12 January 2007

A NEW mussel farm business project in Shetland’s most northerly island Unst will create at least two much needed jobs.

David Niven and Terry Priest are the partners behind Unst Shellfish. They hope to start harvesting mussels by the end of 2009.

The company has recently received £8,000 from Shetland Enterprise towards starting up two sites in Uyeasound, in the south end of the island.

The total initial cost amount to £37,361 and they will be receiving further funding from the Shetland Development Trust and financial assistance from The Bank of Scotland.

Mr Niven said: “We laid five lines last spring and will do the same this spring and the year after.

“Because of the two and a half years it takes to grow mussels we will be growing in three-yearly cycles with the first harvest in 2009.”