Marine Harvest fish-farm hatchery plan may bring jobs boost

The application was lodged last week and if approved by Ross, Skye and Lochaber area planning committee early in the new year, could see more than six new jobs created by the £12million facility, the Aberdeen Press and Journal reported.

The company currently operates four other freshwater hatcheries in Lochaber.

Combined with the Lochailort facility, they produce more than 10million salmon fry and smolts annually for Marine Harvest’s. The new hatchery will be capable of producing an additional five million smolts. The extra capacity will be needed to supply young fish to four huge open-sea farms Marine Harvest is planning to develop in 2012.

Each farm, to be sited in locations with deep water and strong currents, making them able to hold 5,000 tonnes of live salmon, twice the limit at present allowed for sea lochs. Tests on locations in and around the southern Minch and the Small Isles are well advanced, the newspaper said.

The proposals were unveiled at a public drop-in session, when they were generally well received by more than 20 people who attended, according to the P & J. If the project gets the go-ahead, work will start on site next spring 2011