footage shows fish gruesomely disfigured by parasites

Campaigners say footage provided to the Sunday Mail at three facilities off the west coast shows the impact of rampant parasites such as sea lice “eating away at the salmon”.

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One disturbing underwater clip at a site off Kerrera, west of Oban, run by Scottish Sea Farms (SFF) - a company that supplies M&S and other retailers - shows a salmon with a chunk of skin ripped off its face and an eyeball exposed. M&S insisted it does not source from this facility.

It comes amid mounting welfare concerns over the £1billion-a-year farmed salmon industry, which employs thousands of people in Scotland and produces the UK's top food export.

Activists have long warned about cramped conditions in at-sea cages, which, they claim, allow lice and disease to spread with millions of fish dying prematurely every year.

A probe by group Animal Equality included one farm at Scalpay, in the Outer Hebrides, operated by controversial seafood giant Mowi, which supplies Sainsbury's, and two SFF facilities near Oban.

But after submitting a legal complaint to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) watchdog in August, regulators have refused to disclose if they have taken any action.

Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality UK, said: "Nearly a quarter of salmon farms breach the industry's own lice rules. Sick and helpless fish are caged in filthy waters teeming with lice. Parasites cling to their bodies, literally eating away at the salmon. Would anyone really want to put that on their plate?