The Scottish Government’s green watchdog sent seven letters over three years alleging multiple breaches at a fish farm – and then issued a final warning letter.
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Sepa branded ‘toothless’ after salmon farm accused of 15 environmental breaches
The Scottish Government’s green watchdog sent seven letters over three years alleging multiple breaches at a fish farm – and then issued a final warning letter.
A salmon farm was given a “final warning” for failing to monitor the seabed after using a toxic pesticide – but only after warnings about 14 other environmental breaches in the previous three years.
The warnings were all issued to the Norwegian salmon farming company, Mowi, by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) between 2003 and 2025. They all highlighted instances in which environmental rules had allegedly been broken at the Ardgour salmon farm on Loch Linnhe, near Fort William.
In its final warning letter in December 2025, Sepa said the “worrying” monitoring failure was a “major non-compliance”. Further breaches could result in prosecution or a ban on using the pesticide, it added.
But campaigners accused Sepa of being “toothless” and “powerless” in the face of “a culture of non-compliance”. They criticised Mowi for “hubris” and for failing to meet its legal obligations.
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Sepa told The Ferret, however, that Mowi had monitored the Loch Linnhe seabed two months after the final warning. The results showed that there had been no breach of pollution limits, and the salmon farm had since “returned to full compliance”, it said.
Mowi insisted that it was “inaccurate” to suggest the company was “consistently non-compliant” or had failed to do “appropriate” monitoring. Bad weather had prevented checks at the “preferred” time, but subsequent sampling was “compliant with the environmental standards”, the company said.
Eight letters from Sepa to Mowi about the Loch Linnhe salmon farm from 2023 to 2025 were released under freedom of information law. They outline a total of 15 alleged breaches of environmental rules, culminating in the final warning letter about the monitoring failure.
The first letter from Sepa in February 2023 listed eight "non-compliances" at Loch Linnhe, including an “exceedance” while treating fish with a pesticide, failing to carry out environmental monitoring and a series of reporting failures.
The second letter in July 2024 cited a "major non-compliance” for failing to report on biological monitoring in time. In 2025 Sepa sent Mowi a further five letters about five more alleged breaches in January, April, June, October, and November, including failures to report on “self-monitoring” and to give notice of pesticide treatments and sampling.
On 19 December 2025, Sepa issued Mowi a “final warning letter” for the "major non-compliance" of failing to monitor the seabed after treating salmon with a pesticide called emamectin. It leaks into lochs from salmon cages and is known to harm marine wildlife. Sepa has been trying and failing to restrict its use since 2016.
According to Sepa’s letter, Mowi failed to carry out monitoring of the seabed to assess compliance with environmental limits after emamectin was used in August 2024. “It is worrying that the necessary processes to track treatments and plan monitoring are not always effective,” the letter said.
"A failure to monitor undermines our ability to make an appropriate assessment and take action if necessary,” it added. Sepa warned Mowi that further infringements could result in a report to the Procurator Fiscal recommending prosecution, or a suspension on the use of emamectin.
This whole sorry story reflects terribly on everyone involved – Abigail Penny, Animal Equality
The campaign group, Animal Equality, which obtained Sepa’s letters to Mowi, dismissed Sepa’s threats of tougher action as “laughable”. It demanded that salmon companies be “properly penalised” for their breaches.
"Finally being compliant now doesn't suddenly erase years of documented breaches," said the group’s executive director, Abigail Penny. “Mowi failed to meet its legal obligations and the regulator failed to hold the company accountable."
She added: “This whole sorry story reflects terribly on everyone involved. This toothless regulatory approach is doing little to tackle what appears to be a culture of continued non-compliance.”
David Gunn, an angler who lives near Loch Linnhe, described the salmon farming industry as “self-regulating” and “self-reporting”. He blamed the lice spread by salmon farms for the decline of wild salmon and sea trout.
He was pleased to see Sepa taking action but added: “Perhaps this final warning highlights the industry’s hubris and Sepa as a powerless organisation more than it does anything else.”
Sepa pointed out that two months after it issued the final warning letter to Mowi, the company carried out the required monitoring at Loch Linnhe. “The results were compliant with licence conditions,” a spokesperson told The Ferret.
Further monitoring was carried out in April 2025, which also found no breaches of environmental limits. This meant that the salmon farm had “returned to full compliance”, they said.
“Should there be a repeat of any similar major non-compliance in the future, further enforcement action would be considered in line with Sepa’s enforcement policy. Mowi have committed to a range of actions to improve compliance at their regulated sites.”
The allegation that Mowi’s farm at Loch Linnhe is consistently non-compliant is inaccurate – spokesperson, Mowi Scotland
A spokesperson for Mowi Scotland said: “The allegation that Mowi’s farm at Loch Linnhe is consistently non-compliant and has failed to undertake appropriate sampling and seabed analysis is inaccurate.
“Adverse weather conditions did prevent Mowi from carrying out one sampling activity at the preferred time. However, Mowi then submitted a compliance improvement plan, and the required chemical seabed sampling was subsequently completed at a later date.
“The compliant results from that sampling were duly submitted to Sepa. Furthermore, the most recent biological seabed sampling undertaken was compliant with the environmental standards of the permit.”
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Rob has more than 40 years’ experience specialising in reporting on environmental issues. He has co-authored three books about nuclear power, produced radio and television programmes. He likes muckraking.
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