Objections sunk as first caviar farm given the go ahead at Loch Fyne

SCOTLAND’S first caviar farm has been given the go-ahead despite being condemned by campaigners as “cruel”.

Councillors yesterday approved plans for Fynest Caviar to build a closed containment aquaculture unit by Loch Fyne in Argyll.

The company will now be able to start work on three new buildings, which will contain three water tanks for sturgeon at the site at Cairndow.

Fynest Caviar aim to have Scottish-produced caviar, which can cost as much as £1,000 per 500g, on the market by Christmas 2020.

Animal campaigners are furious at the decision after they launched a petition against the farm – attracting more than 5,000 signatures.

Argyll and Bute council yesterday confirmed plans for the farm.

Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) objected and sent in a petition with 5,000 signatures opposing the farm ,claiming it would be cruel, unnatural and inhumane.

Planning officer, Sarah Davies wrote in a report before the committee: “It is only the principle of the development which is being applied for rather than the detail. In this application, however, the applicant has provided a lot of supporting details in order to demonstrate the acceptability of the proposal.”

The objection from Peta states: “Intensive fish farms cause immense suffering to the fish confined there. In the wild, sturgeon live in open rivers and migrate vast distances upstream to breed. On fish farms, there are confined to tiny, severely crowded tanks, where they have no option but to spend their lives swimming in endless circles.”

The Fynest Caviar said that sturgeon are currently vulnerable to overfishing.

The firm said that once in the dispatching room, fish will be killed with a club and death is instantaneous.