October 2024 update

With all the well publicised issues around open net fish farming - lice, climate change, pollution, fish welfare and disease, fish feed content - it is understandable that the Scottish government is looking for solutions to protect what is currently the UK’s largest export. It is against this backdrop that they will be considering the current appeal from Loch Long Salmon to site a 4000 tonne semi contained farm on Loch Long and, when the application goes in, the proposal to site an 8000 tonne semi contained farm and industrial site on Loch Linnhe.

The purpose of our group has been - and continues to be - to research and publicise every aspect of this particular proposal and the extremely questionable claims of the developers about their so far unproven technology. Sometimes there will inevitably be posts on our Facebook page from members that tend towards a more general conversation about the industry. While these posts serve their purpose in highlighting the current issues, we should like to emphasise that our group research, and therefore the only aspect about which we can be totally confident, is focused on the proposed commercially unproven technology and totally inappropriate site.

After two years of trawling through research papers and learning from experts around the world, it is very clear that neither the technology nor the site can possibly be the solution - and if it were to be allowed could be a potential disaster on a catastrophic scale for Loch Linnhe.

It now transpires that Loch Long Salmon are probably going to have to go through the whole pre-application process for Loch Linnhe again, possibly with new specifications, so we will be watching carefully to see what they come up with this time… Whatever it is, none of us should be fooled by their recent alteration to the terminology - although known throughout the industry as SCCS, Semi Closed Containment Systems, an LLS representative recently referred to their proposed system as Sustainable Closed Containment. Be in no doubt, their current proposal is neither sustainable nor closed…