Going organic on Skye
Mowi’s site at Portnalong on Skye is going organic when it restocks in March, said farm manager Kurk Jones.
The site is currently fallow and Jones and his team of five were helping out at Loch Alsh when Fish Farmer visited.
All Mowi’s farms in Ireland are organic and Jones said Portnalong was a good farm to use as a test case for organic farming in Scotland because they have been largely self-sufficient.
They only treated for chalimus (with Alphamax) in the last cycle, having fitted Mowi’s own design environets to the site in 2018.
The nets, which remove the need for cleaning, were adapted to circular pens to address gill health problems, but they can help with sea lice too.
‘We also had good cleaner fish husbandry on site and that made a big difference,’ said Jones. ‘All the guys were pretty switched on with what was needed. And we had a good population of wrasse and lumpfish.’
Once the farm is organic, there will be a lower stocking density of 10kg per cubic metre compared to 15-17kg at present. The smolts will be 100g and the grow-out stage will be the same.
With organic farms, they can use freshwater bath treatment, mechanical treatments, cleaner fish and, if needed, a maximum of two medicinal treatments per annum.