Ferry impressive: Mowi’s lumpfish survive five-day journey to Faroes
Mowi Scotland’s cleaner fish plant in Anglesey has made its first successful delivery of lumpfish to Mowi farms in the Faroe Islands.
After a long five-day journey from Wales which involved several ferry trips, the fish were offloaded to the Oyndarfjordur site.
“This was the first ‘proof of concept’ delivery so it’s great to know that we can successfully deliver these fish from our Anglesey hatchery,” Dan Phillips, cleaner fish production manager, told the October issue of Mowi’s staff newsletter, The Scoop.
No wellboats allowed
Gudny Vang, quality manager Mowi Faroes, explained that it is not currently permitted to import fish directly to the Faroes using wellboats, so the only other option was to use the ferry links and the standard transport lorries which supply the Mowi Scotland sites.
“We were obviously concerned about the water quality and fish welfare on such a long journey, but our local vets checked the fish on arrival and were very happy with the health condition and quality of the lumpfish,” Vang told The Scoop.
Plans for future deliveries are already under way, including investigation of faster and more efficient delivery options.
Summer availability
“Supplying to the Faroe Islands during the summer months is a logical part of our strategy,” said Dougie Hunter, head of cleaner fish and technical at Mowi Scotland.
“This is typically when we see fewer deployments in Scotland and Ireland due to higher water temperature at the sea sites whereas in the Faroes, this is not such an issue for our farms there.
External customers
“Having year-round deliveries will make our lumpfish production much more efficient and make more fish available to our internal and external customers.
“It’s still early days but there are obvious opportunities to supply other salmon farmers in the Faroe Islands as well.”
Mowi Scotland acquired the hatchery when it bought cleaner fish producer Ocean Matters in April.
