January 2, 2024

Animal rights campaigners challenge approval of UK's first fully on-land salmon farm

Animal rights campaigners are urging Michael Gove, the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, to intervene and halt the construction of the UK's first fully on-land salmon farm, asserting that the planning permission granted was flawed, The Guardian reported.

According to the group Animal Equality, the decision lacks proper scrutiny as an environmental impact assessment (EIA) should have been conducted before North East Lincolnshire council (NELC) approved the project in Cleethorpes, which is touted to be the UK's largest on land or at sea.

While government guidance emphasises case-by-case evaluations, it suggests an indicative threshold for an EIA when a farm is designed to produce over 100 tonnes of fish annually. The Aquacultured Seafood Ltd development, aiming for 5,000 tonnes of fish per year, was deemed unlikely to have significant effects on the environment. Animal Equality criticised the decision as irresponsible.

A legal letter, sent to Gove and NELC by the law firm Advocates for Animals on behalf of the charity, said there is a potential huge and complex impact due to the project's scale, uniqueness, location, and risks to local wildlife. The letter stressed the significant risks associated with water pumped from the Humber estuary, designated as a wetland of international importance, and the potential contamination of the area and wildlife from diseased fish.

The group raised concerns about the farm's plans to use a treatment company employed only in Russia and Slovakia, with no published data on its success. The argument against conducting an EIA was based on the farm being an on-land and self-contained facility rather than traditional in water, a reasoning Animal Equality disputes, citing an over-reliance on assurances from the developer.

-      The Guardian