Winter storms cause salmon escape

Meridian Salmon Group has confirmed that its Ness of Copister salmon farming site has suffered serious damage due to strong winds and high seas.According to the company almost half of the 364,000 fish were lost on 19 January when the mooring of eight cages failed.

The January and February storms were so bad that farm workers did not managed to get to the site on the south tip of the island of Yell for two weeks, according to a company spokesman

"Fish from three of the cages were safely removed during the initial salvage exercise.However, after weather conditions relented to allow a thorough site assessment, it has been determined that 154,569 fish were lost. All remaining fish on the site have also been removed to new locations," a Meridian statement said.

The statement continued: “While it is widely accepted that we were dealing with exceptional weather conditions, local reports indicate the unrelenting gales that have battered the east coast of Yell are the worst in decades.

“However, losses like this are not acceptable and we will be carrying out a full review of our systems to ensure we have no similar incidents in the future."