Salmon farms across Scotland have lodged 210 appeals against controls on lice infestations imposed by the Scottish Government's environment watchdog, prompting outrage from campaigners.

The appeals are the latest and most dramatic move in the multinational salmon industry's long-running campaign to block lice controls being introduced by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) to protect wild fish.

According to Sepa, the sea lice that often plague caged salmon can spread to wild salmon and trout as they swim by, and kill them. This is disputed by salmon farming companies.

Campaigners accused the companies of showing "utter contempt" for regulation, and of having "effectively sabotaged" lice controls. They called on consumers to boycott farmed salmon, and for ministers to halt any growth in the industry.

The salmon industry insisted that Sepa's controls would have an "unacceptable" impact on business and "will not work". It had "no alternative" to making the appeals but regretted having to do so, it said.

The Scottish Government said it was working with Sepa to "consider any implications" of the appeals. Sepa promised to continue to implement sea lice controls "to ensure environmental protection".

After two inquiries by the Scottish Parliament in 2018, the Scottish Government set up a working group involving salmon companies to consider the impact of lice. In 2021, that resulted in ministers appointing Sepa to manage the problem.

Sepa conducted two consultations in 2021 and 2023, and in 2024 started introducing a scheme for controlling lice numbers at individual farms. It was "a risk targeted and evidence-led approach to protecting salmon and sea trout from sea lice from fish farms," Sepa said.

The Ferret revealed in December 2024 that salmon farms were refusing to provide Sepa with information on numbers of fish and lice. We reported earlier that the salmon industry had lobbied ministers against the controls nine times in 2023.

Fish farming companies under fire for information breaches

Now it has emerged that salmon companies have appealed against Sepa's statutory notices seeking to limit lice numbers at nearly every farm in Scotland. In a footnote to a response to a third inquiry by the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government said on 13 March 2025 that 210 appeals had been received by its Department of Planning and Appeals.

"In the coming weeks officials will work with Sepa to consider any implications for this year's work plan," the government added. There are fears that the number of appeals could significantly delay the introduction of lice controls.

"Attempts to strengthen necessary controls on fish farm sea lice numbers within a new improved Sepa risk assessment framework already look to be effectively sabotaged," said professor Andrew Watterson, an expert on environmental regulation from the University of Stirling.

"It appears the framework is being overloaded, if not destroyed, by the very large number of appeals against Sepa about limits on sea lice numbers from multinational companies."

He added: "As a strategy for gaining public and regulatory confidence in what they do, the industry's welter of appeals against reasonable regulation looks seriously misplaced."

Salmon industry shows 'utter contempt' for Sepa

The campaign group, WildFish, warned that the salmon farming lobby held "far too much power" over ministers and regulators. "The recent legal appeals by the salmon farming industry lay bare the utter contempt this industry shows for MSPs, regulators and anyone who dares try to curb its polluting operations," said the group's Scotland director, Rachel Mulrenan.

"The industry claims to be the best regulated in the world, and yet takes legal action against any attempts to implement regulation," she told The Ferret.

"This latest development must be a wake up call. It's time to step away from farmed salmon - as consumers, and as a nation."

The Green MSP Ariane Burgess described the conditions in Scot...