Scottish Green MSP for the Highlands and Islands Ariane Burgess has challenged the Scottish Government over why salmon farms are not legally required to report fish deaths.
At present, salmon farming companies can choose whether or not to inform the government when farmed fish die.
Government inspectors have found that more than 400,000 farmed salmon deaths went unreported during 2025 across 27 separate incidents.
Burgess has repeatedly called for a pause on new salmon farms and the expansion of existing sites, questioning whether voluntary reporting is sufficient to protect animal welfare and public trust.
Concerns around the industry include large scale fish deaths, repeated escape incidents, inaccurate reporting of medicine use, and cases where companies informed owners about deaths but did not notify regulators.
Commenting on the issue, Burgess said:
“Scotland’s salmon farming industry has serious problems and letting companies choose what to report isn’t working.
“Government inspectors found that over 400,000 fish deaths weren’t reported in 2025. That’s a huge problem with honesty and openness.
“Companies tell their business owners when fish die at their hands, but they hide the truth from the government and public by calling dead fish ‘culls’ instead of admitting the fish died from being sick.
“More fish are dying from gill disease, and companies have given wrong information about the medicines they use.
“Companies must report all fish deaths and we must have proper checks. The Scottish Government must promise this will happen before allowing any new salmon farms.”
The Rural Affairs Committee, of which Burgess is a member, reviewed the salmon farming industry last year to assess progress on 65 recommendations made by a previous parliamentary inquiry in 2019.
The committee found that most of the recommendations had not been implemented and that conditions in several areas had worsened.
Since that review, further issues have emerged including record numbers of escaped farmed salmon threatening wild populations, record mortality levels, incorrect data on medicine use, and hundreds of thousands of unreported fish deaths.
Inspectors also found cases where companies described dead fish as culls, which Burgess says obscures the true causes of mortality.
Reflecting on the committee’s work, Burgess said:
“When our committee looked at salmon farming, I wanted to call for a pause while other members stalled real action.
“Since then, everything we were worried about has turned out to be true and worse.
“The need for a pause on expansion and new farms is now very clear.
“Scottish salmon farming should be the best in the world with the highest care for animals and the environment.
“Instead, we have an industry that hides deaths, gives wrong information, and refuses to be open and honest.
“It’s time to make companies report all farmed salmon deaths, have proper checks, and stop new farms and the expansion of existing ones until the industry can show it meets proper standards.
“Scotland’s good name and our seas depend on it.”
