Wyre goes live
The new site was stocked with over 480,000 smolts and will have the capacity to produce 1,800 tonnes per cycle. The site represents an investment of £2.6 million and stimulated earnings for numerous Scottish suppliers including Northwards Limited, Knox Nets, Macduff Shipyards (which made the feed barge), and Leask Marine, which towed the barge up from Aberdeenshire.
Meanwhile Fish Farming Expert has learned that Fusion Marine supplied the site with twelve Triton 450 2 ring 100m pens, complete with 30m bird net support wheels and sinker tubes.
The company revealed that: “Over the course of the project Fusion spent a fair bit of time with the SSF Orkney team specifically tailoring the pen design to meet their requirements for the site.
“All pens were assembled on the island of Sanday and Fusion Marine used various local suppliers for equipment hire and services”.
Jim Gallagher, Managing Director of Scottish Sea Farms, said: “This is good news for both Scottish Sea Farms and the local community. This site at Wyre, made up of 12 x 100m cages, will help to secure the long-term future of our Eday site and increased Orkney salmon sales could now potentially reach £26 million in both the UK and international markets.
“We want to continue to build relationships locally and are bringing skilled employment with training packages to Orkney. Over the past nine months the five new employees have been supported with extensive training on our sites in Orkney and working with the local college. Our Heart of the Community Trust is also there to support community initiatives that make a real difference to local people’s lives.”
Wyre site manager Kristjan Ingimarsson, who has relocated with his family from Iceland, said: “I was attracted to Scottish Sea Farms as the company has a good reputation and I had visited Scotland as a tourist and liked the people and the country. The company has invested heavily in this new site and we have the latest equipment and technology to ensure that we farm the fish in the best way possible, for a great tasting product and for the environment.”
Scottish Sea Farms currently employs 35 staff in Orkney and this expansion will enable the company to supply quality Scottish salmon to key markets all year round. The first harvests from Wyre are anticipated at the end of 2016.
