Scottish and UK governments blow millions in taxpayer handouts to salmon multinationals

A new report has found nearly £17m shelled out in state subsidies to wealthy foreign-owned salmon farming corporations since 2021.

Foreign-owned salmon farming multinationals have been handed almost £17million of taxpayers’ cash while raking in huge profits.

Subsidies from the Scottish and UK Governments were given to major players in the industry since 2021 despite repeated allegations of environmental failings.

It includes Norway-based Mowi – the world’s largest salmon firm – which received state cash to ramp up production of farmed Scottish salmon, the UK’s most lucrative food export.

The figures are in a report from environmental charity Feedback Global and Global Salmon Farming ­Resistance and come amid mounting controversy over fish farming practices.

Ailsa McLennan, an oyster farmer and campaigner from near Ullapool on the north-west coast, who lives near a Mowi facility, told the Sunday Mail: "I'm horrified this is the way that these national seafood funds are being used.

“They are meant to be for a long-term future sustainability of UK fisheries and the seafood sector.

"Instead, they're giving that money to these huge multinationals and that money is siphoned off. It’s appalling.

"I don't know a single shellfish farmer that isn't independent and locally-based, and if they got this money it would stay within the community.

"I think that would be a much better use of the money than giving it to already rich companies.”

Feedback Global and GSFR’s ‘Fishy Finances’ report delves into both the public and private investment being spent on supporting the industrial farming industry.

It found, since 2021, the Scottish Government’s Marine Fund Scotland has awarded £4.8million to salmon multinationals including the Scottish Salmon Company - a subsidiary of Faroese giant Bakkafrost - Canada’s Cooke Aquaculture and Mowi.

The cash was used chiefly to increase production and processing capacity.

Between 2022 and 2023, the UK Government also handed out £12million to Norwegian firms including £7million to salmon titan Mowi via the UK Seafood Fund - FIVE times more than £1.3million the firm paid in tax to the Treasury in 2022.

Mowi's annual revenue last year was around £4.6billion.

The report also accuses Mowi of having a “shocking” environmental record in Scotland, including using chemicals on salmon sold to UK supermarkets as organic and mass fish mortalities on their farms.

Last year, more than a million fish died at two adjacent Mowi Scotland sites – the biggest mass die-off of farmed salmon in Scotland in a decade.

Campaigners also say the industry is polluting the environment in Scotland and that sea lice infestations on farms are contributing to declines in wild Atlantic salmon populations - a claim the sector denies.

Rachel Mulrenan, Scotland director of WildFish, said: "Not only is this polluting industry using Scotland’s waters as a dumping ground for its toxic waste, threatening endangered wild Atlantic salmon and other marine life, it is also receiving millions of pounds in subsidies from the UK and Scottish Governments.

"Adding insult to injury, the report finds that in some years individual companies have received more in subsidies than they have paid in tax.

“In essence, the people of Scotland are paying to prop up an unsustainable industry that uses our waters for free waste disposal, whilst channelling its substantial profits offshore.”

Scottish Greens MSP Ariane Burgess said: “These figures are staggering... salmon farming giants have been raking in huge profits while failing to make the kind of improvements that are so badly needed in terms of animal welfare or our environment.

“What we need is a pause on new salmon farms while we take meaningful action to address the shocking mortality rates, the scale of environmental damage it is doing, and the wellbeing of farmed fish.”

Natasha Hurley, Director of Campaigns at Feedback Global, added: “It’s truly shocking that public money is being given to wealthy salmon farming corporations whose shareholders are netting big profits at the expense of wild fish populations and communities around the world."

Industry body Salmon Scotland said the campaign threatens the livelihoods of thousands of Scots and “comes from full-time, anti-farming activists who ignore the economic reality for rural communities”.

A spokesman added: “These groups question the legitimate, transparent funding of a regulated industry while refusing to disclose their own substantial financial backing — often from organisations with commercial interests, such as alternative protein businesses.

“We challenge Feedback to be open about who is funding their long-standing opposition to salmon farming.”

A spokeswoman for DEFRA, which manages the UK Seafood Fund, said: “The UK Seafood Fund provides funding to projects that focus on improving capability at ports and harbours, as well as aquaculture facilities, to build capacity across the UK fishing sector supply chain.

“All applications go through a fair and rigorous process when applying for funding.”

The Scottish Government said its Marine Scotland Fund had helped firms "develop innovative recirculation systems powered by renewable energy, construct a net washing facility extending net life, reduce landfill and emissions from road miles, and create employment in local communities".

Mowi was approached for comment.