Fish farms have broken environmental rules more than 100 times in the last two years, according to Scottish Government regulators.

Figures released by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) suggested that the industry's record was one of the worst in Scotland. Breaches included waste discharges, pesticide misuse, seabed pollution, misplaced fish cages and excessive numbers of fish.

The biggest offender was Norwegian-owned salmon farming company, Mowi, which had 60 breaches at 40 sites. Other salmon multinationals with significant numbers of breaches were Scottish Sea Farms with 22, Bakkafrost with nine and Cooke Aquaculture with eight.

The companies said that the breaches were often "not submitting mountains of paperwork on time". They insisted that the industry was one of the most regulated in Scotland, and that compliance was "extremely high".

According to Mowi, the majority of the breaches were "administrative". There was "little to no evidence" to suggest lasting negative impacts on the marine environment, the company said.

Campaigners, however, attacked the industry for harming the environment and "putting profits before planet". They demanded a "crackdown" on offending companies and a moratorium on any new or expanded fish farms.

They also criticised Sepa for being a "toothless regulator", allowing fish farms to break the rules "with impunity". Companies should be fined and prosecuted if they keep breaking the rules, they argued.

Sepa also came under fire from salmon companies for failing to replace its compliance assessment scheme, which was lost after a cyber attack in 2020. Sepa said it was developing a "new approach", which will be subject to public consultation.

Sepa released a list of recent "non-compliances" by all industries in Scotland in response to a freedom of information request by The Ferret. On 12 January 2025 we revealed that there had been a total of 1,616 breaches at 966 sites.

'Alarming' environmental breaches spark calls for tougher action

Breaches by fish farming companies were the second highest of any sector regulated by Sepa. There were 117 breaches listed at 85 sites, including 36 in 2024 (up to 4th September), 79 in 2023, one in 2022 and one in 2021.

That was higher than the metals industry (116), the packaging industry (106), landfill sites (101), poultry production (71), whisky distilleries (60), chemical manufacturers (31) and oil and gas plants (10). Only water and sewage sites recorded more breaches (426).

Sepa categorised 53 of the breaches by fish farming companies as "major non compliant" and 64 as "non compliant". In its released spreadsheet, the agency just said these were due to "emissions", "monitoring, recording and reporting", "site management" or "unauthorised" activities.

When asked to explain further, Sepa told The Ferret that the breaches included "the failure to comply with effluent quality standards at fish hatcheries", and "failures to comply with the authorisation conditions relating to the use of medicines at fish farms."

Other breaches were fish cages "located outwith the area identified in authorisation conditions" and "exceedance of the authorised biomass". Another was the impact on the seabed "being greater than that which is permitted".

Of the 85 sites with breaches, 25 recorded two or more. There were 60 breaches at 40 Mowi sites, 22 at 20 Scottish Sea Farms sites, nine at four Bakkafrost sites and eight at seven Cooke Aquaculture sites. There were 18 breaches at 14 other sites.

Sepa said it intervened "swiftly and effectively where necessary" and was "dedicated" to tackling non-compliance. It expected operators to "comply with their obligations in legislation," a spokesperson added.

"Where Sepa identifies non-compliance, we will communicate this in writing to the authorisation holder. This approach is central to our efforts to ensure environmental responsibilities are met and maintained."

Sepa said it was "developing a new approach to compliance assess...