1.
Complainant
(a)
Name and address.
According
to their submission document, the complaint has been presented by the EU Salmon
Producers Group, who claim to be an organisation representing 22 member
companies. However, there is very little evidence to suggest that this
representative organisation actually exists.
The
EU Salmon Producers Group list their address as 20 Barnton Street, Stirling, FK8
1NE. Telephone 01786 474 718, Fax 01786 451 392. However, these contact details
actually belong to a firm of Chartered Accountants called Dickson Middleton.
British Telecom directory enquiries confirm that the telephone number and
address is theirs, not that of the EUSPG.
According
to the Scottish Executive, the EUSPG is a recognised Trade Association however
their contact arrangements is ‘care of’, which confirms that the EUSPG have
neither an office or dedicated telephone lines. The Scottish Executive’s only
contact with the EUSPG appears to be through a different telephone number –
01259 743627.
Whilst
the Scottish Executive say that they recognise the EUSPG as a Trade Association,
the Executive’s website does not include any links to the EUSPG, even though
there are links to all the official salmon industry representative organisation
websites.
The
EUSPG are not listed in any of the industry trade directories. The Fish Farmer
Handbook 2004, the Fish Industry 2004 Yearbook and the Aquaculture Ireland
Yearbook 2005 do not to refer to the EUSPG.
Clearly,
if the Scottish Executive had not recognised the EUSPG and applied for
safeguards on their behalf, the EUSPG would not be considered a working
representative organisation.
According
to the submission, the Complainant represents 22 producing companies. This
statement is both erroneous and misleading. Annex 1 of the submission lists the
Complainants
1. Ardvar Salmon
2. Wester Ross Salmon
3. Loch Duart Salmon
4. Orkney Seafarms
5. Atlantic West Salmon
6. West Minch Salmon
7. Sidnish Salmon
8. Ayre Salmon Farms
9. Balta Isle Seafayre
10.Olnafirth Salmon
11.Skelda Salmon
12.Thompson Bros Salmon
13.Uyeasound Salmon
14.Foraness Fish
15.Greenholm
16.Hoove Salmon
17.Islands Salmon
18.North Atlantic Seafarms
19.Manin Bay Salmon
20.Eise Ui Flatharta Teoranta
21.Muir Gheal Teoranta
22.Muirachmhainnai Teoranta
23.Celtic
Atlantic Salmon
24.Silver King Seafoods.
This
list confirms that there are 24 producing companies, not 22 as stated. This is a
basic error. However, the list of farms is also inaccurate because at least one
farm does not exist and others are owned by the same people. This might not be
an issue except that these farms all produce very small volumes of salmon. There
appears to be little rationale for operating in this way, especially as it
incurs repeated costs.
The
submission was dated 7th September 2004, yet Ardvar Salmon was sold
at the end of the previous April and merged with the farm of another EUSPG
member. The list includes three farms all operated under the same address
belonging to EUSPG member Angus Macmillan. These are Atlantic West, West Minch
and Sidnish. These are effectively one farm. The North Fish Group lists three
separate farms, which according to the Shetland Salmon farmers Association
website are owned by EUSPG member Angus Grains. This means that the list of
EUSPG members actually contains 19 producing companies.
The
Complainants imply in their submission (Annex 13) that they represent a
Community industry, operating under their own trade association, which is
distinct from the rest of Scottish production. This is not the case. Several of
the complainant companies are members of other industry organisations whose
membership includes companies that the Complainants claim are not part of the
Community industry.
The
membership of Scottish Quality Salmon includes
Ardvar
Salmon
Ferguson
Salmon
Finfish
Lakeland
Unst
Lakeland
Marine
Loch
Duart
Marine
Harvest
Scottish
Sea Farms
West
Minch Salmon
According to their website
Wester Ross Salmon are also members of SQS although they are not included in the
SQS list.
Although
Ardvar Salmon is now no longer operating and presumably will disappear from the
membership list, Angus Morgan, secretary of the EUSPG and chairman of Ardvar
Salmon is also a leading board member of SQS.
All
the complainant companies from Shetland are members of the Shetland Salmon
Farmers Association along with:
Scottish
Seafarms,
Lakeland
Unst,
Hjatland
Seafarms,
Johnson
Sea Farms,
Johnson
Seawell,
Unst
Salmon
Hoganess
Salmon,
Wester
Sound Salmon
There
is no published membership list of the Irish Salmon Growers Association so it is
impossible to differentiate between community and non-community producers within
this organisation.
Clearly,
the complainants cannot be distinguished as a distinct Community industry from
the rest of European producers. The Community industry includes all known salmon
producers.
(b)
Standing of the Community Complainants.
The
submission states that the estimated production of farmed salmon in the EU for
the year 2003 was 181,000 tonnes of which 162,000 tonnes was farmed in Scotland.
The use of this figure is misleading as it suggests that the state of the
Scottish industry is much worse than it really is. The submission was dated 7th
September 2004, but in June of that year, the Fisheries Research Service, part
of the Scottish Executive published production data for Scotland. This shows
that Scottish production in 2003 was actually 173,373 tonnes. This document
appeared on the FRS website but was subsequently withdrawn. It might be
suggested that the EUSPG complained to the Scottish Executive that the figures
did not support their submission. The data has yet to be republished.
The
submission suggests that 80% of total EU production is produced by companies
owned or related to exporters and importers of Norwegian salmon. The remaining
20% is produced by companies that are mainly small, medium sized enterprises
based in Scotland, or Ireland and which are independent of exporters and
importers of the product concerned. They indicate that the complainant companies
produce about 30,000 tonnes, representing about 90% of community production.
These figures are misleading.
The
complainants suggest that independent producers account for 33,000 tonnes or 20%
of production. If their estimate of 181,000 tonnes is accepted, then they
actually produce only 18% of Community production. If the Scottish Executive
figures were accepted then total EU production would be 192,373 tonnes of
salmon. This means that Community production is only 17%. Unfortunately, as the
figures provided by the Complainants have been removed from the submission, it
is impossible to verify whether the estimates of Community production are
correct or not. However, some information is available, especially relating to
Shetland.
1. Ardvar Salmon
0t
2. Wester Ross Salmon
3. Loch Duart Salmon
1800t
4. Orkney Seafarms
5. Atlantic West Salmon)
6. West Minch Salmon )
7. Sidnish Salmon )
8. Ayre Salmon Farms
1000t
9. Balta Isle Seafayre
250t
10.Olnafirth Salmon
100t
11.Skelda Salmon
100t
12.Thompson Bros Salmon 100t
13.Uyeasound Salmon
1000t
14.Foraness Fish
100t
15.Greenholm
100t
16.Hoove Salmon
1000t
17.Islands Salmon
500t
18.North Atlantic Seafarms 100t
19.Manin Bay Salmon
20.Eise Ui Flatharta Teoranta
21.Muir Gheal Teoranta
22.Muirachmhainnai Teoranta
23.Celtic Atlantic Salmon
24.Silver King Seafoods.
These
figures suggest that the Complainant companies may struggle to produce 30,000
tonnes a year, especially as they claim to produce 90% of the production of the
Community industry.
The
submission document, as well as excluding those companies that are related to
Norwegian production, also lists two other categories. The first are supporters
and this lists just one farm. The other category is other EU producers who
presumably do not support the complaint. These include the one salmon farm in
France and two farms based in Orkney. This implies that the Community salmon
industry consists of:
-
the
Complainants
-
those
with connections to Norway
-
others
However,
the companies listed in these categories may not include every salmon farming
company in the EU. The Shetland Salmon Farmers Association and Scottish Quality
Salmon produce lists of their members but there are some companies who have
chosen to belong to neither. For many years, Highlands & Islands Enterprise
produced a definitive list of Scottish salmon farms but no longer do so. This
means that there is no longer a single reference to every single salmon farming
company in Scotland or Ireland.
The
Scottish Executive included a list of every salmon farming company operating in
Scotland in their application for safeguard measures. Their complete list is as
follows: Those companies highlighted in bold are not included in the
complainants calculation.
ANNEX
2: SCOTTISH COMPANIES
ACTIVELY PRODUCING SALMON
1 A A McMillan
2
A+P Tait
3
Aquafarm Ltd
Aquascot
Ltd (now Mainstream Scotland)
Ardvar
Salmon Ltd
Atlantic
West Salmon Co Ltd
Ayre
Salmon Farm Ltd
Balta
Island Seafare Ltd
Bressay
Salmon Ltd
4 Carloway Seafoods Ltd
5 Collafirth Salmon Ltd
College
Cro Lax Ltd
6
D+J Salmon Ltd
7
Dury Salmon Ltd
8
Ferguson Salmon
9
G Duncan (Salmon) Ltd
10
Glendale Salmon Ltd
11
Gonfirth Salmon Ltd
12Harris
Fish Farming Co Ltd
13
Hebridean Fishery Partnership
14
Hebridean Salmon Co Ltd
15 Heogland Salmon Co
Hoganess
Salmon Ltd
Hoove
Salmon Ltd
16
Hunter Salmon
17
Isle of Skye Salmon Ltd
18
Isleburgh Seafarms
19 Kerrera Fisheries Ltd
Lakeland Marine Farm Ltd
20
Landcatch Ltd
21
Laxfirth Voe (Salmon) Ltd
22
Lewis Salmon Ltd
23 Lighthouse Highland Ltd
Lighthouse
of Scotland Ltd
Loch
Duart Ltd
24 Mainland Salmon
Marine Harvest (Scotland)
Ltd
25
Millburn Salmon Ltd
26
Mull Salmon Ltd
Murray Seafoods
North Atlantic Salmon Ltd
27
North Uist Fisheries Ltd
28 Ocean Reaper Ltd
Orkney Sea Farms Ltd
29 Orkney Seafoods
30 Papil Salmon Farm Ltd
31
Portree Salmon Farmers Ltd
32 Punds Voe Salmon Ltd
Rysa
salmon Farm
Scord
salmon (Shetland) Ltd
Scottish
Seafarms Ltd
33
Setterness Salmon Farms Ltd
34
Shetland Marine Salmon
35
Shetland Norse Fish Farm Ltd
Skelda
Salmon Farms Ltd
Skerries
Salmon Ltd
Stolt Seafarm Ltd
36 Sweening Salmon Ltd
Thompson
Bros Salmon Ltd
Uyeasound
Salmon Co
37
Vementry Salmon
38
Wadbister Salmon Ltd
West
Minch Salmon Ltd
Wester
Ross Salmon Ltd
Wester
Sound Salmon Ltd
Western
Isles Seafood Co Ltd
Westray
Salmon Ltd
39
Westside Salmon
40
Whalsay Seafarm Ltd
In
addition, Irish salmon farms currently operating according
to the Aquaculture Ireland 2005 Yearbook include:
41
Atlantic Seafood Producers
42 Clare Island Seafarms
43
Creevin Salmon Farms
44
Cuan Boi Seafarms
45
Cuigeal Teoranta
46
Curraun Fisheries
47
DMCI Golam Teoranta
48
Eany Fish Products
49
Northern Salmon
50
Ocean Farm
51
St Killans Harvest
52
Salmon Nova
It
is quite possible that some of these companies are no longer operational and
clearly there is at least one error; for example ‘College’ is meaningless.
However, the important point is that the Complainants appear to suggest that
their 19-24 companies produce 90% of Community production whilst these remaining
52 companies produce only 10% or 3,000 tonnes.
Under WTO rules, the application shall be considered to have been made “by or on behalf of the domestic industry” if it is supported by those domestic producers whose collective output constitutes more than 50 per cent of the total production of the like product produced by that portion of the domestic industry expressing either support for or opposition to the application. However, no investigation shall be initiated when domestic producers expressly supporting the application account for less than 25 per cent of total production of the like product produced by the domestic industry.
As
it is clearly difficult to substantiate the exact number of salmon farms
operating in the European Community, it would be almost impossible to identify
the exact tonnage contributed by each to the total. Such information does exist
and is supplied confidentially to respective government agencies. The fact that
the Scottish Executive has delayed publication of the 2003 figures demonstrates
how these figures are contested. The claim that the EUSPG represent 30,000
tonnes or 90% of Community production is questioned. The omission of 52 farms
that clearly do not support this submission brings their claims into doubt. It
would not be surprising if the EUSPG do not have the 50% of industry support
needed to pursue an ant-dumping case. In terms of number, they are very near the
25% absolute minimum requirement. If this is translated into volume, then it is
possible that the EUSPG do not have sufficient industry support to even submit
their submission.