• The company Pure Salmon will set up a salmon production farm in an industrial-port area in Verdon-sur-mer, at the entrance to the Gironde estuary.

  • It aims to start producing in 2024 for an announced marketing of 10,000 tonnes per year, from 2026.

  • The company promotes a virtuous closed circuit water treatment system and “perfect” biosecurity.

What if soon we could eat salmon born, raised and processed in France, on a site near Bordeaux?

It is in any case the promise of Pure Salmon which signed on April 4 a temporary occupation agreement (for 49 years) of a site of 14 hectares on the port terminal of Verdon, property of the Grand Port Maritime of Bordeaux ( GPMB).

"Among what strongly appealed to us, the concept respectful of the environment, short circuits and production relocated to France", comments Philippe Renier, head of the Nautical Access and Sustainable Development Department at the GPMB.

“We plan to produce 10,000 tonnes of salmon, which represents 5% of French consumption”, announces Xavier Govare, president of the company Pure Salmon France.

French consumption of Atlantic salmon (200,000 tonnes per year) is 99% imported, in particular from Norway and Chile.

Today, there is an aquaculture farm in Cherbourg, Normandy, but of a much smaller size since it produces 80 tonnes per year.

This large-scale project is supported by an investment of 275 million euros and promises 250 direct and as many indirect jobs.

The construction of the buildings will begin in early 2023 and the first salmon should be marketed in 2026.

Two-thirds of jobs in processing

The port of Bordeaux offered a “turnkey” site to the industrialist Pure Salmon.

By purging it of administrative procedures, in particular the establishment of compensation measures for protected species, the port saves nearly two years of procedures for the group, which can settle in an accelerated way.

From 2024, the first batches of eggs will be received and placed in the Gironde hatchery.

Of the 14 hectares of the Pure Salmon site, 75,000 m2 will be devoted to production

The Atlantic salmon is raised for two years, the first year in the nursery to grow it until it weighs 150 grams and the second year in salt water where it will reach between four and five kilos.

"The eggs come from Iceland because they are believed to have the best fish genetics," says the president of Pure Salmon.

.

"Half of this production will be intended for sale raw (steaks and fillets) and the other half transformed into smoked salmon", details Xavier Govare.

A smoking workshop will be installed on the site and three quarters of the jobs will be linked to this processing activity.

Confined fish and biosecurity

The salmon pools will be supplied by a brackish water table 50 meters deep, fed by the sea, "unused and not in competition with drinking water", stresses Xavier Govare.

The water will be treated in a closed circuit using a technology called the “recirculating aquaculture system” (RAS).

“The company owns it because it bought out a branch of Veolia specializing in aquaculture (Kruger Kaldnes)”, specifies the president of Pure Salmon France.

For "perfect biosecurity", the fish are raised indoors to avoid contamination, particularly from migratory birds.

“The advantage of farming on land is that it limits discharges into the sea, the sea carries certain contaminants and predators, it is not a preserved environment”, points out Xavier Govare.

All the effluents will be treated by an ultra-efficient treatment plant to discharge “virtually drinkable” water into the environment, he adds.

The salmon will paddle in water at a constant temperature (10 to 12 degrees) with the same level of oxygen and the same PH.

The Verdon industrial-port site, at the entrance to the Gironde estuary, offers the advantage of supply by river and the possibility of using the photovoltaic park installed near the site which will be occupied by Pure Salmon.

A public inquiry will be implemented before construction can start on the site.

Planet

Brittany: The giant salmon farm project worries associations and unions

Planet

Scotland: Salmon farming conditions singled out by an NGO

  • Bordeaux

  • Salmon

  • Fish

  • Production

  • Aquaculture

  • Aquitaine