “catch-and-release” method, which aims to balance sport fishing with conservation. While animal welfare groups have warned that the technique can still cause stress or injury, the research found that only three of the tagged sharks – one of each species – died after release when anglers followed official handling guidelines. The tags, which recorded data for up to forty-five days before detaching, transmitted information on the sharks’ movements and depth profiles. Sixteen were recovered, providing detailed insights into post-release behaviour. Researchers observed that all three species initially dived rapidly into deeper water, likely to recover and re-oxygenate their gills. “Behaviour after that varied between species, but they tended to stay deeper than usual,” said Francesco Garzon of the University of Exeter. “Most individuals appeared to have recovered within 24 hours, although some sharks, particularly porbeagles, took longer.” Garzon added that the deaths recorded could not be definitively linked to the capture process, as the sharks showed no visible injuries and appeared vigorous when released. The project, conducted in partnership with Edinburgh Napier University and the Government of Jersey, offers some reassurance to conservationists and anglers alike, suggesting that, when carried out responsibly, catch-and-release fishing poses relatively low risks to sharks. Read more on the BBC News website here.
Fish can feel “excruciating pain”: Rainbow trout may endure up to twenty minutes of severe pain during slaughter, according to a new study that sheds light on what researchers call the “hidden suffering” of fish killed for food. The research, published in Scientific Reports, examined the welfare impacts of common slaughter methods and estimated that trout typically experience around ten minutes of moderate to intense pain before losing consciousness. Depending on conditions such as water temperature and body size, that period can range from two to twenty-two minutes. Scientists focused on air asphyxiation – a method widely used in both aquaculture and wild fisheries – in which fish die slowly after being removed from water. Animal welfare groups have long criticised the practice as inhumane, noting that fish remain conscious for several minutes while deprived of oxygen. The study warns that cooling fish in ice slurries, another common technique, could cause even greater suffering. “By slowing metabolic processes, lower temperatures may extend the time to unconsciousness,” the authors wrote. Researchers also assessed potential improvements to slaughter practices. Percussive stunning, which delivers a swift, forceful blow to the head, was deemed more humane but difficult to implement consistently at scale. The findings draw on the Welfare Footprint Framework, a system designed to quantify animal welfare by measuring how long animals experience different intensities of pain or distress. “The Welfare Footprint Framework provides a rigorous and transparent, evidence-based approach to measuring animal welfare,” said study author Wladimir Alonso. “It allows us to make informed decisions about where to focus efforts and resources for the greatest impact.” Researchers hope their work will inform global slaughter standards for the estimated 2.2 trillion wild and 171 billion farmed fish killed for human consumption each year. Click here to read more about this story.