Maiden five-day journey for cleanerfish since Mowi purchased Ocean Matters last April.
In its latest newsletter the Scoop, Mowi writes that it has completed delivery of lumpfish to its the Oyndarfjordur site, Faroe Islands.
“This was the first ‘proof of concept’ delivery so it’s great to know that we can successfully deliver these fish from our Anglesey hatchery in Wales,” said Mowi cleanerfish production manager Dan Phillips.
North Wales’ Ocean Matters lumpfish facility, which can produce up to two million to four million fish, was bought by Mowi in April.
There has been a lot of pre-delivery planning involving Mowi staff from both business units as well as from the respective health authorities from both countries, the salmon farmer wrote.
Mowi Faroes quality manager Gudny Vang commented: “It is not currently permitted to import fish directly to the Faroes using well boats so the only other option was to use the ferry links and the standard transport lorries which supply the Mowi Scotland sites. We were obviously concerned about the water quality and fish welfare on such a long journey, but our local vets checked the fish on arrival and were very happy with the health condition and quality of the lumpfish.”
Plans for future deliveries are already underway including investigation of faster and more efficient delivery options.
“Supplying to the Faroe Islands during the summer months is a logical part of our strategy,” added Mowi Scotland head of cleanerfish and technical Dougie Hunter.
“This is typically when we see fewer deployments in Scotland and Ireland due to higher water temperature at the sea sites whereas, in the Faroes, this is not such an issue for our farms there. Having year-round deliveries will make our lumpfish production much more efficient and make more fish available to our internal and external customers. It’s still early days but there are obvious opportunities to supply other salmon farmers in the Faroe Islands as well,” he added.
