Marine Scotland plane spots Shetland’s drifting salmon cages

On Friday morning (6th January 2012), at around midday, Marine Scotland’s Watchdog 64 fish patrol aircraft found Lakeland Unst Ltd’s 12 salmon cages adrift since Christmas Eve and not initially discovered.

It had been thought that the connections between some of the cages had broken in the swell and that the chain was breaking up but the report is that they were seen, still fully connected (although two may be submerged), around 60 miles east of Bressay. The fisheries patrol boat, Hirta, had also been sent to the area to assist in the search.

They cages first spotted by the Sumburgh-based SAR helicopter around 30 miles south east of Unst, the most northerly of the Shetland isles and were drifting in a southeasterly direction, later reported  by Shetland Islands Broadcasting Company (SIBC)  to be around 40 miles east of Whalsay, which is SSE of Unst.

Their position as seen by the Marine Scotland plane on Friday  – 80 miles east of Bressay, which is off Lerwick in the southern part of the island chain, means that they have continued to drift on a southesterly line and are headed towards the Norwegian coast south of Bergen.

The cages are each 100 feet in diameter and are interconnected, forming a circle of cages. They were described as ‘full’ of mature salmon,  valued at £3 million. While it is unlikely that any of the fish remaining in the cages are still alive, escaped farm fish in the numbers possible pose a substantial threat to the genetic stability of wild salmon with whom they may mate.

Drifting as they have been, the cages were first a hazard to shipping in the waters of the Atlantic between Unst in Shetland and Denmark and Norway. This stretch of water is also host to several oil rigs.

The Opportune, a whitefish boat from the Lerwick fleet was standing by the cages until their ultimate owners, Norwegian owned and Glasgow based Meridian Salmon Group, finalises their salvage. Meridian is understood to have chartered a Danish tug for the job.

Meridian’s own boat, Victoria Viking, was brought up from the Scottish mainland on 28th December and managed to take the cages in tow on 30th December – but had to drop the tow because the drag of the connected cages was actually towing the boat backwards.

Lakeland Unst Ltd, the immediate owner of the salmon cages in question – which had been moored at Uyeasound, south of Unst, operates fish farms between the islands of Yell, Fetlar and Unst. This area of around 13 square miles is known as Bluemull Sound. It is said to be characterised by moderate wave exposure and strong tidal currents, with the potential to produce 10,000 tonnes of salmon over a single production cycle.