In the myth busters series we tackle some of the disinformation surrounding salmon farming.
At Loch Duart we have always been transparent and open about our approaches and we believe in doing things differently. Our Myth Busters series cuts through the noise and misinformation, often shared on social media platforms, to provide real, honest answers. The series will separate fact from fiction and explain the science and truth behind some of the claims.
The truth behind our name Loch Duart
You may have seen the comment that ‘Loch Duart isn’t even a Loch…’ and that ‘Loch Duart doesn’t even exist…’. Anti salmon farming activists have also insinuated that the farm is hiding something by naming ourselves after a Loch that ‘doesn’t exist’. Loch Duart does actually exist and it’s located right next door to our Duartmore hatchery.
The pristine waters of the Scottish highlands run off the hills and directly into the hatchery where they nourish our salmon at the most vulnerable point in their life. The water then flows out directly into Loch Duart. So it is an important part of the story.
Our salmon’s unique, healthy diet
At Loch Duart we like to raise our salmon as naturally as possible, that means no antibiotics and a diet that’s specifically designed to replicate what a wild salmon would eat. In the wild that diet would include a lot o
f marine content, so our bespoke marine feed content comes from MSC approved trimmings from the UK fishing industry. These trimmings, which would normally be cast aside and wasted, are now being turned into a resource which is not only great for our fish, it actually helps to protect the environment that we live in.
True Scottish Origin
Some online posts claim that ‘Loch Duart is imported Norwegian and Icelandic salmon’. While we can’t speak for the industry as a whole, at Loch Duart we never use generic farm salmon eggs. All our salmon are native to these waters and raised from an exclusive Loch Duart strain of eggs. What this means is that our salmon are 100% Scottish and genetically indistinguishable from wild salmon in the area. In fact Loch Duart Salmon are direct descendants from the wild fish that still swim in these waters today. Our salmon aren’t just raised in Scotland, they are Scottish.
Low stocking density
Another comment which we’d like to answer is that we ‘cram our fish into pens’. However, unlike some big industry farms, all of our salmon are raised to the extremely low stocking density of 1.5% of fish to 98.5% water, and in many cases it’s even lower than that. What this means is our salmon have plenty of room in which to swim, to shoal and, most importantly, to grow fit and healthy. We are also proud that we have an industry leading ratio of husbandry people to fish. This means that our dedicated team can provide round the clock care to the salmon. The last thing that we’d want to do is to introduce any health or welfare complications buy overcrowding our pens. So an extremely low stocking density is the way we’ve always done it.
You can see footage of Loch Duart in our Myth Busting films here.