Developments
All-new farm or planned expansion or relocation of an existing farm or facility, you'll find details of our current planning applications here.
Our strategy? Streamline several existing farming licences into one location – Billy Baa – which extensive hydrodynamic modelling has identified as having optimal conditions for growing salmon.
This will enable us to:
- Increase the space between pens
- Maximise water exchange and oxygen levels in and around pens
- Improve operational efficiencies
- Boost fish health, welfare and survival
- Grow our harvest volumes.
Community drop-in event
Interested in learning more about our proposals? Then come along to our community consultation event:
4pm-8pm, Tuesday 19 September 2023
Whiteness & Weisdale Public Hall, Strom Road End, Shetland ZE2 9LG
Our team will be on hand to answer any questions and listen to local opinion in order to help shape our final proposals.
Pre-application
If you’re unable to make our drop-in events but are still keen on finding out more, you can read about the proposed changes in the sub-sections below.
Have a question not answered here? Simply email development@scottishseafarms.com and one of the team will be in touch.
Post-submission
Once an application for Planning Permission, a Marine Licence or SEPA CAR licence has been submitted and advertised, there’s still the opportunity to review it and comment to the relevant regulator.
(Please note that any comments made to Scottish Sea Farms at pre-application stage do not replace the statutory application process, at which point comments should be made directly to the relevant regulator.)
Our vision for Billy Baa is to have 9 x 160m salmon pens and 1 x 120m pen, secured by a 125m mooring grid and with a surface area of 19,480m2.
Each pen would be stocked to RSPCA Assured densities of just 1.5% fish to 98.5% water, with a combined maximum permitted biomass of 4,091 tonnes.
To help keep these fish safely separate from other marine life, pens would be equipped with predator defence netting systems and pole-mounted top nets.
Adjacent to the pens would be a 400-500 tonne capacity feed barge. This would house the farm’s camera-monitored feeding system, office and welfare facilities for the team, and a store for fish feed.
The proposed development will be equipped with the latest farm infrastructure:
The new barge will be similarly modern, featuring a boat-like design to help it blend into the local seascape.
Shore base
In addition to the barge, Billy Baa will also be supported by our existing shore base at South Whiteness, from where the team will travel to and from farm.
Our first step, when seeking to establish any potential visual impacts of a proposed development, is to carry out a Zone of Theoretical Visibility exercise (or ZTV for short).
This is a computer-generated image that identifies the theoretical extent of the visibility of a development and can be compared with a 3D terrain model.
In the case of our Billy Baa proposal, the following key viewpoints within a 7km vicinity were included:
- Sandsound (435725, 1148310)
- War Memorial (438901, 1148510)
- Carpark/viewpoint (440294, 1146201)
- Hill of Berry (439678, 1140014)
- Hill of Olligarth (438618, 1147201)
- Greenvale/Reawick (432152, 1144006)
Next steps
Our next step is to carefully analyse, via a Landscape Visual Impact Assessment, any potential effects of the farm against the qualities of the West Coast Mainland National Scenic Area, Local Landscape Areas, Coastal Character types and key viewpoints.
That done, we generate computer-aided visualisations of the proposed development from each viewpoint, helping inform an assessment of any potential impact on the surrounding seascape and landscape.
This assessment is then shared within the planning application.
Salmon farming is a key employer in the local area and the proposed development of Billy Baa will add to that, creating a minimum of six new jobs.
Costing upwards of £4M, the installation and ongoing maintenance of the farm will also support jobs across the supply chain: from engineering, haulage, and diver and vessel hire to the manufacture of equipment and feed, and local travel and accommodation.
Direct and indirect jobs combined, this will create additional onward spend for businesses and services in the surrounding area.
Regional contribution
National benefits and beyond
Scottish farmed salmon is consistently one of the most valuable food exports, both in Scotland and in the UK.
Proposed farm developments such as this, aimed at enhancing fish health, welfare and survival, will further add to the volumes available for sale, helping to better meet the needs of a growing population.
If you have a question related to our development proposals that’s not addressed here, you can use the ‘Find out more’ page.
Alternatively, you can email Scottish Sea Farms’ Developments team directly at development@scottishseafarms.com
