Mowi: Investing in quality
Mowi Scotland celebrates 60 years of salmon, sustainability and supporting communities
In its 60th year, Mowi Scotland has continued to invest in its people and facilities, enabling the company to produce the highest quality product, while providing meaningful careers and supporting communities.
2025 started strong with Mowi Scotland publishing robust results for the first half of the year, driven by significant improvements in fish biology. The strong financial results directly correlate to the fact that Mowi Scotland recorded the best fish health for the first six months of this year compared to the same period of the last five years.
“Our costs decreased from the comparable quarter in 2024 on the back of good biological performance, lower realised feed prices and reductions in other expense items. As a farming company we know that focusing on improving fish survival, welfare and product quality will ultimately lead to excellent financial results, and we are now seeing the benefits of this,” explains Ben Hadfield, COO for Mowi Scotland.
Investing in the future
Among the significant investments made this year were the upgrade of Mowi’s Blar Mhor processing facility in Fort William, Remote Operations Centres and the purchase of Sanda Island.
The Blar Mhor processing facility upgrade included the refurbishment of the old facility plus the addition of 5,000m² of new floor space. This modern facility combines cutting-edge innovation with proven, reliable equipment, ensuring Mowi can continue to provide sustainable and nutritious salmon for the nation.
Blar Mhor’s goal now is to exceed 10kt capacity during peak months to meet Mowi Scotland’s production plans in the sea. Just four months after start-up, Blar Mhor achieved BRC AA+ accreditation with no non-conformances - a testament to the strength of the systems and people in place.
Remote Operations Centres are also now up and running in Fort William and Stornoway, meaning all seawater farm sites can be fed from centralised locations to ensure that feeding strategies are optimised.
In February, Mowi announced its purchase of Sanda Island in Argyll and Bute. The company plans to establish a salmon farm off the east coast of the island as well as reinvigorate the island’s biodiversity and seek collaborative projects to open the area to increased tourism and recreation.
Investing in fish welfare
Mowi has partnered with the Roslin Institute in an £8.5m large-scale study to improve the welfare and productivity of farm-raised salmon in Scotland. This five-year partnership seeks to understand how to limit the impact of chronic complex diseases, enabling better health and welfare.
The project will use a range of approaches and technologies to improve disease resilience throughout the salmon lifecycle. Together, Mowi and the Roslin Institute will establish a world-leading framework to identify regions of the salmon genome associated with complex diseases, using knowledge to support breeding of healthy stocks.
Mowi’s post smolt strategy has also played an important role in the overall improvement of fish health this year with the first ever crop harvested within 11 to 14 months at sea.
Significant investment has been made in a new broodstock hatchery at Ardessie near Ullapool, enabling the company’s total egg supply to be sourced from broodfish grown in Scotland.
Additionally, Mowi has invested in a 6,500m3 wellboat - the largest wellboat operating in Scotland. Another boost to freshwater treatment capacity, it can remove parasites such as sea lice, as well as Neoparamoeba perurans which can cause amoebic gill disease (AGD).
Investing in people
Mowi Scotland employs 1,600 dedicated staff located in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, and Fife, who raise, process and market fresh Atlantic salmon for domestic and export markets around the world.
“We operate in some very remote, rural and often fragile communities in the Highlands and Islands, and it’s important that we recognise the commitment and passion of our employees as they play a large part in our success,” says Ben Hadfield.
Among the people employed by Mowi Scotland are apprentices. This year, Mowi welcomed four new apprentices to its farming operations in Uist. Over the next two years, the apprentices will develop hands-on skills and gain valuable experience as they work towards their NPA (National Progression Award) in Aquaculture and Modern Apprenticeship qualifications. They will also complete their commercial endorsement, which will allow them to skipper commercial vessels, and spend time visiting and working at all stages of the salmon lifecycle, setting them up for a successful career in the aquaculture industry.
The new apprentices will work across Mowi’s farms on Uist, including a new high energy, open sea farm in South Uist at Stulaigh South. In total, the farm will create seven new jobs, operate 6x200m pens and hold a maximum biomass of 3,000 tonnes of salmon.
And it’s not just on the farms that Mowi offers employment. In fact, there are more than 100 positions, from freshwater and seawater operations to fish health, environmental regulation, sales and marketing, logistics, finance, IT and human resources.
Supporting communities
Mowi is proud to support the communities in which it operates and provide meaningful careers across the country, often in fragile, rural communities.
Its employees do more than just work in these communities; they help them thrive by volunteering for sports clubs, mountain rescue, coastguard, fire service - the list goes on.
Mowi’s community support initiatives range from beach cleans to buying outdoor clothing and play equipment for nurseries, to the Mowi Salmon Wagon attending events across the country with Mowi’s chefs serving salmon to raise funds for local causes.
A 2025 highlight was the official opening of An Faire Mor community housing on Colonsay, which Mowi worked to develop in partnership with Colonsay Community Development Company (CCDC), Highland and Islands Enterprise, and Argyll and Bute Council.
Mowi has been farming on Colonsay since 2015 and has built a strong relationship with CCDC, which aims to provide a more sustainable future for residents. More than 40 per cent of the island’s existing housing stock is either second homes or self-catering accommodation, leaving young people and families struggling to remain or return to the place they call home.
The rising cost of housing and lack of available properties has forced many to leave, threatening the sustainability of the island’s community and economy. However, the housing now available offers a flexible and inclusive model that supports current residents, attracts new families, and meets the needs of essential workers.
Supporting shinty
Mowi’s longest standing commitment to the community is its continued support for shinty - a cornerstone of many of the communities in which Mowi Scotland operates and which it is proud to have supported for almost 40 years.
Helping to grow and develop the game at all levels, Mowi sponsors all senior shinty leagues, the Women’s Camanachd Association senior leagues, national under-17 and under-14 youth leagues, the National Disability Shinty Festival, the Shinty Hurling International and Scotland’s senior national shinty team, as well as the annual Shinty Awards. Since 2018, Mowi has provided additional funding for the Young Person’s Development Fund, supporting new or enhanced initiatives that encourage development of shinty for children and young people.
This year, Mowi continued its support of the Youth Development Fund. This agreement provides crucial support to shinty clubs in their development efforts, ensuring more opportunities for children and young people to engage with the sport.
Celebrating 60 years
Mowi Scotland’s 60th year brought more award recognition.
It was double success at the Aquaculture Awards 2025, with Mowi Scotland winning Producer of the Year and Dave Young, Senior Statutory Compliance Manager, winning the Unsung Hero award.
On the supermarket shelves, MOWI Scottish Salmon Fillets (230g) now carry a Great Taste star award. Run by The Guild of Fine Food, Great Taste is the world’s most trusted food and drink accreditation scheme. 2025 is the first year that a fresh Scottish salmon fillet has received this accolade, so MOWI salmon is proud to have achieved this quality recognition judged by a panel of 500 experts.
And in October, MOWI Scottish salmon fillets scooped the inaugural Consumer Choice Award, organised by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).
For 60 years, Mowi Scotland has been providing a sustainable protein source for a growing global population, creating meaningful and rewarding careers, and supporting rural communities. The company looks forward to continuing this progress throughout 2026 and beyond.
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