Footage of disfigured salmon exposed on Scottish fish farms linked to supermarket suppliers
Animal Equality has released footage and images showing severely injured, deformed, and diseased salmon on three Scottish salmon farms linked to suppliers of major UK supermarkets. The salmon are shown to have visible deformities, open wounds and advanced parasite damage.
Over several months, Animal Equality investigated three Scottish salmon farms, where we discovered fish suffering from lice, wounds, and blindness:
- Scalpay farm, operated by Mowi and a supplier to Sainbury’s
- Kerrera B farm, operated by Scottish Sea Farms, and a supplier to Marks & Spencer
- Shuna Point, operated by Scottish Sea Farms, and a supplier to Marks & Spencer
Complaints about fish health, parasites and high mortalities have mounted in recent years. Between January and October 2025, more than 10 million farmed salmon are reported to have died on farms, never reaching the slaughterhouse.
Animal Equality sounds the alarm
The farmed fish are evidently afflicted with severe sea lice infestations, skin lesions, fin erosion and other visible harm, conditions typically linked to intensive farming practices and environmental stressors such as crowding in cages, disease and warming waters.
Nearly a quarter of salmon farms breach the industry’s own lice rules. Sick and helpless fish are caged in filthy waters teeming with lice. Parasites cling to their bodies, literally eating away at the salmon. Would anyone really want to put that on their plate?
—Abigail Penny, Executive Director of Animal Equality UK
We submitted a formal complaint and are calling for urgent reform of industry practices and regulatory standards.
Calls for greater transparency
The emergence of these disturbing images comes amid broader calls for greater transparency within the Scottish salmon farming industry.
A Scottish Parliamentary inquiry earlier this year urged the Scottish Government to accelerate reforms addressing mortality reporting, environmental monitoring and regulatory conditions, expressing concern over the industry’s ‘long-term viability’.
Unless swift changes are made, and the industry’s expansion is halted, the ongoing crisis on salmon farms is at risk of further worsening.
Join us, demand a halt to all new Scottish salmon farms:
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