Cooke calls for political backing
Cooke Aquaculture’s COO Farming, Pal Angell-Hansen, has called on the Scottish Government to give the industry greater political support.
Looking back at the company’s first two years in Scotland, the Norwegian told Fish Farming Expert that, despite an excellent economic performance by the company’s Scottish operations, he felt that Scottish producers were at a disadvantage compared to their Norwegian counterparts.
“Scotland is always going to have higher production costs than Norway. Fortunately, Scottish salmon also gets a premium price – but it needs to maintain this premium, in particular at a time when the pound is so strong,” he explained.
“As a result it’s very important that the Scottish producers keep reinforcing the message of Scottish provenance and politicians must be aware that they can’t throw in additional costs,” he continued.
One additional cost, he believes, is due to the glacial rate at which new treatments are approved, and he hopes that this can be sped up.
“Apparently there’s a slower approach to approving treatments, for example, in Scotland compared to Norway, but Scotland doesn’t need any more disadvantages. Politicians must understand we are already at a disadvantage and that they mustn’t make it worse,” he concluded.
A longer version of this interview will shortly be published in Fish Farming Expert # 3.
