Dawnfresh receives green light to expand Etive 3 fish farm

A CONTROVERSIA’ Loch Etive fish farm can expand its cage sizes only if it keeps to existing trout biomass, Argyll and Bute Council has decided, writes Sandy Neil.

Councillors granted planning permission for Scotland’s largest producer of farmed trout, Dawnfresh, to move its Etive 3 fish farm, located at Port Na Mine at the eastern end of Loch Etive, 100m into deeper water, and increase the size of its mooring grid and 10 pens from 60m (granted permission in 2007) to 80m in circumference. An earlier application was withdrawn this year ‘ due to mis- description’, because ‘unauthorised’ 70m cages had been installed since 2013.

The latest application received 97 expressions of support and 307 objections. Supporters pointed to Scotland’s growing fish farming industry contributing £1.86 billion annually, increasing by £110 million per year, and employing 2,257 people – 2,131 in the Highlands and Islands alone. Trout production on Loch Etive, one argued, ‘ helped sustain young families, local communities, services and schools, in an area where there are limited opportunities.’

Another wrote: ‘ There would not be a noticeable visual difference to the existing farm.’

Objectors suspected ‘an intention to seek further biomass once permission has been granted’, citing Dawnfresh’s ‘aspiration at a previous planning hearing to establish a new larger farm on the site of Etive 3’. Another argued fish farming posed a threat to wild salmon and sea trout, linking ‘ the five-fold increase in biomass held by Dawnfresh in Loch Etive since 2011, the increase in recorded sea lice numbers in recent years…and declining wild fish numbers.’

The council responded: ‘ There is no proven causal link between increased trout farming in Loch Etive and this decline in fish returning to the River Awe.’

Planning officers recommended councillors grant approval, which they did at the Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee meeting on Wednesday October 19 in Helensburgh.

‘ The proposal would entail a reduction in stocking density in the interests of fish welfare,’ the officers’ report stated.

‘It would be imperative to limit biomass to the current consented maximum [458.4t] by means of planning condition, to ensure any future intended increase would prompt a planning application, and thereby enable at that time the necessary assessment of implications for wild fish interests.’

Dawnfresh expects to complete the enlargement within the next six months. Its farming director, Stewart Hawthorn, welcomed the decision, saying: ‘ We have been operating on Loch Etive for over eight years and love what we do here, carefully rearing high- quality food for people to enjoy here at home and around the world, while creating year-round well-paying jobs for people in our local community.

‘Changing all of our pens to be the same size is something we have been wanting to achieve for some time. This will help us modernise our operations.’

Campaign group Friends of Loch Etive ( FoLE) was ‘disappointed’ by the decision to ‘massively’ increase cage sizes at the Etive 3 site, but it welcomed the council’s planning condition ‘ to protect wild salmon and sea trout and Etive ecology’, a spokesperson said.

‘ The decision, made in the face of overwhelming opposition from the public, will cause damage to the landscape, interfere with fishing and recreation, and is just another step towards an industrialised loch.

‘ Dawnfresh stated clearly there will be no increase in the biomass of farmed fish it intends to grow in these bigger cages, but FoLE and many others have long been concerned this is really just the first step in Dawnfresh salami- slicing its way to a much bigger farm at Etive 3 against the wishes of the Etive community.

‘ FoLE is pleased to see the council shares our concerns that this is just the start of Dawnfresh trying to get a much bigger farm at Etive 3.

‘ By placing a condition limiting the tonnage of farmed fish Dawnfresh can hold at that site to the existing tonnage, the council has made it clear to Dawnfresh that enough is enough.

‘ Until the company sees sense and stops submitting planning application after planning application, we will continue the fight to protect Loch Etive.’