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Scotland's first 'enclosed' salmon farm to open on Loch Long

Scotland's first 'enclosed' salmon farm to open on Loch Long

14 comments

·February 3, 2025
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mig39

Open-net fish farming (as seen in British Columbia) always seemed a bit crazy to me.

There are a lot of fish farms that are actually on land, and just get their water from the sea. Here's one in Praia de Mira, Portugal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE1_ExgfrSg (my video, I have relatives who used to work there).

So I guess this "enclosed" salmon farm in Scotland is half-way between the two. In the ocean itself, but not with open nets. Is this Loch Long considered to be "in the ocean" ?

unwind

It's a loch [1], i.e. a lake so no.

[1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Long

hangsi

You would think, but there are many "sea lochs" along the coast that are salt water inlets (lagoons?), and Loch Long is one of them. I think it's a grey area (and perhaps the West coast of Scotland in general is too).

calciphus

Interestingly, Washington State (US) banned this back in 2017. I remember when I was younger actually getting these kinds of farms pointed out on a boat trip. The boat captain mocked them because they still legally called themselves "wild caught", since they existed in open water instead of farms.

https://www.dnr.wa.gov/news/board-natural-resources-ends-ope...

weaksauce

I assume they ban the use of open net and not something like this which reduces the harms of the open net style. concentrating the excrement on the bottom of the floor being a big one and polluting the sea with lice treatments being another one.

lenerdenator

As a vegetarian 900 miles from the nearest ocean coast, what's the advantage of wild caught vs. farmed when it comes to fish?

I don't think you could start any sort of restaurant on the dining concept of only serving hunted meat. Too gamey.

blinded

This is a good doc on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdNJ0JAwT7I

rrr_oh_man

> I don't think you could start any sort of restaurant on the dining concept of only serving hunted meat. Too gamey.

What? I've been to multiple in Vienna, Austria, alone.

pipeline_peak

NESA

Never eat salmon from the Atlantic. It’s mostly farm raised and often dyed pink.

rimunroe

I’m not an expert so maybe someone else can chime in if I’m wrong, but: farmed salmon is not dyed pink. Their feed is supplemented with carotenoids like astaxanthin. These are substances they get in their diet naturally in the wild, is necessary for their health, and is also responsible for the pink color. This is the same class of chemicals which gives flamingos their distinctive pink colors. Flamingos, like wild salmon, eat algae and small crustaceans, both of which contain a lot of carotenoids.

Eating a lot of carotenoids can give humans (especially light skinned ones) carotenosis, which is a distinct orange or yellow tint of the skin. You have to eat quite a bit to get it though.

cherryteastain

I greatly prefer the texture of Atlantic salmon to Pacific varieties like sockeye though.

alexchamberlain

Are you applying American practices to a European context?

pipeline_peak

If you mean American as in both continents then yes, you are right about dying fish because Peru does it as well.

I still think any farm raised fish should be avoided.

From what I've seen, it looks like it's pretty common in Europe as well.

https://faunalytics.org/farmed-atlantic-salmon-a-life-not-wo...

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