Sanda Island, which has been bought by Mowi, was on the market for offers over £2.5m.

Mowi buys uninhabited Scottish island to establish new salmon farm

Fish producer also plans to refurbish buildings on Sanda and make it a tourist destination

Gareth Moore editor
Published Modified

Salmon farmer Mowi Scotland has bought Sanda Island off the southern tip of the Kintyre peninsula. The company plans to establish a salmon farm in a high-energy location off the east coast of Sanda and aims to reinvigorate the currently uninhabited island and develop its potential as a tourism destination.

Mowi said the fish farm, which would use 200-metre-circumference pens, will create 14 new jobs in two shifts of seven people, including apprentice positions. It hopes a further 10 jobs will be created through the establishment of a sustainable tourism industry on the island.

The purchase of 450-acre Sanda Island includes the former hotel and houses on the island. Mowi has also bought Campbeltown shipyard on the shore of Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula, and an associated property, Sandbank House.

Campbeltown Shipyard operated between 1969 and 1998, producing almost 100 innovative, steel hulled fishing boats for fishermen from mainland Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Shetland, Orkney, Ireland, and England. At one time it employed 150 workers.

From rock star to ruin

In August last year, The Scotsman reported that Sanda, which was being marketed for sale by Knight Frank for offers over £2.5 million, had been sold to an unnamed buyer. The sale also included both Sheep Island (31.72 acres) and Glunimore Island (4.41 acres), situated just to the north and northeast of Sanda.

The newspaper said that over the last 20 years the population of Sanda had fallen from three inhabitants to just one and was currently unoccupied.

Sanda’s past owners include Jack Bruce, a member of the rock group Cream, in 1969.

In 2013, The Scotsman reported that an award-winning pub and several self-catering cottages on Sanda had been “closed to the public” by Michi Meier, a Swiss millionaire who bought it three years earlier.

Meier told The Scotsman that the hotel, which had been open from June to August 2012, would not open in 2013 due to problems with the water supply. He added that the island’s pier was private and was not available to the public for reasons of privacy and his own potential liability as owner.

Asked about people’s legal right to roam, he said: “They can land on the sandy beaches, that is no problem, but people should respect our private home – and part of this private home is the pier, which is in front of the living room of the house.”

Yacht moorings and rewilding

Mowi intends to refurbish the hotel and housing on Sanda, ultimately hiring a caretaker couple or family to oversee the hospitality side of the business. As it has done at Muck, Rum, and Colonsay, it will also establish yacht moorings to bolster tourism as well as seeking to improve accessibility between Sanda Island and the mainland. It said there was also scope to explore rewilding and nature enhancement projects.

Mowi Scotland chief operating officer Ben Hadfield said: “We have the opportunity to do something very special with Sanda Island. We already have incredibly valuable experience of developing successful fish farms off the coast of Scottish islands including Rum, Muck and Colonsay. We are also proud of the work we have done with local communities on these islands to improve infrastructure, be that through housing, broadband, or moorings, to help retain or attract people to live and work on the island.

“Our first priority now will be to consult with the communities of the area and develop a comprehensive biodiversity plan for the Island. We will also undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment for the proposed high energy salmon development.”

Mowi wil renovate houses on Sanda Island.
Sanda is just south of the Kintyre peninsula, about 13 miles by sea from Cambeltown.

An ideal location

The fish farmer pointed out that the Scottish aquaculture industry has committed to develop farms in more open-water locations, where environmental conditions are more varied, and is confident that Sanda offers an ideal location.

“It provides some protection from the island whilst harnessing the tidal currents and favourable environmental conditions to grow healthy salmon,” Mowi explained in a press release.

“We are looking forward to engaging with all stakeholders to discuss the potential of breathing new life into Sanda Island.”

Mowi said it has begun the early-stage pre-application process with stakeholders and the local community.

Still image from Mowi's video showing the high-energy site where it plans to position its farm.

Fladda-chuain

It also confirmed media reports from late last year that it had bought Fladda-chuain, an uninhabited island three miles off the northern tip of Skye. It said further details of its plans for this island will be announced in due course.

In late 2023, Mowi Scotland received unanimous approval from a council planning committee for a salmon farm in Kintyre’s Kilbrannan Sound. Mowi said the development, with a maximum allowed biomass (MAB) of 2,475 tonnes, would create 10 permanent jobs and lead to substantial investment to reinvigorate the local community harbour in Carradale.

Mowi also has a site called Eilean Grianain in Kilbrannan Sound. It comprises Carradale North and Carradale South farms, each with an MAB of 2,500 tonnes.

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