The UK’s largest producer of farmed trout has announced the latest step in plans to increase the size of some of its pens on an Argyll loch.
Dawnfresh Farming has submitted an application to Marine Scotland for a marine licence to modify moorings at its site at Port na Mine on Loch Etive.
The company’s proposals for larger pens, with increased spacing between them, were granted planning permission by Argyll and Bute Council last November.
The council’s decision allowed Dawnfresh to increase the diameter of the pens from 230ft to 262ft, in line with other sites on the loch. The application to Marine Scotland is the latest is a series of permissions the firm needs before the changes can be made.
A public consultation process has opened for people to provide views on the plans to Marine Scotland before the agency decides whether to grant the license. If granted, Dawnfresh will still be required to obtain permissions from the Crown Estate before the changes to the site can be put in to effect.
Stewart Hawthorn, Farming Director for Dawnfresh, said: “Modernising our Port na Mine site is part of a long-term strategy for Dawnfresh Farming’s activity on Loch Etive and will help us standardise equipment and procedures, improving the efficiency of our operation in Argyll.
“This, in turn, will help us continue to provide a sustainable source of healthy fish for UK and global markets whilst contributing significantly to the local economy.”
He added: “The changes to the site itself were granted planning permission by Argyll and Bute Council last year, so the application to Marine Scotland is largely technical in nature and only concerned with changing the existing license for moorings to allow us to implement the updated layout.”
Based in Uddingston, near Glasgow, Dawfresh has seven fish farms and hatcheries in Scotland and Northern Ireland, including its sites in Argyll. It also owns a fish processing factory in Grantown.
With a workforce of more than 500, the company’s brand’s include Loch Etive trout, Silver Tide and Arbroath-based RR Spink and Sons.
