WARNING: 8,000 Tonne 'Semi-Closed' Salmon Farm Proposed for Disease-Ridden Loch Linnhe!

WARNING: 8,000 Tonne 'Semi-Closed' Salmon Farm Proposed for Loch Linnhe – if approved it would be more than double the biggest salmon farm in Scotland! https://t.co/ZKPi5rJ5KQ
Please flood @argyllandbute with objections – there are no public comments yet https://t.co/OxKbuhrLJJ pic.twitter.com/99XADWUO6c

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 5, 2022

Argyll & Bute Council has been quietly consulting with various government agencies and other stakeholders on a new 8,000 tonne 'semi-closed' salmon farm in Loch Linnhe north of Oban at Lurignish – read all the planning documents online here (as of 8am on 5 December 2022 there had been no public comments).

A deadline of tomorrow (6 December 2022) has been given for comment from various consultees as part of an initial scoping request – here's the 'Consultation Request Notification' to Scottish Water:

Argyll & Bute Council wrote to various stakeholders on 14 November 2022 scoping out the monster-sized proposal and giving 21 days (i.e. until 6 December 2022) for comments – here's one of the 'scoping request' letters sent to Argyll & District Salmon Fishery Board:

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency wrote in a letter to Argyll & Bute Council dated 1 December 2022:

A letter from Argyll District Salmon Fishery Board to Argyll & Bute Council dated 29 November 2022 supported the application 'in principle' due to the new 'semi-closed containment' technology but expressed concerns about the particular location:

A consultation response from Jon Gibb, Clerk of the Lochaber District Salmon Fishery Board, dated 15 November 2022 cited general support for the application but stated that "a far more detailed assessment of zone of risk is required":

The scoping request was triggered on 9 November 2022 by Arcus consultants in Glasgow (acting on behalf of Loch Long Salmon):

You can read the 122-page 'Scoping Request' from Loch Long Salmon online here

The 'Scoping Request' by Loch Long Salmon (November 2022) includes:

And here's more details on the 'semi-enclosed' system:

The 'Scoping Request' by Loch Long Salmon is for an eye-popping 8,000 tonnes which would make it over twice the size of the largest salmon farm in Scotland!

Here's the biggest salmon farms in Scotland currently (according to data published by SEPA via 'Scotland's Aquaculture') – headed by Mowi's 3,500 tonne salmon farm off the appropriately-named Isle of Muck:

Revealed: Here's Scotland's biggest salmon farms – headed by Mowi's appropriately named Muck salmon farm. Where's there's muck, there's Mowi! @MowiScotlandLtd @scotseafarms @CookeScotland @GriegShetland @kamesfishfarm @ScotlandSalmon @ScottishEPA @marinescotland @scotgp pic.twitter.com/kM6xOdXabP

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) September 5, 2022

The 'Scoping Request' by Loch Long Salmon (November 2022) details salmon rivers in the vicinity of the application at Lurignish (between Oban and Fort William) in Loch Linnhe (map dated 10 November 2022):

The track record of 'semi-enclosed' closed containment in Canada – where the same technology as proposed at the Lurignish salmon farm – is appalling.

As Dan Lewis @ClayoquotAction put it: "What we learned was that there were 'fish welfare concerns resulting from chronic exposure to higher levels of ammonia'. In other words, those fish were forced to breath their own urine, probably burning their gills" @AFFtheClyde @loch_long pic.twitter.com/9N93aP96sT

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) October 28, 2022

Clayoquot Action in Canada – where the same semi-enclosed technology was trialled unsuccessfully by Cermaq – posted on Facebook on 17 October 2022:

"Cermaq's semi-closed fish farm experiment in Clayoquot Sound failed after only 1 year, because fish were dying from breathing their own urine"

As Dan Lewis from Clayoquot Action puts it: "What we learned was that there were 'fish welfare concerns resulting from chronic exposure to higher levels of ammonia'. In other words, those fish were forced to breath their own urine, probably burning their gills…"

In October 2022, Loch Long Salmon suffered a body blow when their flagship proposal in Loch Long was refused – with the planning authority flagging up impacts of escapes on fragile populations of Atlantic salmon:

Big shout out to the brave locals who fought off plans for a salmon farm in Loch Long – your victory is a watershed moment and an inspiration to communities up and down the coast. The tide just turned against toxic salmon farming! @ScotlandSalmon https://t.co/TCAGeSuSeC pic.twitter.com/qZ7UmU1gJ0

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) November 1, 2022

Just last month, the Fiizk 'semi-closed' containment system failed in Norway. Intrafish reported (16 November 2022):

The Scotsman reported (5 December 2022):

"Even if closed containment can mitigate the risks of escapes & interaction of marine mammals, the problems of mass mortalities, infectious diseases and unsustainable feed resources will never go away. The lesser of two evils is still evil" @TheScotsman https://t.co/qU5Ls4BG6N

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 6, 2022

"We believe that semi-closed containment cages like this only have a place if they are used to replace open-net cages at existing farms" said @JohnAitchison1 @CCNScotland @TheSoundOfJura @TheScotsman https://t.co/qU5Ls4BG6N @ScotlandSalmon @AFFtheClyde @AST_Salmon @fms_scotland

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 5, 2022

The Press & Journal reported (6 December 2022):

Today's @pressjournal: "After being refused planning permission in Loch Long – Loch Long Salmon is now eyeing up Loch Linnhe for a new 8,000 tonne ‘semi-closed’ (i.e. still open) salmon farm which if approved would be more than double Scotland’s largest" https://t.co/IcYnYxBVI7

— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) December 6, 2022