40,000 wrasse introduced to pens in Scotland from Mowi’s Welsh farm

First farmed wrasse from Welsh hatchery introduced to MOWI farms.

A significant milestone was reached in August when ballan wrasse, reared at Mowi’s  Anglesey hatchery in Wales were successfully delivered to seawater farms in Scotland.

Read more: First batch of wrasse eggs introduced to Mowi’s cleanerfish recirculation unit

Around 40,000 wrasse have so far been introduced to pens at Loch Duich, Invasion Bay, Camus Glas and Loch Leven. More are expected to follow.

The  Anglesey facility is housed in a refurbished former sea bass farm and is expected to eventually grow between 800,000 and a million fish per year. In 2018 Scotland’s salmon farmers estimated they required up to 1.2 million wrasse annually, a figure likely to rise as the industry expands.

Speaking about the development, Dougie Hunter, Technical Director and Managing Director of Ocean Matters, said: “This is a significant step towards our aim of reducing the need to use wild caught wrasse as cleaner fish in our farms. We are the first aquaculture company in Scotland to rear our own wrasse for use at our sites.”

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