New prawn farm to deliver without freezing or air miles

A new UK prawn farm aims to deliver prawns from the tank to plate within 24 hours, with no need for freezing or air miles.

Great British Prawns describes its farm at Balfron, Stirlingshire, as the world’s first sustainable land-based, clean water prawn farm.

The company said it is using specially developed aquaculture technology and sustainable energy to produce warm water king prawns in clear and clean water in the UK for the first time.

The majority of the UK’s king prawns are currently sourced frozen from farms in the Far East and Central America, it said.

The prawns at Balfron will be grown in more than 300 tonnes of water capable of holding up to a million fresh prawns, which will grow to reach an average size of 25g each.

Harvesting will begin this summer and the prawns will initially be available to chefs within a two-hour radius of the farm, at a price similar to other shellfish such as langoustines.

Further farms are scheduled to open across the UK in future.

Chairman and commercial director James McEuen said: “Most prawns have travelled 6,000 miles to reach a UK consumer, with worldwide demand continuing to grow.

“But we know that consumers are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of seafood production and to be sustainable, the future of aquaculture really has to be land-based.

“We aim to meet growing UK consumer demand for regional and local food production with the reassurance of outstanding husbandry, provenance and sustainability.”