Princess Anne Opens UK’s Largest Salmon RAS Facility

Salmon farming in Scotland just got a royal stamp of approval. Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal officially opened Bakkafrost Scotland’s multi-million pound Applecross plant on Wednesday, May 13, unveiling the UK’s largest freshwater recirculating aquaculture system. The Wester Ross site promises healthier fish, greener power and a global first in waste recycling, yet a fierce welfare row threatened to overshadow the big day.

Royal Spotlight Falls on Wester Ross Salmon Hub

Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal today officially opened Bakkafrost Scotland’s multi-million pound Applecross facility. She was welcomed to the remote Highland site by Managing Director Ian Laister before touring the freshwater plant and meeting staff from biology, engineering and marine operations.

She also met representatives from The Applecross Trust before unveiling a plaque to mark the official opening. Pupils from Lochcarron Primary School also took part in the ceremony, presenting flowers and a gift of Native Hebridean salmon.

Seen as marking a major step forward in Scottish salmon production, the state-of the art development in Wester Ross is the UK’s largest freshwater recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) and is central to the company’s ambition to become the most sustainable Scottish salmon producer.

Inside the ‘One Summer at Sea’ Strategy

The Applecross plant sits at the heart of a bold new production model. The facility plays a pivotal role in Bakkafrost Scotland’s ‘one summer at sea’ production strategy, which allows salmon to spend longer growing in ideal controlled freshwater conditions before transferring to sea as larger, stronger smolt.

By raising stronger fish on land first, the company cuts the months they spend exposed to lice, jellyfish and disease in open water.

Bakkafrost said that greater control of the freshwater rearing environment supports the health and well-being of the company’s salmon and reducing marine time from 18 months to 10 to 12 months in turn reduces the biological risk.

Here is a quick snapshot of what the new system delivers:

• Precise control of water quality, temperature, and flow, enabling improved husbandry, enhanced smolt health screening, and more effective vaccination, supporting higher fish welfare standards.
• Continuous recirculation through filtration, oxygenation, disinfection, and natural biofilter systems.
• Larger, more robust smolt before transfer to sea cages.

“The ‘one summer at sea’ model has the potential to be a real gamechanger for the sector, improving survival, reducing biological challenges and making better use of natural resources,” said Ian Laister, Managing Director of Bakkafrost Scotland.

Green Power and Waste That Becomes Gold

Applecross is not just a hatchery. It is a full sustainability experiment built on the edge of one of Scotland’s wildest landscapes.

The facility is powered directly by renewable energy, including on-site solar and hydro generation. As part of the Applecross development a 26 kilometre private wire was installed across the Beallach na Bà to connect the site directly to renewable hydro power.

The plant also turns a problem into a product. It also includes a multi-million pound waste to fertiliser conversion system, using UK pyrolysis technology to transform sludge removed from the RAS process into biochar, a global first in aquaculture. The carbon rich product can be used locally to improve soil quality for forestry, supporting more circular food systems and significantly reducing waste.

Jobs, Roads and Local Wins for Wester Ross

For a remote corner of the Highlands, the project has been more than a building site. It has been an economic lifeline.

Operating 24 hours a day, the Applecross site supports around 40 skilled permanent roles, including biology, veterinary, engineering, energy and technical operations. Staff worked closely with local and international specialists to design, build, and now operate the facility, developing new skills in RAS management, renewable energy integration, and advanced fish health monitoring.

During construction, Bakkafrost Scotland worked extensively with local and regional suppliers, contractors, and hauliers, supporting jobs across the Highlands and Islands and embedding local knowledge into the project.

At the same time Bakkafrost Scotland invested in local road improvements, enhancing safety and accessibility with new passing places and signs, delivering lasting infrastructure benefits for the wider community.

Welfare Row Casts Shadow Over the Big Day

Not everyone was cheering as the royal car pulled up. It comes after animal welfare group Green Britain Foundation called on the Princess Royal to abandon the visit due to allegedly high fish mortality rates at Applecross.

The organisation alleged more than 10 million salmon have died at Applecross in the past five years and more than a quarter of all reported salmon deaths at Scottish salmon farms in the past two years occurred at the site.

The campaign group’s founder Dale Vince was blunt in his criticism. “Bakkafrost wants the photo opp, the handshake [and] it wants to use Princess Anne to ‘royal wash’ their cruel, dirty business,” said Green Britain Foundation founder Dale Vince.

The backlash comes after a tough financial run for the company. Bakkafrost Scotland’s seawater farming segment made an operating loss of DKK 110 million (£12.8m) in Q4, twice the DKK 55m operating loss made in the same period in 2024. Half of the loss was caused by exceptional mortality, largely at a Bakkafrost site at Portree, Skye, where an outbreak of disease caused by the bacteria Pasteurella Skyensis led to the site being emptied and fallowed early.

Management insists the new Applecross plant is the cure, not the cause. “Production volumes of large, high-quality smolt are increasing, making Applecross a cornerstone in our Scottish operations. We remain firmly focused on a steady and controlled ramp-up, prioritising biological stability and predictable execution,” Bakkafrost chief executive Regin Jacobsen said in the Faroese company’s report for the fourth quarter of 2025.

The Princess Royal’s visit to Applecross is more than a ribbon cutting. It is a public bet that science, renewable energy and rural jobs can rewrite the story of Scottish salmon at a time when the industry is under fire like never before. For the families in Wester Ross who built this site, and for the millions of fish who will pass through its tanks, the next 12 months will tell the world if the gamble pays off. What do you think about the new RAS facility and the welfare debate around it? Share your views in the comments below.