PLANS for one of the UK's largest salmon farms is being opposed over fears it will harm a popular holiday destination. The Scottish Salmon Company has lodged plans to build it on the northern tip of the Isle of Arran, North Ayrshire.
Tourism is worth £61million per year to the island with 400,000 people visiting per annum.
The farm, at Millstone Point near the coastal village of Lochranza will be spread over 240 acres equivalent to 135 football pitches, 200 metres off the coast of the island.
It will be more than twice the size of most salmon farms currently in operation consisting of 20 cages capable of producing 5,000 tonnes of salmon a year and is set to create ten full time jobs.
Planning documents submitted to North Ayrshire Council also reveal that SCC applied to install 32 acoustic deterrent devices, which send out high-pitched sound waves to scare off seals that try to break into the salmon cages.
Island residents argue that the farm will damage the environment, claiming that it could damage the area's outstanding visited by thousands of tourists every year.
They also fear that the farm could generate fish waste in the sea equivalent to a town of up to 66,000 people and use acoustic deterrents to ward off seals which will also scare porpoises and dolphins.
Residents staged a demonstration in the autumn at the site at Millstone Point near Lochranza, a picturesque coastal village, and have installed six three metre-long protest banners around the islands.
More than 243 objections have been received to the controversial plans including a formal objection from Scottish Natural Heritage, the government conservation agency.
Paul Chandler, executive director of Community of Arran Seabed Trust, a local marine conservation charity
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