Scottish Salmon Farms donates boats to Ghana

SCOTTISH Salmon Farms is donating two HDPE work boats to a charity that promotes investment in Africa.
The Hull based charity – And Albert Foundation – is pioneering essential medical care and midwifery services to otherwise remote tribal villages in Northern Ghana.
The road transport infrastructure in Ghana is generally inadequate so the only option for providing healthcare and trading transport in this huge area is by boats on the White Volta River.
The two workboats were made available for the charity after they were replaced by two new-build boats which have been purchased from Seahorse Marine in Hull.
With the help of the local Rotary Clubs and Seahorse Marine, the first hospital boat for this river project will be launched in January 2016 in Hull.
Founder and CEO of the And Albert Foundation David Murden said: ‘The importance of the donation of the two workboats by Scottish Sea Farms is twofold.
‘Firstly, they will be pivotal to surveying the remote villages on the White Volta River to identify village needs and suitable access points.
‘This will be invaluable as, otherwise, the survey would have taken place using dugout canoes which are hazardous in the calmest of waters, regularly claiming lives on the river.
‘Secondly, once the new hospital boat is launched at the start of 2016, we will be able to run satellite services from the hospital boat to access further villages, increasing our area of coverage, and we will also be able to dispatch one of the boats as a fast response vessel – such as taking a midwife to a childbirth emergency.’
The boats will be called Wilberforce 2 and Wilberforce 3, linking them to Hull’s Wilberforce Legacy being focused on for Hull as a City of Culture in 2017.
Jim Gallagher, managing director of Scottish Sea Farms, said: ‘This charity does amazing work and we are delighted that our boats can be given a new lease of life in this way and really be put to good use.
‘We look forward to receiving news on how the boats will play a part in assisting these remote communities to improve their lives.
‘We regularly work with remote island communities in Scotland and we understand how vital vessels can be in keeping communication and vital services alive.’