Back to main site

Scottish Salmon raised to a new high standard

At MOWI we’re privileged to raise our salmon in the clear, wild waters of Scotland’s west coast – caring for every stage from our home to yours.

Fish farming is a sustainable way of raising healthy, delicious Scottish salmon. And one that has to meet exceptionally high standards of care.

Now, we’ve taken these high standards to a whole new level.

Dive deeper

MOWI is the first Scottish Salmon Brand to be ASC approved

This is a big deal. Why? The independent Aquaculture Stewardship council (ASC) is a tough global standard – not achieved by salmon in Scotland before. It’s advised by a range of scientific and environmental experts, plus community stakeholders.

ASC approval has to be retained every year. If standards are not up to scratch, then the endorsement is taken away, just like that. It’s serious stuff.

What does ASC approval mean?

That we strive to deliver greater sensitivity to the environment and sustainability. Like:

  • Increasing focus on care for the sea bed and sea water
  • Tougher standards that include more reporting
  • Feed that’s certified as sustainably sourced
  • Fewer treatments amongst other things for fish welfare

We strive to always work responsibly and for our salmon, in line with the RSPCA guidelines for a better quality of life (also independently checked too).

Number one in more ways than one

The good news doesn’t end there. As well as being the first Scottish salmon brand to be ASC approved, MOWI has also been independently voted* ‘The Most Sustainable Protein Provider in the World’.

In fact, we’ve beaten other meat, fish and dairy suppliers – including free range – to pick up this impressive accolade for the last three years.

*By the Coller Fairr Initiative

Facts about raising salmon

1

Salmon farming

This started in the 1960s and is Scotland’s second largest export after whisky. So let’s raise a glass to that. Nowadays a whopping 95% of all salmon in Scotland is farm-raised. It also provides employment and investment in rural communities too.

2

Room to roam

Our enclosures are tremendously deep so that there is 98% water to 2% fish inside. Think of a seven story building going under water. Because we check and watch our fish every day, there’s plenty of room for them to explore and ‘school’ together.

3

Sustainable feed

A wild salmon would typically eat other fish and krill. But for our farm-raised salmon, we can source alternative, healthy ingredients for part of our fish feed, which doesn’t put added pressure on our limited ocean resources. Each fish is also high in Omega 3 too

4

The power of nature

Sea lochs are pretty darn big. In fact, a fish farm in a sea loch is like a goldfish bowl in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Seriously. Even better, tides naturally refresh the water in the sea lochs every day, and the natural ocean currents help our salmon grow up strong swimmers.

5

Crafted by hand

We’re proud to care for every stage from start to finishing at your table. That means using the best people to do the filleting, curing, smoking and slicing. All fresh from the best of the best of Scottish salmon. Yum.

6

Caring for the sea bed

Did you know that the seabed below our sites is regularly and widely monitored to ensure that there is plenty of life present to start regeneration? Once our salmon are harvested, their home also becomes fallow (or empty) for a while. By farming within the environments capacity we know that we are leaving no permanent impact.

Back to top