He claims that figures show a potential trend that could mean more fish die in farms this year than the seven million recorded for 2011.
Staniford told the media that the statistics from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, obtained under Freedom of Information, showed there had been more than two million dead fish recorded on salmon farms around Scotland in the first three months of 2012 alone. The fish deaths were due to a variety of diseases. He also claims that the figures show that over 17% of farmed fish die during the farming cycle.
The Scottish Government told the media that the most recent figures it had showed no indication of an increase in the numbers of farmed salmon that die during the production process.