An illustration of the proposed salmon farm, which has licence from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) but was refused planning permission.

The Schrödinger’s Cat of aquaculture projects

Endless Scottish Government delay means Loch Long Salmon plan is 'simultaneously alive and dead, sealed in a regulatory box'

Gareth Moore editor
Published

One of the team behind the proposal for a floating semi-closed containment salmon farm in Loch Long has expressed his frustration over the failure of Scottish Government ministers to make a yes-or-no decision about the project.

Mark Shotter pointed out that it’s now two and a half years since Loch Long Salmon appealed against the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority planning board’s refusal of planning permission for the fish farm.

“That’s 30 months of being in limbo… not approved, not rejected,” Shotter wrote on LinkedIn.

“It’s starting to feel like the Schrödinger’s Cat of aquaculture projects: simultaneously alive and dead, sealed in a regulatory box.

“Until a Cabinet Secretary opens that box, we won’t know its fate.

“In the meantime, the sector waits. Investors wait. Communities wait.

“It’s time to lift the lid.”

Mark Shotter points out that the Loch Long Salmon project has had "30 months in limbo".

Planning inquiry

The national park’s planners refused permission for the 3,400-tonne farm in October 2022, and that decision was appealed in February 2023.

A planning inquiry headed by a government-appointed planning reporter was held in late September and early October of 2023 as part of the appeals process, and a few weeks later the reporter gave ministers a report with recommendations in order for them to take a final decision. That decision has not yet been made.

Finance and Local Government Secretary Shona Robison is the minister with ultimate responsibility for deciding Loch Long Salmon’s appeal.

'Every effort'

In November last year, Fish Farming Expert asked Robison’s department if ministers accept that they are taking longer than usual to decide on this application, what the reasons for the delay might be, and when ministers are likely to announce a decision on this application.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Scottish ministers are giving full and proper consideration to this appeal and every effort is being made to issue a decision as soon as possible.”

They wouldn’t elaborate on what “every effort” meant in this case.

Loch Long Salmon is not the only actor in the aquaculture sector to experience unexplained government delays. Most of the recommendations of Professor Russel Griggs’ Scottish Government-commissioned report into aquaculture regulatory reform were accepted by minister in 2022 but have not been actioned.

And in Norway, many land-based fish farming projects that take water from the sea have been on hold for the 30 months it has taken for the government to decide on a definition of what is and isn’t classed as a land-based fish farm. The Norwegian edition of Fish Farming Expert’s LandbasedAQ sister site called the delay “close to a scandal”.

What is Schrödinger's cat?

Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment devised by physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935 in a discussion with Albert Einstein to illustrate what Schrödinger saw as the problems of the so-called Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics.

In the thought experiment, a hypothetical cat is placed in a closed box with a Geiger counter connected to a radioactive source and poison that will be released if the counter detects a single atom decaying. The Copenhagen interpretation implies that the cat is therefore simultaneously alive and dead. Yet, when one looks in the box, one sees the cat either alive or dead, not both alive and dead. Although originally a critique of the Copenhagen interpretation, the thought experiment has become a popular way of describing a paradoxical situation.

loch long salmon aquaculture planning inquiry news scottish government regulatory delay