Bakkafrost Scotland gets go-ahead for new 3,100-tonne farm off Gigha

Salmon farmer Bakkafrost Scotland has been granted planning permission for a new fish farm off the west coast of Gigha, Argyll and Bute.

The farm will comprise eight 160-metre pens and a feed barge. The site has already been given a licence from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) for a maximum allowed biomass of 3,104 tonnes.

Argyll and Bute Council received a number of letters of support for the application from people on or from the island, as well as objections from locals and from individuals and groups who regularly oppose salmon farm applications, such as Green MSP Ariane Burgess and the Coastal Communities Network.

Encouraged by support

A spokesperson for Bakkafrost Scotland said: “Gigha is a key part of our southern operations, and we are pleased with the outcome of the hearing.

“Bakkafrost is determined to be a good neighbour, and we are encouraged many of the local community came out to express their support for our plans.

“Our aim is to be Scotland’s leading and most sustainable salmon producer, and Gigha is part of that journey.”

Much-needed employment

Most of the letters from islanders who supported the new farm said it would provide much-needed employment opportunities and enable young people to remain living in the area, rather than leaving in search of employment.

“As a mother of children, I feel they should all have the option of staying in Kintyre for employment, rather than being forced to move elsewhere to get work,” wrote one.

Another Gigha resident, dairy farmer Emma Dennis, who has three sons, wrote: “My eldest son works on the fish farm here and loves his work. The fish farm has been a lifesaver when it comes to finding jobs here for the young people when they leave school.”

Dennis wrote that she gave her permission for the East Tarbert Bay fish farm – one of two Bakkafrost Scotland sites on the east of Gigha – to expand and gave an oyster grower permission to use the beach at East Tarbert Bay because he wanted to live on Gigha and make a living.

“We all have to do our part living on a small island and we all need progress,” wrote Dennis.

Mill plan 'will be ruined'

However, the planning application was strongly opposed by composer and music producer JP Waksman, who owns a former mill that is the closest building to the farm site.

He claimed the light and noise from the farm would ruin plans to turn the building into a creative space where people could come for artistic retreats.

And countryside ranger Casey-Jo Zammit, a former secretary of charity Dark Skies Gigha, said light from the farm would threaten any future chance for Gigha to become a Dark Sky Island/Park.

Jellyfish mortalities

Anti-salmon farming activist Don Staniford has also pointed out to the media that the two Bakkafrost Scotland sites on the east side of Gigha - Druimyeon Bay and East Tarbert Bay – have had mortality rates above 80% in recent farming cycles.

The most recent full cycles at East Tarbert and neighbouring Druimyeon Bay were severely impacted by blooms of the micro-jellyfish Muggiaea atlantica, which caused problems for nearly all of Scotland’s fish farmers in 2022 and 2023.

The East Tarbert Bay site has been fallowed since January 2022, while Druimyeon Bay was most recently used from February to August this year as a nursery site for on-growing smolts before transfer to another site.

Bigger smolts

Bakkafrost Scotland is undergoing a period of transition towards the production of 500-gram smolts at its land-based recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility at Applecross, Wester Ross, as part of a strategy to produce salmon that will only have to spend one summer in marine sites before harvest. Late summer is the worst time for biological challenges such as sea lice, jellyfish, and gill disease, and many of the fish Bakkafrost has lost have been “second summer” fish weakened by exposure to challenges in the first summer.

The Faroese-owned company has also spent millions of pounds on vessels to increase its capacity for freshwater treatments to tackle lice infestations and gill health problems.