Seafood Fund backs processing investment
Mowi Scotland is to receive just over £2m from the UK Seafood Fund to buy equipment that will transform its salmon processing operations.
THE UK Seafood Fund’s £2m investment in Mowi is part of a wider project to expand and modernise the company’s fish processing facility at Blar Mhor. The project aims to increase throughput from 65,000 tonnes to at least 95,000 tonnes per year, reduce the number of single-use polystyrene boxes by 40% by 2026 and introduce automation.
The award to Mowi is part of a much larger multi-million pound tranche of funding for a number of seafood and fishing companies from the UK government’s £100m Seafood Fund.
Included in this is a £2.4m grant for Grimsby salmon processor JCS Fish
Ltd to develop a state-of-the-art
2,000sq m processing factory with integrated smokehouse. Family-owned JCS Fish has won several awards for its salmon and trout products in recent years.
The JCS Fish project will:
• expand JCS Fish Limited’s salmon and trout processing capability from its current 10 tonnes to 20 tonnes per day;
• create an estimated 32 direct jobs and 80 indirect jobs in a deprived region;
• make energy savings in the region of 30% despite it being a larger site, equating to a 30–40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; and
• reduce the UK’s reliance on imported salmon.
The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) Shetland has been awarded £186,000 to develop new courses supporting innovation and the future sustainability of seafood. These will be aimed at those working or entering the aquaculture sector.
Jane Lewis, Principal and Chief Executive of UHI Shetland, said: “We are thrilled to have been successful with our bid to the UK Seafood Fund, which was prepared in close collaboration with UHI West Highland and our partners in the seafood sector.
“This project will be run through our new Centre for Sustainable Seafood and will act as a catalyst to help provide a sustainable workforce for a sustainable seafood sector.”
In another project, the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) has been awarded £250,000 from the UK Seafood Fund to develop a training programme to help finfish farmers tackle harmful algal blooms (HABs).
UK Fisheries Minister
Mark Spencer said: “The UK government is funding opportunities from the quayside to the sales counter suitable for young people, as well as those changing careers.
“It is absolutely vital we invest in our workforce so these important industries prosper for generations to come.”
Meanwhile, a degree and higher-level skills offer for aspiring managers in the seafood industry will be developed by the National Centre for Food Manufacturing at the University of Lincoln.
“It is absolutely vital that we invest in our ” workforce