BMFA Welcomes Royal Approval For Cod Farming – Fishupdate.com

BMFA Welcomes Royal Approval For Cod Farming Fish Farming Today Published:  29 May, 2003

THE British Marine Finfish Association (BMFA) welcomes the royal seal of approval that cod farming received today, when the Princess Royal officially opened the Machrihanish Marine Farm Ltd cod hatchery.

Viewing cod as a species with a good future potential, Marine Farms ASA formed a joint venture company with Stirling University’s Institute of Aquaculture, to develop Scotland’s first commercial, purpose-built, cod hatchery at Machrihanish on the Mull of Kintyre, which has a planned production of 1.2 million fish.

Richard Slaski, adviser to the BMFA commented: “The opening of the hatchery is a major step towards the industry meeting the strategic targets which BMFA has set for cod cultivation in Scotland. The association believes there is an exciting niche market opportunity for up to 30,000 tonnes per annum of cod production from aquaculture.”

The juveniles being produced have all been pre-sold for ongrowing to Johnson Seafarms, Lakeland Marine and Wester Ross Salmon, and according to Derek Robertson, director of BMFA and director of external facilities at the Institute of Aquaculture, the fish are in great demand.

“Our problem is cod licences,” he said. “The enthusiasm for cod farming is great and many salmon farmers want to diversify but they are having difficulty in obtaining the licences to change some of their production from salmon to cod. In Shetland, this is not the case as farmers can use part of their salmon licence for cod.”