Producer stung for £2.3m

A jellyfish-related mortality event at a salmon site in the Outer Hebrides has shouldered the blame for Loch Duart posting losses of £2,279,420 for the year ending 31 March 2016.

Published Last updated

An outbreak of mauve stinger jellyfish killed 300,000 young salmon at a site in Loch Maddy, on North Uist, in November 2014. And, although the fish were deemed to be worth around £1m at the time, the loss of harvest volumes since then has caused the losses to multiply.

In the report, which was published last week, the directors of the farming firm admit they are “disappointed” with the results, which “stem directly from material loss of fish on Uist reported in the prior year”. This reduced the volume of fish available for harvest in the first half of the 2015-16 financial year to a minimal level.

On a more positive note, the company reported that harvest returned to a more normal level in the second half of the year and that they had been trading profitably since November 2015.

The report also includes mention of a number of improvements in fish husbandry, such as the successful deployment of cleanerfish in marine sites, plus the use of "evironmental enrichment" tactics in its freshwater facility. In terms of sales values, the report mentions that their prices – in particular in the run-up to Christmas 2015 – were adversely affected by an oversupply generated by many companies harvesting fish early in Q4 2015 due to biological issues.

Meanwhile, the company adds that – due to the delay in “the long awaited Canadian revised application process for sea farming sites” – it has essentially mothballed its plans to establish a number of sites off the east coast of Canada “until the company is able and willing to resume operations in the manner and to the extent it deems necessary for a full implementation of its site rotation and fallowing model”.