Final redundancies revealed

Marine Harvest Scotland has confirmed that it will cut 80 jobs – split across departments and regions – after completing formal consultations with staff. 

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The job losses, are part of a restructuring plan announced in January that aims to make the business more sustainable, but are not as severe as the 100 or so originally projected.

Ben Hadfield, Managing Director of Marine Harvest Scotland and the group’s global Feed Director, explained to Fish Farming Expert: “In the last three years the company has increased in size from about 500 to 658 staff – an increase due to the projected rise in production – yet round fish production has actually fallen from 60,000 to 53,000 tonnes in that time.”

“It’s sad and it’s not been an easy decision, but it’s the best way for the company to grow and to continue to attract investment from our parent company,” he reflected. “And we’re still very positive about Scotland, as is clear by the amount of investments we’re making here.”

The geographical split of the job losses is: Lochaber 44, Skye & Lochalsh 11, Argyll 2, Mallaig 12, Lewis 3, South Uist 2, Wester Ross 4 and Rosyth 2.

Earlier in the year, the company issued a 30-day notice and entered a formal period of consultation with staff representatives about which posts would be affected.

Since then, the company has been in discussions with local agencies and politicians and is doing everything it can to assist staff gain new employment.

Marine Harvest operates four hatcheries, five freshwater loch sites and 48 sea farms. Their farm operations are situated across the Highlands, Argyll and the Western Isles. Live fish are harvested at Mallaig and processed at the Blar Mhor processing plant in Fort William. The company has offices at Fort William and Rosyth.

The processing plant at Rosyth is not affected by any job losses, as it is part of the Marine Harvest Consumer Products division, not Marine Harvest Scotland.

Plans to create a feed plant in Scotland continue as part of the restructuring of the business. An announcement on a preferred site is likely within the next month. The creation of a feed plant is part of the restructuring aimed at making the company more efficient and sustainable. The redundancies will not have an effect on forecasted volumes for 2016.