Animal Equality's Grim Warning Over UK's Largest Salmon Farm: "Untold death & destruction on your doorsteps"

Here's a press release issued by Animal Equality following the approval on Wednesday (29 November 2023) of the UK's largest salmon farm next to Grimsby Town Football Club:

Breaking! Controversial super-sized salmon farm given green light by Grimsby Planning Committee, in a move that experts deem “reckless”

Immediate release — Today, Councillors on the Planning Committee for North East Lincolnshire Council approved proposals for a controversial 5,000 tonne on-land salmon farm in Cleethorpes, with four opposing and seven in favour.

With no other fish farms of this scale in operation currently, once constructed, the facility will be one of the largest in the world.

The meeting was attended by the Director of Aquacultured Seafood, the firm that submitted the original proposal, as well as objectors who addressed Councillors, fearing that the farm “will give rise to untold death and destruction on your doorsteps”.

Describing it as “one of the most critical planning applications we’ve had in our time”, Councillors voiced concerns about the size, impact on nature and location, particularly questioning the energy consumption required to sustain the site, as well as the predicted waste output.

Councillor Holland noted that Aquacultured Seafood is a “start-up business, with no track record”, and that the Committee “owes it to the residents to relay their fears and commission an Environmental Impact Assessment”.

Echoing these concerns, Councillor Beasant (Liberal Democrat) said: “I’m a keen environmentalist and I’ve got some grave concerns about this. We cannot have a legacy like this for 80 jobs when we don’t know how stable those jobs are”. In an impassioned speech, Abigail Penny of Animal Equality UK, concurred, acknowledging the need for local jobs but questioning “jobs at what cost?”.

With the Chair of the Committee acknowledging that the Council is not comprised of experts, when Councillor Holland (Independent) questioned about the energy consumption needed Planning Officers explained that they did not have that technical information available to them, prompting Councillor Shutt (Labour) to say that it “doesn’t inspire me with confidence… it’s a really hard decision for me to make today then”.

Despite this, a vote was enforced. Four Councillors were in favour of delaying the decision and commissioning an Environmental Impact Assessment, while the remaining seven voted in favour of the proposed fish factory.

The site is estimated to produce as much effluent as 400,000 humans – a figure four and a half times the size of Grimbsy’s population. The energy required to sustain the farm could power 3200 houses, and one salmon fillet uses the same amount of drinking water as one person requires for an entire year.

In September, a collective of world-leading aquatic animal experts with 229 years of combined experience published a joint letter drawing attention to the dangers of on-land Recirculating Aquaculture Systems for salmon farming, like this one. Expressing concerns, they say that such on-land fish farms “cause serious and irreparable challenges to our wild species and local communities”.

Public reports made available by the Fish Health Inspectorate show that on-land fish farms have experienced technical failures, leading to elevated death rates on some commercial sites. Applecross Hatchery in Scotland, an on-land farm that uses similar equipment to that planned in Grimsby, reported of an incident in August 2023 where a system failure caused the tank water to become too acidic, leading to the death of 1.5 million fish. The same site lost a similar number of fish when it experienced water quality issues in May.

Speaking on this issue, Abigail Penny – Executive Director of Animal Equality UK, an international NGO that fought against the proposed Grimsby farm – said at the planning meeting: “The accidental flick of a switch or the turning of a dial can be catastrophic for the animals trapped in the system. They simply have nowhere to escape.”

In an attempt to persuade the Council to reject the planning request, experts at the meeting also pointed to the environmental impacts of a fish factory of this size, arguing that it would undermine the Council’s commitment to be carbon net zero by 2030.

Speaking on the decision, Abigail said: “In the face of so much uncertainty and so many obvious risks, it is wholly irresponsible to have approved this fish farm today. The Planning Committee has just made history and for all of the wrong reasons. Without an ounce of doubt, this super-sized salmon factory will give rise to untold death and destruction on Cleethorpes’ doorsteps. The Committee Members who supported this should hang their heads in shame today; they are paving the way not only for this area, but in fact for the UK and the world, on the wrong path. We will keep fighting this. I will continue to do everything in my power to prevent this monstrous fish factory from being constructed.”

Local, James Edwards, also objected to the planning proposals, saying: “This battery fish-farm of pipes and tanks will be like some kind of demonic toxic water park swirling toxins and fish sewerage, less than a kilometre from the heart of the Cleethorpes tourist industry. But perhaps more pertinently, there are no successful and profitable large-scale Atlantic salmon land farms in existence anywhere in the world”. He added: That should be of concern to investors and Councillors too. This proposal is based on systems which have a track-record of failure and cause the loss of millions of pounds around the world. It seems the only place it has been lauded as a success is in Dubai, but only because of huge Government subsidies. This is a money-losing enterprise”.

Mark Borthwick, a Doctoral Fellow and former Head of Research at the Aquatic Life Institute also spoke to voice his anxieties around the project. Having worked on aquaculture policy for Downing Street, Holyrood, the Biden Administration, the European Commission, and the British FAWC, he said: “Aquacultured Seafood is presenting a wildly optimistic view of how this farm will operate. The company is promising efficiency which no farm in the world has ever managed to deliver. There is no way this farm will be feasible, profitable, and have no impact on the wider environment. It will need more water, produce more waste, have more disease, and produce way fewer fish than they are claiming. The numbers simply don’t add up.” Reflecting on today’s decision, he said: “The Committee is putting a lot of trust in these profit-seeking incomers to be candid with their estimation of the risks and the costs. I travelled 500 miles this morning to tell you that these estimates do not hold water.”

Here's video footage of the opponents' oral evidence (they were granted only 5 minutes to make their case):

Here's a transcript of the speeches (North East Lincolnshire Council tried in vain to limit it to two people speaking):

Abigail Penny @animal_equality: "This will be one of the most enormous fish farms on the planet. And I say, without an ounce of doubt: it will give rise to untold death & destruction on your doorsteps" @NELCouncil @MartinVickers @lia_nici @officialgtfc @GrimsbyLive #Grimsby pic.twitter.com/qoZekpWgvC

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 1, 2023

Mark Borthwick: "So there are two sets of strangers in your town. One promises you a great fortune, so long as you don’t look behind the curtain, and the other stranger is asking you to be cautious, to move slowly, and to be methodical in your assessment of risk" @NELCouncil pic.twitter.com/rpoYPbArKb

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 1, 2023

James Edwards: "This battery fish-farm of pipes & tanks will be like some kind of demonic toxic water park swirling toxins & fish sewerage, less than a kilometre from the heart of the Cleethorpes tourist industry" @NELCouncil @MartinVickers @lia_nici @GrimsbyLive @officialgtfc pic.twitter.com/bQ68opJ3sC

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 1, 2023

A longer written submission by Mark Borthwick on behalf of Animal Equality is available online here – in full below:

Here's photos shot at North East Lincolnshire Council's planning meeting on 29 November 2023 – with councillors voting 7 to 4 in favour of Aquacultured Seafood's 5,000 tonne salmon farm:

Animal Equality has vowed to keep fighting the "totally reckless", "catastrophic" and "apocalyptic" salmon farm approved on the banks of the Humber Estuary near Cleethorpes Beach and slap-bang next to residential housing.

The Grimsby Telegraph reported (30 November 2023):

Councillors were told that the morality of fish farming was not their concern. "It will be one of the most enormous fish farms on the planet" said Abi Penny @animal_equality with "catastrophic death & destruction" @GrimsbyLive @NELCouncil @officialgtfc https://t.co/7nBdKSLsWn

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) November 30, 2023