Pete Bevington

20 March, 2009

MORE than 10,000 tonnes of salmon, around one fifth of Shetland’s annual production, will not go into the sea this year as a result of health problems on the west side of the islands.

The industry has warned that jobs could be affected with the loss of almost 3 million salmon smolts, worth around £30 million when harvested, which would have otherwise gone into cages in the Scalloway area.

This year no new fish will be grown in the control zone established by the Scottish government in January, following the discovery of infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) in January.

Three companies which are unable to stock fish this year are seeking compensation from the government for loss of business.

However by leaving the area fallow until spring next year the industry will be able to introduce a joint management regime, allowing them to more effectively control the major disease problem of sea lice, which caused huge losses during the last few months of 2008.

Shetland’s biggest salmon producer Hjaltland Seafarms confirmed yesterday (Thursday) that they had cancelled orders for 1.3 million smolts from their suppliers, after failing to find anywhere to grow them in 2009.

The Norwegian-owned company had hoped to stock 2.5 million smolts in its 13 sites in the control zone, but could only find a home for 1.2 million. Half of those are to be contract grown by local firm Green Islands Organics, which belongs to Angus and Ivor Johnson, of Vidlin.

Scottish Sea Farms, the other major producer, had already agreed not to stock around 1.2 million smolts in the area as part of a move to eliminate sea lice and to bring in the joint management regime.

Locally-owned Skelda Salmon Farms Ltd was unable to find a site to grow 300,000 smolts under contract to the Lakeland Group, so will lose fish worth £3 million when fully grown.

Sea trout growers QA Fish Ltd are also unable to re-stock their site at Loch of Strom, losing one year’s business only a year after directors Gordon Johnson and Robert Williamson started the company out of the ashes of bankrupt cod farmers No Catch Ltd.

In desperation, industry body Shetland Aquaculture has approached Shetland Islands Council in search of emergency sites anywhere in Shetland to help the companies.

However the council has refused their request to grow fish in Yell Sound, which is kept clear as a route for oil and gas tankers visiting Sullom Voe Terminal, and is the likely route for a new gas pipeline into the terminal from Total’s Laggan and Tormore fields west of Shetland.

Shetland Aquaculture chief executive David Sandison said they needed four or five sites to take the extra fish. “It’s looking extremely unlikely we will find them. We have exhausted most possibilities,” he admitted.

Mr Sandison warned there is likely to be an impact on the Shetland economy, in which aquaculture has become a dominant player.

“I don’t want to be alarmist, but there’s a possibility that as a result of fewer smolts going in there will be a knock on effect in terms of downstream activity, processing jobs, haulage, but it would be impossible to quantify that at this stage,” he said.

Hjaltland managing director Michael Stark called for government assistance, saying there would inevitably be a significant economic impact, from the salmon farm workers to the ferry company that exports them to mainland Scotland.

“We will do absolutely everything, and I mean everything, to help our staff get over this difficult time, but it would also be nice if we could have some support from the government like we have seen has been made to other industry sectors…the banks.”

The affected companies have approached the government and enlisted local MSP Tavish Scott to help, but are frustrated that former environment minister Michael Russell, who visited Shetland in the wake of the ISA outbreak, has been replaced by Roseanna Cunningham.

Robert Nicolson, of Skelda Salmon, said: “It’s unfortunate the environment minister changed. Mike Russell had been in Shetland and saw first hand what was going on and we got to know him and speak to him. We have not met Roseanna Cunningham yet.”

Mr Stark said Hjaltland would lose 15 to 20 per cent of its Shetland business as a result of the government controls.

Hjaltland suffered major production problems in the Scalloway area last year, losing more than 2,000 tonnes of salmon to sea lice.

Another company, Mainstream Scotland, has put its four sites in nearby Aith up for sale due to the problems it has experienced with sea lice.

It was the scale of the sea lice problem off Scalloway that first alerted the government’s Fisheries Research Service (FRS) to health problems in Shetland’s salmon. When they carried out routine tests on fish at a Scottish Sea Farms site east of Hildasay, they discovered ISA, a notifiable disease.

The government immediately imposed strict movement controls in the area, which contains 29 active fish farms and 10 inactive ones. (See ISA map)

Most of the salmon in the control zone has now been killed out. Four sites still contain fish, which will be harvested ahead of schedule this autumn to allow a mandatory six month fallow period before everyone restocks in April next year.

Yesterday Mr Stark said there had been no issues with sea lice in the Scalloway area since January.

He also said the companies in the area had planned to introduce a “sophisticated management agreement” in 2011, in which they all stocked fish in the same year. They will now be able to introduce this agreement one year ahead of schedule.

An FRS spokeswoman said their investigation into the source of the ISA was ongoing, but there was a possibility that they would never reach a conclusion as to where it came from.