Nevertheless, he missed the first story on Scotland's fish farming concept to reality story and hastens to add some more detail in an attempt to gather a swathe of high technology protester's against a fish farming water expansion grab by Lakeland Marine  a subsidiary of Morpol, founded by CEO Jerzy Malek in 1996 in Ustka on the Baltic coast of Poland who while acknowledging the perfection of Argyll's setting is not disturbed by the possibility that each site would produce effluent equivalent to a human population of about 50,000, or roughly seven times the size of Oban

The proposals are to relocate and increase one of Lakeland's operations from 1,300 tonnes to 2,500 tonnes and another, a few kilometres away, from 750 tonnes to 2293 tonnes which would equate to populations of about 500,000 mature salmon per site.

The existing farm pictured by ForArgyll, consists of eighteen square cages bolted together in two rows, having a combined surface area of approximately 10,800 square metres. These have a permitted capacity of 1,350 tonnes of salmon.

The proposed new farm would contain 2 rows, each of 6 circular cages, described as 100 metres circumference, that is about 32 metres diameter, occupying an area of the surface of the sea of approximately 30,000 square metres, with in addition the space occupied by the service barge deck area of 26 metres by 18 metres.  The overall area involved, including mooring equipment, amounts to 179,800 square metres of seabed.

On top of the barge there are a number of units, including a feed silo and a personnel room with on top of this a further deck area surrounded by railings, giving a total height of about 3 metres. The structure would be built from grey concrete and surrounded by tyre fenders. The proposed farm would have a maximum permitted biomass of 2,500 tonnes. This corresponds to about 450,000 adult salmon.

ForArgyll  carries the second story by Ewan Kennedy which covers the Impacts of such fish farming.

ForArgyll is not the only voice raised to protest the expansion. The reason reports Scottish Boating blog  for the relocation is that "hydrographic conditions are more favourable" at the new site, which I assume means in other words that the tidal flows at the existing site are insufficient to remove the enormous quantities of waste food and debris produced by this form of industrial production. 

"Once again fish farming, the sacred cow of the Scottish economy, threatens the one asset we truly have in Scotland, our lovely landscape, and the tourist and leisure industries that are our major employers. Far more serious however  is the threat to personal safety, as the proposal presents a major hazard to navigation.

When I first looked at the pre-application proposal I couldn't believe the figures, notes the Blog.
 The farm is to contain twelve circular fish cages, each 100 metres in diameter, in two rows of six, tethered to 21  mooring buoys positioned in a rectangle in excess of 300 metres wide by 510 metres long, making a total area, per the application form, of 179,800 square metres, or about 45 acres in old money. There is to be in addition a concrete feed barge, presumably similar to the grey monster off the North end of Shuna.

Above is the layout plan, showing the disposition of the cages and moorings. Effectively the area within the red boundaries becomes an exclusion zone for small craft.

And this is a large scale location plan, showing that the exclusion zone extends about half way across the Sound. This is an area well known for strong tidal streams and wind shifts. It's not as if the Cuan Sound is a backwater, in Summer it's one of the major routes North for visitors.

Legally the power of the Crown Estate to grant leases of the seabed is subject to the rights of the public to navigate safely. This application is in flagrant disregard of those rights and must be resisted by all those who value our waters and the safety of those who venture out on them.

SAVE SEIL SOUND