Heartening news in latest Marinewise feature

The latest Marinewise feature in today’s Shetland Times includes a variety of positive news concerning different aspects of the aquaculture and fishing industries.

Featured on the front page is the development of a new £15 million salmon smolt hatchery at Girlsta.

The Shetland branch of Grieg Seafood is developing the site, with local contractors involved in its construction.

Also featured are several new appointments at the NAFC Marine Centre in Scalloway.

Andy Glen, from Sandwick, was recently appointed as new head of training and skills at the centre, with responsibility for all training including the three-year Merchant Navy Cadet programme.

Independent quality assurance company SSQC, based at the NAFC, is looking to the future and aims to support the next generation of scientists working for the industry, with the appointment of three recent graduates.

The board of trustees at the centre have been bolstered by six new members, including Shetland Fishermen’s Association executive officer Simon Collins, Adenia skipper George Anderson and fishing industry stalwart John Goodlad.

Mr Collins, in the latest of a series of columns, bemoans the situation in the fishing industry whereby a regulatory nightmare has come about through people who know the least making the rules.

Two new scallop boats for the isles, Norman Nisbet’s Merlin and Stanley Gray’s Askari, are featured, while in his editorial Peter Johnson states that there is growing confidence in different sectors of the seafood industry.