Save Veantrow Bay

The salmon farm in Veantrow Bay is owned by Scottish Sea Farms Ltd, and there is an open planning application to expand the farm by around 250%.

From the history of environmental surveys of the site , it’s clear that the bay is already being damaged by the existing salmon farm.

On the seafloor in Veantrow Bay are large Maerl beds, which are a precious living marine habitat that hosts countless species.

The planning application has received objections from 26 different members of the community. For an island of around 300 people, that’s a huge turnout.

Scottish Sea Farms has a history of killing seals, releasing large amounts of formaldehyde into lochs, allowing fish to suffocate to death , and repeatedly breaching environmental regulations.

Before Scottish Sea Farms Ltd took over in 2007, all environmental surveys at Veantrow Bay were rated Satisfactory.

After the takeover, results fell to Borderline, then Unsatisfactory, and stayed that way for over a decade.

In 2020, the site’s maximum biomass was cut from 1,264t to 948t.

Yet even after this reduction, the farm managed just one Compliant survey in 2022, before slipping back to Unsatisfactory.

If Scottish Sea Farms Ltd cannot maintain compliance even after a max biomass reduction, they should not be permitted to increase biomass by 2.5 times.

Salmon farming might look like a sustainable solution, but beneath the surface, the reality is that industrial salmon farming can cause severe environmental damage.

Waste can smother the seabed, choking out life below. Devastating sea lice infestations can cause immense suffering for both farmed and wild fish. Chemicals and medicines used in the industry harm crustaceans and pollute marine ecosystems. The practice depletes wild fish stocks for feed and subjects farmed fish to inhumane battery-farm conditions. When they escape, they threaten the genetic diversity of wild populations.