Campaigners are gearing up for a grim battle to sink a super-sized 5,000 tonne salmon farm which, if approved, would be the largest salmon farm in the UK (over 1,000 tonnes bigger than the largest salmon farm in Scotland and ten times England’s entire salmon farming production in 2020).
Grim Warning over UK’s Largest Salmon Farm – £75m proposal to farm 5,000 tonnes of fish next to Grimsby FC spawns community backlash! @NELCouncil @jamesfoxdavies @seafishuk @GrimsbyLive @officialgtfc @jstockwood @andrewpets1 @LincsLive @BBCRadioLincs https://t.co/t4POozLMkJ pic.twitter.com/LQOQEpsrmD
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) February 13, 2023
According to planning documents filed with North East Lincolnshire Council on 12 December 2022, the £75 million proposal by AquaCultured Seafood to farm salmon on a 40,000 square metre site next to Grimsby Football Club on the Humber Estuary (a RAMSAR site, Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area) is estimated to generate 1,000 m3/day of effluents but no information has yet been provided on predicted mortalities, infectious diseases, the use of toxic chemicals, the number of fish, mitigation of the smell from dead salmon or how £75 million in investment will be raised.
Residents living next to the proposed super-sized salmon farm are rising up in opposition – here's a Facebook post (11 February 2023) on the local DN35 Community Watch group:
$camon $cotland visited the proposed salmon farm yesterday (12 February 2023) to meet with concerned residents who are setting up a protest group to fight the factory fish farm. Julie Edwards and John Mooney spoke out against the super-sized salmon farm proposal by AquaCultured Seafood and were joined by Cllr Matthew Patrick and other residents:
A proposed site plan filed in December 2022 by UMC architects on behalf of AquaCultured Seafood details over 50 tanks where salmon would be factory farmed close to Cleethorpes Beach and residential property:
“The proposed development will require approximately 1,000 m3/day of freshwater and 1,000 m3/day of salt water,” wrote property consultancy Montagu Evans in a letter dated 9 December 2022 on behalf of James Fox-Davis (sic) of AquaCultured Seafood (james@aquacultured.co.uk). “Up to 1,000 m3/day of effluent will be generated from the aquaculture process.”
Companies House lists James Fox-Davies and Colin Craig Anderson as directors in AquaCultured Seafood.
James Fox-Davies describes himself on Twitter as an ‘Aquaculture Evangelist’ whilst Colin Craig Anderson (also known as Craig Anderson) was outed by The Herald and The Ferret in November 2021 as hiring a private investigator to spy on activists during his tenure as Chief Executive of The Scottish Salmon Company (Bakkafrost Scotland).
From "global hero" in 2016 @IoD_Scotland to caught spying for @salmon_scottish by @FerretScot
Meet Craig Anderson: The Spy Who Loved 'Scottish' Salmon – from Russia with Love for Salmoney!! https://t.co/hARbao5svk @ScotlandSalmon @Folketrygdfond @Try_Lochlander @tavishscott pic.twitter.com/aam3Tn6jnF— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) November 28, 2021
Local residents living near the proposed salmon farm question the wisdom of the industrial proposal (area in yellow).
“I oppose the building of a big factory taking away land which is occupied by wildlife,” wrote Linda Calvert of Daubney St in Cleethorpes in an objection filed with North East Lincolnshire Council in January 2023. “It will be noisy and is too near housing which will cause disturbance to the people living along Harrington Street and Daubney and Barcroft Street.”
“Strongly object to a salmon farm being built on that land,” wrote Kim Harvey of Manchester St in Cleethorpes in an objection filed with North East Lincolnshire Council last month (25 January 2023). “Records going back 40 years of all the wild life flowers migration of birds, deer, foxes, insects. Also a flood plain. To close to houses apart from the smell and all the crap that will end up being pumped in the sea. The north wall walkway should be a route to the docks but met with a locked gate. The docks is falling apart. Big objections from many people. Keep your back handers to the pocket park project and leave the area alone!”
“Deer graze on the proposed salmon farm site and seals have been seen on the slipway to Cleethorpes beach,” said resident Lynn Sayles who is opposed to an industrial salmon farm on her doorstep.
“Discharging huge amounts of effluents into the sea will undoubtedly impact on marine wildlife and beach tourism. Grimsby may have a fishy heritage but it is simply no place to locate a stinky salmon farm. AquaCultured should listen to local residents – as well as the foxes, birds, hedgehogs and wildflowers living on the proposed site – and ‘fish off’. North East Lincolnshire Council should be protecting the area as a wildlife park not promoting industrial fish farming.”
Here’s a 2-page leaflet prepared for local residents:
“It is Natural England’s advice, on the basis of the material supplied with the consultation, that there are potential likely significant effects on statutorily designated nature conservation sites or landscapes and further assessment is required,” commented Natural England in December 2022. “The proposed development is located within/partly within or has the potential for adverse effects on the following designated nature conservation sites or designated landscapes: Humber Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Humber Estuary Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Humber Estuary Special Protection Area (SPA), Greater Wash Special Protection Area (SPA) and Humber Estuary Ramsar Site.”
“Further details on process waste/effluent management in terms of odour control of the site would be expected” commented the Environmental Protection Team at North East Lincolnshire Council in December 2022.
Download all the planning documents – and objections – via North East Lincolnshire Council's online portal:
“The welfare nightmare of factory fish farming is a Hammer House of Horror story not a Brothers Grimm fairy tale with a happy ending,” said Don Staniford, Director of $camon $cotland who visited Grimsby yesterday (12 February 2023) to meet with concerned residents. “Even ‘Grimsby’ film star Sacha Baron Cohen would struggle to see the funny side of a torture chamber which kills between 50% of its stock.”
“Cramming millions of Atlantic salmon – the King of Fish – in closed cages is animal cruelty and a crime against nature. Community opposition has the power to stop this ethically and ecologically bankrupt proposal dead in its tracks. If this factory farm goes ahead, the crowd at Grimsby FC will need nose plugs to avoid the stench of farmed salmon and tourists will give Cleethorpes Beach a wide berth.”
Shocking video footage exposing cruelty inside a land-based salmon farm can be watched via Animal Outlook online here
Video footage detailing welfare abuse and mass mortalities inside Scottish salmon farming can be watched via ‘FishyLeaks’ and Ecotricity:
Dale Vince published gruesome video evidence of welfare abuse inside salmon farms last week (10 February 2023):
Salmon-spiracy continues…☠️ Before we shared shocking truth of salmon farming in Scotland. Now discovered dead fish carcasses are being used to produce electricity and gas.
Action:
1. Stop buying farmed salmon
2. Contact your supermarket
3. Share this video#EndSalmonFarming pic.twitter.com/2HzAEdO1Co— Dale Vince (@DaleVince) February 10, 2023
Leaked video footage shot by investigators for Compassion in World Farming shows disease-ridden salmon being dumped across Scotland:
"Systemic investigation ongoing" by @marinescotland @APHAgovuk at The Scottish Salmon Company's Applecross Hatchery at Loch Kishorn following the deaths of over 700,000 farmed salmon! @salmon_scottish @ScotlandSalmon @Folketrygdfond https://t.co/DqDKfxFOiw
Nothing to see here! pic.twitter.com/AwVXS8F3g4— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) March 8, 2022
Data on mass mortalities piling up inside land-based salmon farms published on 1 February 2023 by the Scottish Government include weekly mortality events in excess of 1.5 million farmed salmon with death rates of up to 100% and disease problems such as Pancreas Disease, Fungus and Salmon Gill Pox:
"Scottish salmon farms facing boycott call as fish death double" reports today's Observer @itsjamestapper @ObserverUK https://t.co/uQ4Yagh9Li @animal_equality @tavishscott @ScotlandSalmon @MairiMcAllan pic.twitter.com/SaVDQ7gJEQ
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) January 15, 2023
In October 2018, The Sunday Mail reported that 500,000 farmed salmon had died at Mowi's flagship hatchery at Inchmore – opened only a few months earlier by Scotland's Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy, Fergus Ewing.
Infectious diseases, lice infestation and mass mortalities are plaguing salmon farms in Scotland – with The Observer newspaper reporting last month (15 January 2023) that 15 million salmon died on farms during 2022 (almost double the previous year).
Video evidence of dead farmed salmon – dying in their millions inside land-based and sea cage salmon farms – has piled up all over the world and features on Netflix’s ‘Seaspiracy’.
Further details on the horrors of land-based salmon farming can be found via:
Atlantic Sapphire shares plunge after mortalities warning
“Getting it right can be tricky,” reported Science last week (9 February 2023) in an article showcasing land-based salmon farming and Atlantic Sapphire in particular. “In 2021, about 500,000 salmon died at the Florida facility after a clogged drain increased turbidity that may have generated deadly gases. The company’s output that year was just 2400 tons, far short of its long-range target. Other companies have faced protests over plans to build salmon farms in Maine and California. Some communities fear the farms will deplete precious groundwater, or pollute aquifers or surface waters with their waste. In Maryland, one firm canceled plans to build a farm after scientists said its wastewater could harm endangered sturgeon.”
“For oceangoing fish confined to tanks, stress is a constant risk, especially when they are handled. “When the fish don’t want to be moved, they can really hurt themselves,” says Åsa Maria Espmark, an aquaculture researcher with Nofima, the Norwegian food research institute (as quoted by Science).
“The Bluehouse project [Atlantic Sapphire] has not been all plain sailing,” reported BBC News in April 2021. “In July last year an issue with its water quality meant that, in the words of Mr Andreassen, "we faced a situation where we risked large [salmon] mortalities". To avoid this outcome, the company decided to "emergency harvest" 200,000 fish before they had reached their full 20-month-old maturity. Another design problem in March this year caused further fish deaths, the firm had to report. And earlier this month it was reported that three workers at the facility had to go to hospital for treatment following the release of an unknown gas.”
“Unsurprisingly, animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) is damning of Bluehouse and the 40 or so other firms developing such land-based fish farms around the world,” continued BBC News. “These include a planned barramundi farm in Arizona. "Fish farms [whether at sea, or on land] are pits of filth," says Dawn Carr, Peta's director of vegan corporate projects. "Fish are not fish fingers with fins, waiting to be cut apart, but feeling, thinking individuals capable of joy and pain, and they belong to themselves, not to humans. "Raising fish this way is wretchedly cruel and certainly unnecessary.”
Farmed salmon spend their entire lives in stressful, cramped, or polluted conditions, which leaves many of them to suffer with painful sores and infections.
Think about this next time you see salmon. #Veganuary pic.twitter.com/u9foIp1C5c
— PETA (@peta) January 15, 2021
“Land based salmon farming has an appalling track record of mass mortalities, infectious diseases and environmental pollution,” concluded Staniford. “If approved, this 5,000 tonne salmon farm would be larger than any in Scotland where the salmon farming industry is devastating local communities and polluting ecosystems. Do supporters of Grimsby FC really want a monster-sized salmon feedlot as their noxious neighbour? If this crazy proposal succeeds, the Mariners should rename themselves the Salmon Pharmers.”
Read more via media backgrounder online here (PDF) and online here (Word document)
Contact Don Staniford (Director of $camon $cotland) on 07771 541826 and via salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com
ADDENDUM:
Date: Mon, Feb 13, 2023 at 7:11 AM
Subject: FOI re. salmon farm proposal by AquaCultured Seafood
To: <foi@nelincs.gov.uk>
Date: Mon, Feb 13, 2023 at 9:34 AM
Subject: Typo in planning application – Davies not Davis
To: <gabriella.bexson@montagu-evans.co.uk>, <craig.blatchford@montagu-evans.co.uk>, <simon@kddesign.org.uk>, <james@aquacultured.co.uk>, <clare.mcilwraith@aecom.com>, <jo.atkinson@aecom.com>, <Tony.marshall@aecom.com>
Cc: <Richard.Limmer@nelincs.gov.uk>
Colin Craig Anderson (born in October 1962) is a director in Loch Fyne Oysters along with Viacheslav Lavrentyev. Both are also directors in Associated Seafoods although he is listed as Craig Anderson (born October 1962).
Both Associated Seafoods and Loch Fyne Oysters are owned by ‘Moscow banker’ Yuri Lopatinsky – outed by the Sunday Mail in March 2022 as connected to Russian intelligence, a notorious KGB double agent and dodgy businessmen including Mohamed Amersi.
Read more via:
EXPOSED: Lopatinsky's Laundromat – How Dirty Russian Money Corrupted $cottish $almon!
Craig Anderson, when Chief Executive of The Scottish Salmon Company (Bakkafrost Scotland), hired a private investigator to spy on activist Corin Smith and a second unnamed person (understood to be Don Staniford):
Herald/Ferret: "Scottish Salmon Company chief hired investigator to 'snoop' on fish farming critic"
Channel 4 News on Scottish Salmon Spying on Corin Smith!
Date: Mon, Feb 13, 2023 at 4:00 PM
Subject: Finance Earth support for Grimsby salmon farm?
To: <blueimpact@finance.earth>
From: Allan Benhamou <allan@finance.earth>
Date: Tue, Feb 14, 2023 at 3:47 PM
Subject: RE: Finance Earth support for Grimsby salmon farm?
To: Don Staniford <salmonfarmingkills@gmail.com>, Blue Impact <blueimpact@finance.earth>
Dear Don,
Re: Your email to Finance Earth of 13 February 2023, re: article on the FishSite about a salmon farm in Grimsby
Thank you for reaching out to us about the FishSite article.
We write to confirm the current position with relation to your questions in relation to the above.
The Blue Impact Fund is not live and therefore not making investments. We are therefore not affiliated with any investments being made in Grimsby or elsewhere.
We have written to the FishSite to request they correct their article.
We hope this fully answers your queries.
Kind regards,
Allan
Allan Benhamou
Senior Analyst
Enabling investment into conservation, climate and communities
Finance Earth is a trading name of Environmental Finance Limited, Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. FRN No: 831569.
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