The biggest decision we’ve ever made: Land-based salmon or nothing

We have for some time now been struggling to figure out the future of the salmon we sell, and whether we could even continue to put our name behind it. Until recently, our salmon has come from Scottish salmon farms, but we have had growing concerns around welfare in these systems, where the sea based open net system leaves the salmon vulnerable to sea lice, jelly fish and algae blooms. The sea is vulnerable too in this system, exposed to micro plastics from the nets, antibiotics (intended to improve the fish welfare), and escapees breeding with wild salmon stocks. As the last Scottish owned salmon farm was bought out last summer, it only further encouraged us in our search to find a sustainable and ethical solution.

In all honesty there was a time when I thought we would stop selling salmon altogether, as we were unable to see a way we could bring great quality salmon to your door, with the ethical standards we (and you) expect. I’d been encouraged to look at what the Scandinavians were doing for some time, but this felt like a big deal for us. We started out selling meat just from our Somerset farm, then neighbours, and gradually wider to encompass our current network of great British farmers. We didn’t ever envisage sourcing any of our products from outside the UK. So, I ignored these suggestions and tried to figure out whether we’d still have a business without salmon (salmon has been one of our best sellers for years). I’m glad that a timely conversation with a contact in the industry who told me about a farming system worth visiting in Iceland, which saw me flying out of Heathrow Airport early one morning recently, cautiously open minded.

What I found there was a pioneering land-based farming system, mitigating damage to the sea and keeping the salmon safe from lice and other welfare issues. This land-based farm use filtered subterranean sea water fed into large circular tanks, with a current and room for the salmon to grow for 14 months. I found a team there who were engaged and on the same page in terms of welfare and preservation of our seas. I am in many ways sorry to say that this is the only sustainable salmon we can put our names to, and so I have made the difficult decision to switch all our supply out of Scotland into this small network of European salmon farmers.

This Autumn, we are sourcing from two farms based in Iceland and Norway. Next week, Sam will be writing about our trip to Iceland that we made at the end of August. He’ll be getting into the detail on why our visit cemented our view that this was the right decision. We met the Icelandic Wildlife fund whilst out there. Their current work on trying to remove net-farmed salmon escapees from the foot of rivers where wild migrating salmon are headed was eye opening. Millions of years of evolution being challenged by cheap salmon destined for the supermarket shelf felt terrifying.

We have spent the first half of this year speaking to experts, other businesses in our sector and meeting owners of land-based salmon farms to help make a considered decision. We kept coming back to the same conclusion – we must pursue welfare first, and at present, we cannot source to our welfare standards in the UK. Retailing land-based salmon allows us to raise awareness of our view on Scottish salmon. If we de-listed the product we wouldn’t have been able to shout about the pioneering new higher welfare standards we have seen abroad, that we hope will come to the UK. We can be the change we want to see.

The salmon swimming in crystal clear water that had been filtered through volcanic rock was pioneering and revolutionary. This way of rearing salmon is in its infancy and will bring challenges as rearing livestock often does but I’m confident if you buy this salmon, it’s the most sustainable, high welfare salmon available. We’re lucky to be one of two retailers in the UK sourcing it. There will be periods where this land-based salmon is labelled from frozen and therefore is not for refreezing. We hope as demand grows and supply more consistent, we will move to 100% fresh and re-freezable.

Land-based salmon is now available to order and will be a direct replacement for the Scottish salmon you have been ordering. We have dropped a number of our prices this week and have decided to lower the price of this salmon - you can try it here.

As always, I’m very keen to get your feedback. If you would like more information or to discuss land-based salmon, please email me at [email protected].

Thanks for reading.

James