Salmon farm plan for Trossachs national park is blocked

An artist's impression shows what the containers would have looked like on the loch

Plans for a new fish farm in Argyll have been rejected by The Trossachs National Park Authority.

The Loch Long proposal included the use of pollution-limiting containers which it was claimed would separate wild and farmed fish.

But the national park authority's board has refused the application.

The board said it was not not an appropriate location to host "development of such an industrial scale".

The impacts associated with a potential escape of farmed fish at the site near Arrochar was "a significant concern", the board added.

Loch Long Salmon had argued it was a "game-changing project" and pointed out that semi-enclosed containers have been used in Norway since 2014 and have also been rolled out in the Faroe Islands and Canada.

'Clear risk'

But James Stuart, convener of the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority, said: "It is our view that such a nationally important landscape is not the appropriate location to host development of such an industrial scale and where the risk of an escape of farmed fish could impact on designated water courses.

"The semi-closed containment systems proposed - whilst noted as a substantial step forward for the industry -have not yet been trialled in Scotland and there is not a sound body of evidence on which to base decision making."

"There is a clear risk that the technology may not be sufficiently successful."