Salmon firm £40m investment creates 100 jobs

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A salmon company has announced plans to open ten new farm sites in Scotland.

The £40m investment by the Scottish Salmon Company will create 100 new jobs on the west coast and islands of Scotland.

The new farms, which will increase salmon production from 24,000 tonnes to 40,000, will be built over the next five years.

Stewart McLelland, chief executive, said: “The Scottish Salmon Company produces premium, fresh Scottish salmon with strong and growing demand in the marketplace. To satisfy this, we require to develop our farming and processing capability.

“People are key to our vision for expansion. We are keen to bring talent into our business, developing skills, and experience to support our growth plans and that of the overall industry.

“We are committed to the communities and economies in which we work and understand the real benefit that developing business and providing employment has in these rural locations.”

Around half the jobs are planned for the Western Isles, with the others in the company’s operational areas throughout the Highlands and Argyll and Bute.

The Scottish Salmon is currently in the process of scoping, consulting on and lodging planning applications for new fish farming sites.

In the past two years the company has more than doubled staff numbers from 160 to 380 and invested £30m on developments such as refurbishing the Marybank processing facility, acquiring West Minch Salmon, developing new sites and upgrading existing sites.

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