A salmon farming giant that supplied the Royal Family for more than three decades has had its Royal Warrant revoked. Mowi, the world’s largest producer of Atlantic salmon, is no longer listed as a Royal Warrant holder after 35 years of supplying fish to the royal household. The Norwegian-owned firm had been the official fresh salmon supplier since 1990 and retained that status as recently as December last year.
The change follows animal cruelty concerns raised earlier this year, when undercover footage filmed by the Green Britain Foundation appeared to show staff beating salmon to death and leaving them to suffocate out of water at the firm’s Loch Harport site on the Isle of Skye. But the royal household does not give reasons for individual warrant removals.
In May, the Soil Association issued two serious non-compliance notices over the footage – one for inhumane killing and another for record-keeping failures.
The RSPCA also suspended Mowi from its animal welfare assurance scheme, while several supermarkets temporarily removed its salmon from sale.
Dale Vince, the director of the Green Britain Foundation, said:“It’s good to see the King, an environmentalist, distancing himself from Mowi.
“A firm with a history of pollution and animal abuse has no place holding a royal seal of approval.
“This decision places animal welfare and environmental responsibility firmly before corporate PR – we need more organisations to follow King Charles’ lead.”
The move was also welcomed by WildFish, a charity that contacted the Royal Warrant Holders Association earlier this year to question how Mowi qualified for the honour.
Nick Underdown, Scotland director at WildFish, said: “It is a travesty that any salmon farming company was ever granted a royal warrant.
“Salmon farming is inherently unsustainable and wholly at odds with the values that the King himself has long championed.”
He added: “We join others in urging households and businesses to take farmed salmon off their menus.”
Andy Ford, a lifelong angler and TV presenter, told The Telegraph: “Some of the big salmon farming companies have pulled the wool over a lot of people’s eyes over the years, selling the idea that they are providing a health food and it’s all fantastically above board, whereas the reality is very different.
“It’s refreshing to see a salmon angler like the King understanding that that’s the case, and if he’s removed the warrant on the basis that their practices are not as sold, then I think that’s a big step forward.”
King Charles is known for his environmental work and is a long-time patron of the Atlantic Salmon Trust, which campaigns for the protection of wild salmon and opposes open cage salmon farming.
Studies have linked farmed salmon escapes to the collapse of wild stocks through interbreeding.
According to the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, 80% of Atlantic salmon have disappeared from British rivers over the past 40 years.
On current trends, the species could vanish entirely from UK rivers within the next 30 years.
Don Staniford, the director of campaign group Salmon Watch Scotland, said: “King Charles must be applauded for finally revoking Mowi’s Royal Warrant after thirty five years of patronage.”
A spokesperson for the Royal Warrant Holders Association said: “We cannot comment on individual cases. The website contains the list of Royal Warrant holders.”
In response, a Mowi spokesperson said: “Mowi is rightly proud of its healthy and nutritious salmon and has been honoured to have held the Royal Warrant. Mowi does not comment on decisions made by the Royal Household.”