Smaller name and bigger ambitions for Cooke Scotland

Salmon farmer Cooke Aquaculture Scotland, which is celebrating 10 years of operation in Scotland this month, has announced a new, shorter brand identity.

The company will now be called Cooke Scotland to tie in with a move by its family-owned parent company, Cooke Inc., based in New Brunswick, Atlantic Canada.

“As Cooke continues to grow and evolve as a global seafood leader, we have embarked on a global branding initiative,” said Cooke Scotland managing director Colin Blair.

“This new brand is a major step towards creating a more cohesive and compelling brand identity globally, whilst unifying our companies under one name, as one team, with one purpose.”

Organic leader

Cooke Aquaculture Scotland was established in 2014 when Cooke Inc. bought farm sites and freshwater assets in Orkney, Shetland, and the west coast.

“I take great pride in what we have accomplished as one of the leading producers of world-renowned Scottish salmon and the largest producer of organic Scottish salmon,” said Blair.

In the past decade, Cooke Scotland has tripled its organic production to circa 5,000 gutted weight tonnes and increased overall production to around 27,000 gwt annually. The company has harvested and shipped more than 52 million fresh farmed salmon to more than 16 different countries worldwide and continues to grow.

It is one of the largest employers in the Scottish Northern Isles, and has more than 380 staff throughout Orkney and Shetland, the Scottish mainland, and at hatcheries in Cumbria, northern England.

£700k to communities

Since 2018, Cooke Scotland has donated more than £700,000 through the Cooke Community Benefit Fund to a variety of local-led events, activities, groups and community projects throughout Scotland and the Northern Isles, and in the north of England.

In a press release, Cooke said its local investment has had particularly positive real-life impacts in the Northern Isles including supporting local businesses and jobs, maintaining local populations, sustaining the uptake of local schools, ferries and shops; and created ongoing operational spending with local businesses.

A key milestone was the establishment of Northeast Nutrition Scotland in Invergordon to produce feed in-house for Cooke’s UK operations. Cooke Scotland has also bolstered its workforce recruitment and said it is having great success with staff training and development, including effective results in the areas of husbandry and fish welfare.

“I wish to thank all those who have accompanied us on our journey over the past decade, including our incredibly dedicated and talented staff, our longstanding customers and the communities in which we will continue to support for years to come,” said Blair.