Fish Farmer December 2021

Loch Long Salmon

Gimme shelter The calm waters of Loch Long could be the future for salmon farming in Scotland

BY ROBERT OUTRAM

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FF: Planning applications for fish farms have been tricky recently. Do you think you have addressed the issues?

SH: Our experience has been that there have been very few objections to what we’re proposing compared with conventional salmon farms. The local community response has been very positive.

[This is] because we’re addressing a number of the concerns that community members have, and at the same time we’re bringing stable, well-paid jobs to the area.

I think these people recognise that jobs are very important for local businesses and facilities, for schools, for shops, and for the community as a whole.

We’ve also had a very positive engagement with regulators. I believe they want to see the industry grow and thrive, but they also want to see concerns addressed.

We are offering a genuine solution to issues such as sea lice, waste discharge and seal interactions. Our focus on “prevention rather than cure”, I believe, has been well received.

N October, Loch Long Salmon (LLS), the business looking to create Scotland’s first semi-closed salmon farm, submitted the planning application for its proposed farm site at Loch Long near Beinn Reithe in Argyll.

The semi-closed system envisaged includes an inner layer with a conventional net, and another layer that is impermeable and opaque.

The farm will comprise four circular marine farming enclosures, each with an outer diameter of up to 50m and a square harvesting facility with a side length of up to 50m, all being semi-closed containment systems. These enclosures will sit in single file formation in an 80m x 80m mooring grid approximately 300m from the western bank of Loch Long.

Loch Long Salmon is a joint venture between Trimara Services, run by former Dawnfresh trout farming director Stewart Hawthorn, and the Simply Blue group. In May of this year, UK food distributor Goldenacre also became part of the joint venture, investing an undisclosed sum.

Fish Farmer magazine spoke to Hawthorn about the project.

Fish Farmer: Where is Loch Long in the planning process right now?

Stewart Hawthorn: We’re well advanced. We’ve submitted the SEPA CAR [Scottish Environment Protection Agency Controlled Activities Regulations] applications [which are] expected to be determined before the end of the year. Our planning application was submitted to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park on 8 October and it has now verified the application as “complete”.

So now it’s in a formal evaluation process with statutory consultees, and public consultation now open. We expect to be in front of the planning authority in January 2022, with a determination some time in spring early 2022.

I think “we’ve got a great, genuine story to tell

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FF: How do you define a “semi-closed” fish farming system?

SH: In Norway they would call our system a “closed system”. We call it a “semi-closed” system because I think that more accurately reflects what we’re doing.

In our system there’s the net, which a conventional farm has, but we surround that net with an impermeable membrane. And that protects the fish from the external environment. Into that system we are pumping deeper, cleaner water, which is more stable in its chemical makeup, especially during things like rainfall events.

And because we have enclosed the net we can add oxygen to ensure that we’ve got better rearing conditions.

For the pumps, we’ll be purchasing power with a “green tariff” in order to ensure that we’re carbon-neutral.

FF: Isn’t a semi-closed system more expensive than a conventional farm?

SH: Our system has a number of cost

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09/12/2021 15:31:48