Gideon Pringle is currently working his notice at Mowi and will take up his new role in April. Photo: Mowi Scotland.

Scottish Sea Farms snaps up Mowi operations director

Scottish Sea Farms has appointed Mowi Scotland’s operations director Gideon Pringle to a newly created role of director of farming.

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Pringle, who is working his notice period with Mowi after recently handing in his resignation, will take up his new job next April.

SSF have also appointed experienced fish farmer Innes Weir to another new role, regional manager for the Scottish mainland.

Innes Weir began his new job with SSF today. Photo: Steinsvik.

Business has evolved

Weir was most recently UK general manager for aquaculture supplier ScaleAQ, the company formed by the merger of Steinsvik and four other companies. He started at SSF today.

The appointments following the decision of SSF’s long-standing production manager, John Rea, to leave the business to pursue a career in personal development and coaching.

“Our business has evolved hugely during John’s 20-year tenure: from the number of locations and regions we farm in, to the innovative new approaches we’re adopting and the range of skill-sets we employ,” said SSF managing director Jim Gallagher.

“On learning that John was to leave us, it seemed like the natural time to review how we do things currently and what else we could be doing to better equip us for the future.

Wealth of experience

“As part of this review, we decided to divide what formerly the remit of production director into two distinct roles: regional manager for Scottish mainland with responsibility for all our marine farms in the area; and director of farming with responsibility for overseeing both freshwater and marine production in all three of our farming regions.

“This will ensure that each region now has its own manager concentrating on the challenges and opportunities of the specific marine environment, supported at a strategic level by a dedicated resource focused on improving biological performance and growing our business in the most responsible and sustainable way.”

SSF’s other regional managers are Richard Darbyshire (Orkney) and Graham Smith (Shetland).

Referring to the new appointments, Gallagher said: “We are all really excited to see what can be achieved when Innes’ and Gideon’s wealth of experience is paired with the skill, knowledge and forward-thinking that already exists within Scottish Sea Farms, helping us build on the gains being made and taking us ever closer to our goal of setting a new benchmark for sustainability within Scottish salmon farming.”