Mowi has secured planning consent for a salmon farm in outer Loch Erisort on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland.
The Bergen-based multinational revealed it had secured planning consent from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and an environmental permit from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in the latest edition of its staff newsletter, The Scoop.
The salmon farming company confirmed the farm, dubbed Tabhaig East, would comprise eight 160cm circumference pens in a two-by-four configuration and have a maximum biomass of 2,075 tonnes.
However, Mowi said the site formed part of a “rationalisation plan” that would see the company eventually transfer salmon production from two other farms within inner Loch Erisort: North Shore West and North Shore East.
“This will involve the transfer of existing biomass from current inner Loch Erisort farms including, as an initial step, the closure and relinquishing of farming permissions for our North Shore West site,” Mowi said.
“The overall objective of the rationalisation plan is to relocate biomass from the inner, less flushed area of the loch to the outer area of the complex,” it continued.
Despite the site reduction and closure, a spokeswoman told The Grocer there would be no job losses “as the new site is a relocation”.
Mowi said the open sea location and “improved dispersive characteristics of the new farming environment” provided a “more suitable location for the rearing of healthy farm reared salmon”.
It added that the plan would result in a lower environmental footprint and reduce the potential for interaction with wild salmon.
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