A SALMON farming giant “twice misled” the Scottish Government about its operations, campaigners have alleged after the release of Freedom of Information files and covertly recorded video.
The concerns centre on claims from Bakkafrost, a Faroese company and the world’s third-largest salmon producer, after it told regulators that one of its sites was “fallow” – meaning it had been emptied of fish to break disease and parasite cycles – only for activists to discover that animals remained in the enclosures.
In November 2025, Tesco suspended its use of a Bakkafrost farm on Loch Torridon after filming suggested that salmon infested with sea lice had been left in the supposedly “empty” pen.
Files obtained by Animal Equality UK show that Bakkafrost then told the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI) and Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) by email that only five fish were found and euthanised.
However, footage reviewed by the Sunday National appears to show dozens of salmon being pulled from a single pen and beaten to death, if they were not dead already, raising questions about the claim that just five fish had remained there.
In total, 24 fish appear to be euthanised and 13 removed while already dead across a 10-minute covertly filmed video clip.
A spokesperson for Bakkafrost Scotland did not dispute the figures, saying only that “last year, a very small number of fish were identified at our site on Loch Torridon, which had been declared fallow”.
Animal Equality UK said: “Falsely declaring a site fallow can breach statutory and contractual obligations and undermine critical biosecurity measures. This is especially critical currently, since wild Atlantic salmon numbers are rapidly declining and are now at record low levels.”
The Bakkafrost spokesperson said: “We acted immediately to remove the fish, working with the relevant authorities. Following this, we undertook a comprehensive review of our procedures and implemented enhanced controls to ensure this does not happen again.
“At Bakkafrost Scotland, fish health and welfare are central to everything we do, and we remain committed to the highest standards of care and continuous improvement across operations.”
It is understood that information has been shared with the APHA to inform any potential investigation.
Animal Equality UK alleged that the salmon firm had also misled government agencies in its legally required weekly sea lice counts.
Scottish Government records initially showed “no count” at the Loch Torridon site during this period. The FHI allowed Bakkafrost to retrospectively alter the record to “withdrawal period prior to harvesting”, but documentation states that no harvesting actually took place, suggesting the new explanation given to government regulators was not true, the campaign group said.
Abigail Penny, the executive director of Animal Equality UK, said: "Bakkafrost provided false information to regulators in relation to this incident – not once, but twice. Whether that's down to incompetence or deliberate deception, neither is reassuring.
"Animals are being abandoned to starve and rot in lice-infested waters. Companies are misleading regulators. Inspectors are conducting visits by phone. And the Scottish Government calls this world-class regulation.
“Pull on any thread and the whole thing unravels. The Scottish Government simply cannot continue to act as though nothing is wrong here – we need to put the brakes on this industry’s expansion."
In March, Holyrood's Rural Affairs Committee wrote to now-former rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon saying that MSPs were "particularly concerned" that key recommendations aimed at addressing farmed fish mortality had “not been accepted by the Scottish Government".
"The committee expects to see sites with persistently high mortality to be regulated effectively and does not agree with the analysis of the Scottish Government that this does not represent a systemic issue,” then-convener Finlay Carson MSP added.
Also taking issue with the claim that there is no systemic problem within the industry, Scottish Green MSP Ariane Burgess said in March that around 12 million farmed salmon died prematurely in Scotland in 2025.
However, that figure did not take into account deaths which occurred within the first six weeks after transfer from a freshwater rearing site, deaths of “cleaner fish” in the system (such as wrasse), or fish that died during transport.
Animal Equality UK said that another “critical” omission was the deaths of young fish in freshwater hatcheries, noting that one such site in Applecross had seen around 10 million deaths in the last four years.
Penny asked, “how many millions more fish deaths are being similarly overlooked”, adding: “At the end of the day, a fish that dies in an artificial tank rather than trapped in a sea cage still loses their life."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Salmon farming is a highly regulated sector and subject to robust controls on planning, environmental impacts and fish health, with enforcement action where needed. The risk of sea lice to wild fish from this incident is negligible due to the small number of fish involved.
“The primary concern related to the welfare of the fish and confirmation of the removal of both live and dead fish when the situation was rectified. After fallowing the site, the Fish Health Inspectorate spoke with the company to ensure appropriate reporting and a pragmatic solution to update reported information was established.”
