Photo by Simon Hurry
Shetland Islands Council has approved what will become the UK’s largest salmon farm, giving the green light to Scottish Sea Farms’ (SSF) Fish Holm development in Yell Sound on 11 February. The £8 million site will comprise 12 pens of 160-metre circumference with a maximum standing biomass of 6,000 tonnes, triple the existing consent, despite a record number of objections from fishing communities, environmental groups and shellfish management bodies.
SSF, jointly owned by Norwegian seafood giants SalMar and Lerøy, says Fish Holm consolidates several existing Yell Sound sites into a single farm in deeper, high-energy tidal waters to reduce sea lice, disperse waste and improve fish welfare. The company is the largest private employer in Shetland, with nearly 300 staff and an annual local salary spend of around £15 million.
‘Betrayal at the highest level’
For Shetland’s inshore scallop fleet, the ruling has been met with fury. Around 30 vessels work the Fish Holm area, which fishermen regard as among the islands’ most productive grounds. Sydney Johnson, who fishes there with his two sons, told the Guardian he dismissed SSF’s claim that the site yielded just £500 of scallops per vessel annually as “laughable.” “It’s hard to figure out why our own council are hellbent on destroying our living for the gain of a few big Norwegians,” he said. “It’s betrayal at the highest level and it’s a fine shame to all involved.”
Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA) executive officer Sheila Keith said that fishermen were left wondering what future remained for them, “especially with more proposals of this kind already lining up behind Fish Holm.” The Shetland Shellfish Management Organisation had previously called it “morally wrong” for a large corporation to “grab territory” at the expense of small local businesses.
Moratorium calls grow at Holyrood
The approval arrives at a critical moment for the industry. Scottish Government figures show a salmon survival rate of just 61.8% across a full production cycle in 2024 – the lowest since the 1980s. The Scottish Parliament’s rural affairs and islands committee is due to question salmon farming executives on 25 February.
Green MSP Ariane Burgess has long pushed for a moratorium, arguing that a pause would allow regulators to ensure existing rules are being properly enforced and to address the true costs of salmon farming to Scotland’s seas. Conservative MSP Edward Mountain, who led the first parliamentary inquiry into salmon farming in 2018, told the Guardian he would now vote for one: “Continuing mortalities means to me that the industry hasn’t done what it promised to do in 2018, which was reduce mortalities and prevent problems.”
WildFish Scotland director Nick Underdown warned that the 6,000-tonne biomass “raises serious concerns about cumulative impacts on wild sea trout, particularly from sea lice,” adding that the decision was especially concerning given the parliamentary scrutiny the sector is currently under.
Industry pushes back
Tavish Scott, chief executive of Salmon Scotland, argued that SSF has surrendered 23 sea farm sites around Shetland in four years, with five more to follow in 2026. “Far from an expansion of salmon farming this is a rationalisation,” he wrote.
The week Fish Holm was approved, Cooke Aquaculture also filed a separate application for a new farm off Vementry on Shetland’s west side. SSF’s already-consented Billy Baa farm near South Whiteness is expected to open later this year.