Marine Harvest man marks 40 years' service

MARINE Harvest purchasing manager Dave McEwan received his 40 years’ long service award at the company’s Fort William offices this week.
McEwan began his career at the Invergarry hatchery and from there moved into the management of freshwater and seawater departments, before switching more recently to logistics and purchasing.
Colleagues gathered from across the company to congratulate McEwan, who said: ‘The last 40 years have flown by and my thanks go to all my colleagues and family for helping me achieve this milestone.’
He later told Fish Update that his career options after college had included being a silver service waiter at Inverlochy Castle, working on his uncle’s sheep farm, or joining the Army, but he was glad he had chosen fish farming and would do it all over again.
He said he had seen many changes, from his early days at the original Inchmore to witnessing the opening of the ‘extraordinary’ new hatchery, and he believed working in aquaculture now was ‘100 per cent better’ for young entrants.
‘The technology and resources compared to what we had in the past are so different, there’s a lot more emphasis on taking away the heavy lifting. There’s a lot of money going into making things easier and buying the right kit…and there are more suppliers.’
He said he started on ‘a glamorous £1,960 a year’, which nowadays is close to what people get a month if they’re starting out.
Highlights of his career included a ‘fantastic experience’ in Chile, during which he oversaw a tenfold improvement in the transferring of smolts to sea.
While he acknowledged that there were ‘no easy replacements’ for people with years of knowledge, the next generation was learning all the time from the original pioneers.
‘The opportunities are there for the new pioneers if they want them, but they need to be hungry for it.’
McEwan, who is only the second person in Marine Harvest globally to reach the 40-year mark, was given his long service award, along with a fitting presentation, by Ewan MacColl, operations director of processing and feed.
Picture: Dave McEwan (left) and Ewan MacColl (picture Marine Harvest)