“Corrective action” will be taken if alleged animal abuse caught on video proves true, a Scottish trout producer has warned.
Over a two-day period in August, Animal Equality UK said it caught footage of trout “suffocating, haemorrhaging, and suffering from skull fractures” at Dawnfresh Farming’s trout farm in Ardnish.
The organisation has used it as a ‘rallying cry’, arguing for greater legal protection.
“These fish were violently handled, bludgeoned, thrown onto ice, and left to suffocate with devastating injuries in their final moments of life,” said Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality UK.
The organisation has called on devolved governments to introduce legally enforceable, species-specific slaughter legislation for farmed fish, in a proposal it said is backed by the Animal Welfare Committee.
Penny added: “Every day of delay condemns more animals to extreme suffering.”
Animal Equality UK said it has instructed law firm Advocates for Animals to submit a formal complaint to the relevant authorities.
“Our client’s footage reveals the persistent lack of regard for fish and fish welfare laws,” said Edie Bowles, a solicitor at the firm. “Scotland has recently made it clear via its ‘Salmon farming – welfare at the time of killing: guidance’ that effective stunning is required in order to comply with the law.
“Those same legal provisions would apply equally to trout and as such for the Scottish government’s new commitment to fish welfare to be meaningful in practice, those that undermine it must be held to account under the law.”
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Around 17,000 tonnes of rainbow trout are produced in Britain each year, with around 75% farmed by table producers, according to the British Trout Association, with most farmed in freshwater tanks, ponds, raceways, pens, and marine pens.
Other farmed varieties include brown trout, golden trout, and blue trout.
Stewart Graham, owner of SeaQureFarming, which acquired Dawnfresh Farming in a deal with Mowi in April, said the footage had been seen and was under review.
“It appears to have been filmed over a six-day period in August this year and is heavily edited,” he said. “We are reviewing the footage internally and will also have an independent review carried out.
“Should there be any non-compliance with any welfare standards or procedures we will of course take any corrective action necessary.”
According to Graham, harvest staff are trained in fish welfare handling and operate in line with Dawnfresh’s own welfare standards, as well as the RSPCA Assured scheme.
“The site is independently audited on an ongoing basis,” he said. The last audit took place “just a few weeks before this filming and no welfare non-compliances were found.”
He added: “We take fish welfare extremely seriously across all of our operations and are very supportive of continuous improvement and a ‘beyond compliance’ approach to our business and farming operations.
“We would always welcome and support ongoing development of relevant welfare standards, too.”
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