Virtual image of Pure Salmon's proposed land-based facility at Verdon-sur-Mer in south-west France, which will operate under the name Saumon du Médoc.
Image: Pure Salmon.
If in March we learned that Pure Salmon's land-based farm in France was one step closer to becoming a reality after receiving positive approval from the public inquiry commission, today it is even closer after the French authorities approved last week the environmental authorization for the 10,000-ton land-based salmon farming plant in Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Gironde, Aquitaine, in the southwest of the country.
According to the statement released by Pure Salmon, the authorization was officially granted on August 3, 2026, completing the regulatory and technical review for the site at the industrial port in Le Verdon-sur-Mer.
As WeAreAquaculture reported, the 15-hectare site—owned by the Grand Maritime Port of Bordeaux, which reached an agreement with Pure Salmon in 2022 to develop its land-based facility there— is a former port terminal inactive since 2013, had been identified by Gironde Prefecture as a "turn key" industrial site.
The environmental authorization now adds to the construction permit granted in June 2026, the positive opinion of the public investigation commission and the favorable opinion issued by CODERST, the Departmental Council for Environment and Health and Technological Risks, on July 2nd.
"The granting of this environmental authorisation is the culmination of a rigorous review process carried out in close cooperation with government departments and local stakeholders. It completes a step-by-step process following the building permit and the favourable opinion issued by CODERST," said Stéphane Farouze, Founder of Pure Salmon and 8F Asset Management, the global private equity fund manager that owns the Pure Salmon Group.
"We are immensely proud to establish this project for the long term under the name 'Saumon du Médoc', further strengthening our close connection with this remarkable region," Farouze added.
Operating, as Pure Salmon's founder announced, under the name Saumon du Médoc, the farm will use recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) technology to support controlled land-based salmon production without the use of antibiotics and with careful management of local natural resources.
The French facility constitutes a key part of Pure Salmon's global expansion and will draw on the company's operational experience gained at its sites in Japan, which began biological operations in May 2026, and which just three weeks ago introduced the first fish in the thanks.
As in the Japanese case where the facility—which will become Japan's largest land-based salmon farm—is aligned with the country's growing political focus on improving food security and promoting domestic seafood production through sustainable aquaculture solutions, Pure Salmon highlighted that, beyond its environmental ambitions, Saumon du Médoc also responds to several important regional and national priorities.
The project—whose whole development represents an investment of EUR 275 million—will contribute to France's food sovereignty by producing locally the most consumed fish in the country, thus reducing its dependence on imports.
Likewise, the land-based salmon farm in Le Verdon-sur-Mer will also help circular feed production. As Pure Salmon explained in its release, it will do so with the exclusive use of fish-processing by-products in feed production, as the only source of marine ingredients of fishmeal and fish oil instead of wild-caught fish.
Moreover, the company also highlighted that, recognized under the Choose France initiative—an international campaign launched by the French Government to attract foreign direct investment—Saumon du Médoc is a company registered and established in France that will contribute to the economic development of the area by creating 250 jobs in Pointe du Médoc.
Although the project is somewhat behind its first forecasts—when the company resubmitted the environmental planning documents for the facility back in October 2023, the forecast was to break ground on the site in 2025, and to begin production in 2027—as Pure Salmon highlighted, this environmental authorization marks an important step forward for the development of what would be one of Europe's biggest land-based fish farms.