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NORTH Atlantic Shellfish Ltd is to reopen its newly upgraded mussel factory at Walls in Shetland in time for the start of the 2010/11 mussel harvesting season next week.
The £200,000 project, which was part-funded by the European Fisheries Fund and Shetland Islands Council, includes the installation of a complete new line in the existing factory building, along with a new water pumping and UV system to allow more depuration capacity.
The firm’s managing director, Michael Tait, said: “We are looking forward to seeing the new line up and running, which together with our new washing and grading equipment, will provide our customers with the highest level of quality and service, whilst more than doubling the capacity of the factory.
“The original line was installed in 1999 and has worked very well, but we felt it was time to take a large step forward, upgrade our equipment and be in the best possible position to meet customer demands.
“We now have the capacity to process our expanding tonnage for the foreseeable future, with spare capacity available to undertake grading, inspection and packing services on behalf of other farming companies in Shetland.”
Ruth Henderson, chief executive of Seafood Shetland, added: “This is great news for North Atlantic Shellfish and the community in the west side of Shetland. I very much support the company in their efforts to develop not only their own business, but to make their services available to other smaller farmers who might not otherwise be able to access such state-of-the-art facilities.”
Should fisheries be closed during breeding time to allow stocks to reach more sustainable levels?
