Document type: article published in Reporterre
Author: Reporterre
Preview: A thorn in the side of large-scale salmon farming projects? A white paper to introduce a moratorium on hyperintensive closed-containment salmon farming projects was tabled on March 18, 2025 at the French National Assembly.
The text is championed by parliamentarians from all political backgrounds: La France insoumise, Les Républicains, Les Écologistes, the Socialist Party, Libertés, indépendants, outre-mer et territoires, Ensemble pour la République... They intend to impose a ten-year pause on the issuing of environmental permits for salmon farms in closed-containment systems.
Ecological and economic threat
The MPs are critical of the living conditions of the salmon in these high-density farms, but also of the pollutants discharged by the industry. In their view, these constitute an ecological and economic threat (particularly for fishing and oyster farming) in the local areas. The energy consumption of these factories and their dependence on small fish caught in West Africa - which are used to feed farmed salmon - are also decried by environmental associations.
In a press release, the NGOs Welfarm and Seastemik describe this text - which has not yet been adopted or even gexamined - as a "victory". Two industrial salmon farm projects are currently underway in France: Pure Salmon in Gironde - which aims to produce 10,000 tonnes of fish each year - and Local Ocean, in Pas-de-Calais. The French currently consume 270,000 tonnes of salmon a year, with only a small proportion being of local origin. (...)
