Archive for December 2021
Cooke sees Scottish profits fall to £34.2m in 2020
Turnover for Cooke’s Scottish fish farming business held steady during 2020, the year Covid-19 hit the industry, but pre-tax profits were down by just over 14%. Cooke Aquaculture Scotland reported turnover of £170.7m for the 12 months to 21 December 2020 (2019; £169.3m). Profit before tax was £34.2m, down from £39.9m the previous year. The…
Read MoreFlying the flag
Spain and South Korea will be the main targets next year as the Norwegian Seafood Council unveils another massive marketing budget. The organisation has set aside just over NOK 300m – around £25m – giving rival salmon producers such as Scotland and the Faroe Islands a lot to think about. The budget is similar to…
Read MoreSalmon Evolution’s new farm to run on hydro power
Aquaculture business Salmon Evolution has struck a deal with Norway’s state-owned power supplier to ensure that its new land-based farm at Indre Harøy will run on renewable energy. Salmon Evolution’s agreement with Statkraft, which is fully owned by the Norwegian state, means that the new plant will be run entirely on hydroelectric power. Statkraft is…
Read MoreNew president poses risk for Chile’s salmon farmers
Chile’s salmon farmers face an uncertain future following the victory this week of Gabriel Boric as the country’s new left-wing president. The 35-year-old former student protest leader was openly hostile about fish farming during the election campaign and warned companies they will have to rein in their activities. Salmon is Chile’s second largest export commodity…
Read MoreSeafood industry skills initiative launches
Seafood businesses in Scotland will be offered a new set of training packages as part of a Business Improvement Programme launched today by Seafood Scotland. The organisation has been awarded £100,000 of funding from the National Transition Training Fund and Skills Development Scotland to support onshore activities of seafood businesses across the country, upskilling and…
Read MoreDreaming of a grey Christmas
It is difficult not to wonder where the spirit of Christmas has gone. The season of “goodwill to all” seems to have bypassed all those involved in the recent fishing dispute between the UK and France. Indeed, it was hard to know what was more depressing: the sight of flag-bedecked French fishing vessels buzzing around…
Read MoreMowi and Walmart help launch First Nation salmon
Walmart Canada has become the first large retailer to market salmon produce by the First Nation people of the Kitasoo and Xai’xais, British Columbia. The Klemtu Spirit Hot Smoked Atlantic Salmon has been created in partnership with Mowi Canada West and packaged by the First Nation group in Klemtu, BC. They were directly involved in approving…
Read MoreBakkafrost profits warning after high mortality in Scotland
Bakkafrost warned last night that serious biological problems at its Scottish operation are continuing to generate increased mortality and financial losses into the final quarter of the year. The Faroese salmon farmer issued a profits warning on Sunday night stating that what it described as “extraordinary mortality” has led to a loss of 174.6 Danish…
Read MoreMowi Ireland’s Managing Director set to retire
After 40 years working in salmon aquaculture Jan Feenstra, Managing Director at Mowi Ireland, has announced he will be retiring as from 1 July 2022. Feenstra first joined the Irish operation in 1982 when it was called Fanad Fisheries which at that time had a 50/50 joint venture with Mowi. He took on the leadership…
Read MoreNovel vaccine technologies impact human and salmon health outcomes
New vaccine technologies for COVID-19 have been making headlines all around the world for obvious reasons. Among these newly developed vaccines are some based, not on introducing antigen into the host via the inoculum but, instead, on injecting host muscle with messenger RNA (mRNA) that codes for the production of virus specific immunogenic proteins. Once…
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