A jellyfish species wreaking havoc on Norway's salmon industry has moved into Scotland, causing havoc and prompting calls for urgent action.

String jellyfish have killed millions of salmon in Norwegian marine farms, with officials urging the eradication of affected fish.

The jellyfish have now been reported in several locations across Scotland, killing more than 200,000 farmed salmon so far.

Dale Vince, an eco-industrialist and founder of the Green Britain Foundation, who has been a vocal advocate for greater scrutiny and regulation of the industry, said: “This jellyfish attack is part of the fish farming industry’s failure to deal with the problem. Latest example. Environmental challenges. We often see them using land and sea as sewers for their toxic operations, and now nature is fighting back.”

The two Scottish farms currently known to be affected are in waters off the Isle of Skye and Mook. According to the Fish Health Inspectorate, 70,000 salmon have died at salmon farms around the Isle of Skye, while 160,000 salmon have died at Muck's farm.

A spokesman for Salmon Scotland denied salmon farms harmed the environment and said jellyfish blooms had also been detected in 2022 and 2023, caused by rising sea temperatures.

"There are around 70 million farm-raised salmon in Scottish waters at any one time," a spokesman for Scottish Salmon said. “Following an investment of almost £1 billion in fish health and welfare, including measures to mitigate the impact of microscopic jellyfish blooms, survival rates are at their highest level in four years.”

Activists say the jellyfish sting fish on their skin, eyes and gills, leaving them severely injured and vulnerable to infection and disease, often leading to a slow and painful death.

The jellyfish are just the latest problem facing the salmon farming industry, which has been plagued by welfare standards, mortality and pollution issues.

This week, the Scottish Government's Rural Affairs and Islands Committee stopped short of calling for a ban on any expansion of the sector following a formal Holyrood inquiry, but did raise concerns about "slow progress towards improved regulation and enforcement".

TV presenter and environmental campaigner Chris Packham said: “Climate breakdown and biodiversity loss are accelerating at an unprecedented rate, actively driven by industries such as Scottish salmon farming, which exploit and misuse of our precious landscape, undoubtedly destroying the environment and multiple ecosystems and ecosystems” of wildlife that live there – not just in Scotland but around the world.".

The committee said climate breakdown was affecting the salmon industry, with millions of fish dying each year due to rising water temperatures.

Packham added: "Let us be clear: if strict measures are not taken now, death and disease on fish farms will inevitably increase."

The Green Britain Foundation also called for greater scrutiny and regulation of the industry, saying the jellyfish were a stark warning that these farms increasingly face unpredictable and potentially catastrophic risks as climate breakdown continues to damage marine ecosystems. threaten.

Recent reports from Norway indicate that the threat from jellyfish to farmed salmon continues. In 2023, jellyfish killed about 3 million farmed salmon in the country.

A spokesman for Mowi Scotland, which owns one of the salmon farms, acknowledged that jellyfish blooms can affect salmon health in a number of different ways.

"In response to this emerging threat, an intensive monitoring program is in place at Mowi salmon farms across Scotland," a spokesperson for Mowi Scotland said. "There are daily tracking efforts that include water sampling, species identification and counting, and temperature and oxygen monitoring at different depths. We analyze trends daily to predict and mitigate conditions that could lead to harmful blooms."

A Scottish Government spokesman said the health of farmed fish was a top priority: "While we do not have comprehensive information on what type of jellyfish is present on fish farms in every reported death, the salmon farming sector is committed to better Understanding the effects on jellyfish is the cause of death."