Despite planning setback, Abigail pledges to keep battling to scupper Cleethorpes salmon farm project

The woman spearheading the campaign to halt an indoor salmon farm from being built in Cleethorpes is animal welfare champion Abigail Penny (pictured). It is her belief that it is intrinsically both unnatural and cruel to confine large numbers of salmon - a migratory species which hunts and feeds alone - within holding tanks. Earlier this week, she drove from her home in Essex to urge North East Lincolnshire councillors to refuse planning consent for the scheme. Her bid failed but, following the meeting, she insisted there was still plenty of steam left in the campaign. "I will continue to battle," she pledged. Below is what she told Wednesday's meeting NELC planning committee which was held in Grimsby Town Hall. 
 

Good morning,  councillors - I am Abigail Penny, Director of Animal Equality UK.

I have taken a ten-hour round-trip to talk with you today about our shared future. 

 

Every one of you will set a precedent and make history during this meeting. You must choose to sit on the right side of history.

 

If you decide to give the green light, this will be one of the most enormous fish farms on the planet. 

And I say, without an ounce of doubt, it will give rise to untold death and destruction on your doorsteps. 

 

As at any artificial factory farming environment, an accidental flick of a switch can be catastrophic for the animals. 

Take, for example,  Applecross Hatchery in Scotland, where 1.5 million fish died in August last year because a system failure caused the water in the tanks to become acidic. This is one of many similar recorded incidents in on-land farms.

 

World-leading scientists have warned against these farms. 

In September, a collective of aquatic animal experts with 229 years of combined experience published a joint letter drawing attention to the serious and irreparable challenges these farms pose to our wild species and local communities.

 

Experts also estimate that a fish factory of this size places tremendous strain on our planet’s precious resources and local infrastructure. 

It would demand 7,000 litres of water every minute and produce as much sewage as 400,000 humans… that’s four and a half times the population of Grimsby.

 

If the council is serious in its commitment to be carbon net zero by 2030, then you simply cannot allow this proposal to go any further. 

 

I appreciate that the need for local jobs is very real -  coming personally from one of the most deprived areas of the UK myself, I can assure you that I sincerely understand the gravity of that. 

But you must ask yourselves: jobs at what cost? 

 

In the face of so much uncertainty and so many obvious risks, it would be reckless to approve this fish farm. 

Please, don’t let this be your legacy.