The Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey for 2023 has painted a devastating picture for the salmon farming sector, revealing the highest annual fish mortality rate since 1991—a stark indicator of the ongoing challenges the industry faces.
“Salmon farming is dead in the warming waters of Scotland,” said Don Staniford, Director of $camon $cotland. “Production has fallen yet again to 150,000 tonnes – that’s lower than twenty years ago. And mortality levels have leapt up to 31%”
Only 68.7% of the smolt class introduced in 2021 survived to reach consumers in 2023, a significant drop from the 75.9% survival rate seen the previous year.
Production fell drastically, with total salmon output plummeting 11% to just 150,949 tonnes. In the previous year production had already dropped by 18%, further evidence of the sector’s inherent unsustainability.
Job security in the salmon farming sector continues to decline, with 28 positions lost in 2023, reducing the workforce to just 1,480 employees. Claims that the industry supports rural employment are increasingly misleading, as the trend shifts toward larger, more automated farms, further reducing job opportunities in local communities.
While the salmon industry claim recovery is underway in 2024, citing a reported increase in production and supposed improvements in fish survival rates, the chart below highlights how the annual reports for the previous 5 years have consistently over-estimated the next year’s production.
The report highlights yet another year of damaging practices and suffering for the industry’s salmon, calling into question the long-term impacts on Scotland’s marine ecosystems and communities.