Russian first for Salmon breeder

The consignment of smolts worth £300,000 has arrived safely at Russian Salmon's production base located on Ambarnaya Fjord near Murmansk, after a seven-day, 1500 nautical mile journey from Landcatch's Ormsary farm on the Argyll coast.

"This was a massive ground-breaking operation in both commercial and physical terms," said Landcatch chairman, Hugh Currie. "We are the first suppliers of smolts to Russia's embryonic salmon farming industry and this is a fantastic first for Scotland and a major tribute to the quality of our stock and breeding methods."

On a physical level, transporting the smolts by wellboat has proved a significant undertaking. A two or three-day wellboat transfer would normally be considered a lengthy journey, but this stock were in transit for more than twice that time.

The fish survived the transfer extremely well with few mortalities. They are now entering production at the Russian farm - a unit with target a output of 2000 tonnes of salmon a year.

"We're delighted to be supplying Scottish-bred salmon smolts to the new Russian industry. Scottish livestock breeding has always commanded international respect and we're pleased to be continuing this trend on behalf of the salmon industry," added Mr Currie

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