Chamber and committees

So, it is 50 per cent if it is unclean. I am trying to understand the money that goes back to the farmer. As I understand it, we are talking about compensation, not a fine.

They will get £2,500.

So, what is the 50 per cent figure? That is a 50 per cent reduction, is it?

I have no questions, convener—mine have been asked already. They were about guidance. You have answered questions about guidance on what isolation means. Rachael Hamilton touched on that. Do you have anything further to say?

I want to understand the compensation. How much money are we talking about? Is it based on market value at the time? How does it work?

I want to pick up on Jim Fairlie’s comments. Fish are sentient, and they feel pain. It is not a sudden death. I am not talking about them having a heart attack and dying; it is a painful process when fish die in factory farms. If there was 25 per cent mortality in a flock of 400 sheep, that would mean saying goodbye to 100 of them. That puts the dynamics of it into some kind of perspective.

I absolutely support salmon farming in Scotland, but I want it to be done with the welfare of the animals at heart as well as the production of a good product. There are then the ancillary matters that Edward Mountain mentioned—we have accidentally become a team. The antibiotics that are put in to combat the conditions in which the fish are kept and that lead to an increase in the lice are, in fact, a bad thing in themselves.

I just wanted to make that comment in reflecting on what my colleague Jim Fairlie said, because I do not find the figure of 25 per cent acceptable. Convener, if there is a 10 per cent drop off in livestock, out of 400 sheep, we would have 40 of them perishing. I cannot imagine that that is correct by a long shot.

It is a bit unfair if it is just an official, because, if anything quasi-political came up, they would be in an invidious position. It is up to the Government to send somebody—if not a cabinet secretary, a minister, and if they are accompanied by officials, that is all good and well.

I will move on to the issue of mortality, but I will start with a quote from the review by Professor Griggs that was published in February 2022. He stated:

“Throughout the evidence gathering stage of this review a lot of what I have heard and seen resonates with other reviews of this type I have carried out.”

He went on:

“However in all the reviews I have conducted over the years, there are two characteristics that I have never come across before”.

One of those was:

“All the people and organisations that I have met with or had input from think that the current regulatory system for aquaculture is not fit for purpose”.

That is significant. This is a man who has done lots of reviews, and that seems to have taken him by surprise. It is quite a shocking statement.

That brings me on to mortality. I am interested in the welfare of animals, and we are talking about the factory farming of fin fish. What are the most recent figures for the mortality rate in salmon farming?

This is a new game to me, but I understand that major international companies are involved. Who are those companies? They are not small businesses; they are major international companies. Can you name them for me? I do not know who they are.

Yes—who are the key international companies that do factory salmon farming in Scotland?