What Is The ‘Hidden Truth’ About UK Salmon Farming?

Project Slingshot just released a short documentary titled Gaslit: The Hidden Truth About Salmon Farming in the UK.

The film summarizes the many environmental, ethical, and health issues that plague the industry, but are mostly hidden from public scrutiny.

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Gaslit features Chris Packham, Animal Equality’s Abigail Penny, journalist and author George Monbiot, social scientist Mark Borthwick, politician Ariane Burgess, professor of ecological linguistics Arran Stibe, and industry experts like Ailsa McLellan and Jamie Moyes. 

As noted by Project Slingshot, 100 percent of the Scottish salmon sold in UK supermarkets is factory farmed. Diseases and parasites are widespread, and investigators have documented fish with large areas of flesh eaten away by sea lice.

To treat sea lice infestations and mitigate the spread of disease, workers cover the salmon in toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde. These chemicals move freely through factory farms’ net walls, polluting Scottish waterways and killing wildlife.

Because factory-farmed salmon are not fed their natural diet, their flesh is grey, not pink. To compensate for this, workers feed them astaxanthin, which dyes them a more desirable color. Project Slingshot also highlighted the fact that “Scottish” salmon is owned and operated by just four companies, none of which are British.

Writing on YouTube alongside the film, the British animal advocacy organization said, “It’s not Scottish. It’s not wild. It’s not even pink.”

‘We only get what the lice don’t eat’

Gaslit is part of Project Slingshot’s new “End Salmon Farming” campaign, which aims to educate the public on the “filthy,” cramped conditions, “endemic” sea lice, and environmental pollution that is an inherent part of factory farming fish.

As with Project Slingshot’s CO₂ gas chambers campaign, the organization is putting up thousands of billboards across the London Underground to promote End Salmon Farming. Project Slingshot has also published a short, satirical film that stars Packham and subverts the salmon industry’s marketing of Scottish salmon.

“They have the cheek to call salmon premium,” wrote Project Slingshot. “They sell it as luxury. Pink, pure, and responsibly farmed in crystal-clear Scottish waters. Don’t buy it. We only get what the lice don’t eat. Scottish salmon are crammed into cages, eaten alive by sea lice and drenched in toxic chemicals. Even the pink comes off a colour chart.”

Read more: Workers ‘Hit, Drag, And Swear’ At Cows On Award-Winning UK Dairy Farm

‘A complete overhaul of the regulatory system is essential’

Earlier this year, Animal Equality described the lack of oversight in the Scottish salmon farming industry as “embarrassingly poor.” Farms reported a staggering 35 million unexpected fish deaths – not including fish that are culled, killed during transportation, or die during their first six weeks at sea – over three years.

Meanwhile, from 2023 to 2024, Scotland’s Animal and Plant Agency (APHA) carried out just two unannounced inspections of salmon farms. Speaking at the time, Penny said, “A complete overhaul of the regulatory system is essential.”

She added, “Regulators appear far more focused on protecting industry reputation than protecting animals.”

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