18 May, 2006

UP TO 40 jobs are being created this month in the Shetland fishing village of Scalloway, which has been hit hard by the downturn in fish farming in recent years.

Organic cod farmers Johnson Seafarms are opening a processing plant at a factory in Blydoit which used to be operated by salmon processor Danny Watt until two years ago.

Yesterday (Wednesday) Shetland Islands Council approved a Shetland Development Trust loan of £300,000 towards the new factory which will be operated by subsidiary Johnson Sustainable Seafoods Ltd.

The cash is being used to equip the new processing unit to handle organic farmed cod and other species. The new plant will be able to do everything from primary processing to creating a finished, packaged product for export.

Last week Johnson Seafarms won the highly prestigious Supreme Award in the Scottish Food and Drink Excellence Awards.

Its "No Catch" brand of organic cod hits the shelves of supermarket giant Tesco on 29 May, by which time the Scalloway plant should be fully operational.

Trust chairman, Josie Simpson said he was very pleased the SIC had backed the trust's decision to support the Blydoit operation.

"The company's business plans are very much in line with our policy to encourage a diversified economy. Not only is the business creating new jobs, it is also producing a high quality, value-added retail product that will raise the profile of Shetland in the marketplace."

Johnsons' financial director Andrew Chandler said the company was delighted to receive such support.: "This investment will assist a project that is pivotal to establishing Johnson Sustainable Seafoods' highly acclaimed sustainable cod in the retail and restaurant market place.

"This is further great news for the company and its employees coming straight after our success at the Scottish Food & Drink Excellence Awards, where our fish won not only the 'Fish and Seafood' and 'Savoury Product' categories but also the overall Supreme Award.

“We are now ideally positioned for the launch of our Shetland farmed and processed "No Catch" range of cod products."

Scalloway lost 100 jobs two years ago when its two main fish processing firms closed their doors due to depressed prices for farmed salmon affecting supply.