First large-scale UK onshore salmon project at risk over ‘factory farm’ claims

Salmon farmed in round nets in a natural environment at Loch Awe in Argyll and Bute. Photograph: Richard Johnson/Alamy

On former railway sidings at Grimsby docks in Lincolnshire, the seafood industry is backing new plans for an onshore salmon farm that it claims will create jobs, cut emissions and help meet the nation’s huge demand for the fish.

The scheme would be the UK’s first large-scale onshore salmon farm, with the fish growing to a weight of four or five kilograms. The project’s backer says the closed system would prevent disease and invasions of sea lice, which can blight open-net salmon farms.