With the Scottish government confirming it’s getting letters (from environmentalists) over the country’s import of lumpfish (lumpsuckers), it appears Scotland will soon have its another commercial nursery for the sea-lice-eating species.
Marine Harvest Scotland has been the given the greenlight by a unanimous Argyll and Bute Council to build a GBP 6 million facility on the Kintyre peninsula, The European Marine Science Park has reported, citing 5m Publishing.
The 9,500-square-meter hatchery will have the capacity to produce 800,000 of the cleaner-fish per year and might employ 10 full-time staff. The site will sit near an existing hatchery jointly operated by Marine Harvest and Scottish Sea Farms, and it’ll be able to produce 200,000 wrasse a year.
Marine Harvest is also said to be overhauling another site in Wales to produce more cleaner fish. For now, the company gets it cleaners from Otter Ferry Seafish in Argyll and the Native Marine Centre in Weymouth.
