Mowi has a thirst for more Rum

Salmon farmer Mowi Scotland will use large post-smolts at a proposed new farm off the northeast coast of Rum if it wins permission for the site, it says.

Mowi wants to establish a farm with a maximum allowed biomass of 2,650 tonnes close to its existing 2,850-tonne farm established in 2018.

The company has applied to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) for permission to farm at the new location, which it calls Mullach Mòr after a 304-metre (997 ft) hill on the northeast of Rum.

The proposed site is in a high energy sea area, with a wave exposure index of 3.5, and the farm would have eight pens measuring 160 metres in circumference, the same as the existing farm.

Novel stocking strategies

In a non-technical summary submitted as part of Mowi’s application to SEPA, the company says its existing farms in the region have shown significant success in supporting fish health at the sites and in the wider company by implementing novel stocking strategies, whereby farming initially takes place offsite (e.g. in inshore waters, on land, or in semi-closed facilities) before transfer to the farms for on-growing to harvest.

“Therefore fish are farmed outside sensitive months,” states Mowi. “This proposed production strategy, together with timed stocking, is intended at the proposed farm in the first production cycle and is the preferred approach going forward as required.”

Mowi declined at this early stage to say how long it expected fish would be in the proposed farm before harvest, simply stating: “Mowi’s proposed Mullach Mor site in the Cullin Sound is in line with our post-smolt strategy which aims to reduce the time salmon spend at sea.”