UK News
Scottish shipyard secures £3 million aquaculture contract
the contract was signed in the presence of Scottish Fisheries Minister, Richard Lochhead. The contract is for four 150-tonne steel feed barges and two 15m landing craft general purpose fi sh farm vessels.
The barges and vessels have been designed by the yard in co-operation with Macduff Ship Design and will have a capacity of 150 tonnes each, to be fi tted with Orbit GMT feeding systems, and powered by John Deere engines.
A CONTRACT worth in excess of £3.3 million WITH Scottish Sea Farms has been secured by Macduff Shipyards Ltd in Aber- deenshire.
Scottish Sea Farms confi rmed the shipbuilding order today and
Scottish Sea Farms continues to expand its operations and Jim Gallagher, Managing Director, commented: ‘This latest contract is part of our £13 million planned investment programme for new site activity and we are looking to spend as much of this money with Scottish fi rms as we can.’
Farm expansion brings jobs to Orkney Marine Harvest invest £3 million on Muck
LEADING salmon farming compa- ny, Marine Harvest, is investing £3 million on its Small Isles salmon farm, on the remote isle of Muck, off the west coast of Scotland. Part of this investment will fund the construction of new homes to house the employees who will fi ll the six new jobs the site will create. The farm is one of the fi rst ‘open-sea’ farms planned for Scot- land’s west coast, and is currently being stocked with smolts. The new farm comprises 10 cir- cular pens, around 400ft in diame- ter, which will produce up to 4,000 tonnes of salmon every two years. A 300-tonne feed barge is in the process of being built in Inverness by Gael Force Marine. The fully grown fi sh will be transported by well boat to the harvesting station at Mallaig, then by road to Fort William to be gutted. Commenting on the new site on Muck, Alan Sutherland, MD of Marine Harvest, said: ‘Scottish salmon continues to be a great
success story and we need to increase our capacity across the entire process. ‘ We work in a sector that brings
much needed jobs and prosperity to some of the most remote and fragile communities in Scotland and we’re delighted to be playing our part in creating a sustainable future for this lovely island.
‘One of the things that can hold back development in remote communities is a shortage of housing. We’ve solved the problem by building fi ve new homes. They are suitable for families so the development of the farm should hopefully help sustain the local primary school.’
Scottish mussels take starring role
APPROVAL has been granted for the expansion of the Scottish Sea Farms site at Eday, north of Orkney. The £1 million expansion will create four new jobs locally, doubling the existing number of employees at the Eday site, and signifi cantly increase production of the quality product farmed in Orkney waters. The existing site will increase from six cages to 12, which will more than double the site’s consent from 800T to 1900T, making it the largest Scottish Sea Farms site in Orkney.
With a local population of only 150, this number of new jobs has been
welcomed by the local community. Eday is located in the northern isles of Orkney, 15 miles from mainland Orkney and is one of Scottish Sea Farms’ most remote locations for farming salmon. Local Area Manager, Richard Darbyshire, of Scottish Sea Farms, said: ‘This is good news for both Scottish Sea Farms and the local commu- nity. Importantly, we have created some brand new jobs in a remote location. We want to continue to build relationships locally and will bring skilled employment with training packages for local people. ‘This increased consent will allow us also to meet the increasing demand we have globally for Scottish Sea Farms Orkney salmon. Our Heart of the Community Trust is also there to support community initiatives that make a real difference to people’s lives.’ Scottish Sea Farms’ Orkney region currently produces approx 5000T of quality salmon per annum for some of the UK’s top restaurants and retailers, as well as for key export markets globally.
4
THE environmentally friendly credentials of Scottish rope grown mussels were highlighted in a recent BBC Horizon programme. The two-part programme, hosted by Michael Mosley, focused on meat consumption and ethical ways of eating protein. During the programme, the presenter visited Shetland Mussels to see how Scottish rope grown mussels are cultivated. The farm, which is a member of the Scottish Shellfi sh Marketing Group (SSMG), grows its mussels on ropes suspended from fl oats in the sea. The young mussels (as free fl oating larvae or spat) settle naturally on the suspended ropes and then grow by feeding on sea plankton found in the rich tidal fl ows.
BBC Horizon concluded that one of the best avenues for protein
intake was to consume rope grown mussels. Much of this conclusion stemmed from the Scottish Aqua- culture Research Forum (SARF) report commissioned by SSMG a few years ago to establish the carbon footprint of mussels. This revealed a footprint that is
around 19 times less than found in beef production. During the programme, Dr Mosley described Scottish rope grown mussels as ‘one of the most effi cient and tasty forms of animal protein in the world.’ Michael Tait, chairman of SSMG,
said: ‘This is a very positive aspect of our sector and further high- lights the sustainable nature of Scottish mussel production.’
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com
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