Corin Smith accuses WildFish of being ‘groomed and manipulated’ by animal rights extremists in leaked email row.
The Scottish anti-salmon farming coalition has been rocked by a leaked email and now a public statement from campaigner and photographer Corin Smith, who has accused WildFish of enabling a “sustained attempt” by English-based animal rights activists to take over the movement.
Smith’s email, originally sent in January but only recently leaked, requested the full withdrawal of all his images and video from WildFish platforms. The request was made in protest at the charity’s increasing association with groups such as Free Salmon, Animal Equality, and Abolish Salmon Farming (ASF), which Smith described in the email as “vegan/animal rights extremists.”
In a statement to SalmonBusiness, Smith said:
“I am reluctant to comment on what was meant to be a private email and disappointed that someone has broken longstanding trust. However, obviously I stand by what I’ve said to WildFish.
There is a sustained attempt underway by extreme animal rights activists and politically motivated individuals like Dale Vince, all of whom are based in England, to hijack the hard won national media profile that I and local communities in Scotland have fought to build over nearly a decade, concerning the impacts of open cage salmon farming on our coastal ecosystems and economies.
These people are dangerous, have no mandate or support in Scotland and frankly I doubt any of them have been to the Highlands and Islands or could tell apart a farmed salmon from a wild one. They present an existential threat to what we are trying to achieve here for residents of Scotland’s coastal communities and I have made this clear to WildFish for a long time.
WildFish have been groomed and manipulated by Dale Vince and extremist animal rights forces to such an extent that we are now in the ludicrous situation where WildFish are working with and publishing the work of an individual under the banner of ‘Abolish Salmon Farming’ who believes that, well I’ll let Jamie Moyes/Abolish Salmon Farming’s words speak for himself.
I raised my concerns about Abolish Salmon Farming/Jamie Moyes with WildFish some months ago, that they continue to work with him in full knowledge of his views and behaviour I find very troubling.”
The email and Smith’s subsequent statement underscore a major fault line in the campaign against open-net salmon farming in Scotland: between those seeking tighter regulation, transparency, and environmental reform, and others who favour total industry abolition and more confrontational tactics.
Smith, who has been instrumental in raising media and political awareness of environmental impacts linked to open-cage farming, said the current trajectory risks alienating rural stakeholders and undermining long-standing credibility.
WildFish has not yet issued a formal response.