Mowi - a leading salmon producer - has delivered the first of five fully refurbished Sea-Cap feed barges to Loch Etive as part of a consolidation project to ensure that all operations and the visual appearance of the sites meets the highest standards.
The upcycling of redundant concrete barge hulls into low profile energy-efficient hybrid barges will provide sustainability benefits and cost savings of approximately £4 million relative to purchasing new feed barges.
Three of the repurposed barges will be used at the Loch Etive site and will feed remotely from the shore base, reducing marine traffic on the loch and vessel emissions. Mowi purchased the Loch Etive site, which was previously used for the farming of rainbow trout, from Dawnfresh in 2022 and plans to use the farm for the rearing of salmon post-smolts
Two additional repurposed feed barges will be used to support Mowi’s operations in Ireland.
“The refurbishment and re-use of these redundant barges is a great use of resources with a positive outcome for the environment. All five barges have been fitted with sound proofing and designed to lessen the height and visual profile, reducing emissions and noise,” said Dougie Gibson, a barge engineering specialist, in a press release.
Mowi Scotland worked with Gael Force Group to repurpose the barges, as Gibson explains: “Working constructively together with the multi-disciplined Gael Force team at its facility in Inverness has delivered this successful project outcome for Mowi. Not only does this project represent an excellent example of the industry benefits from upcycling aquaculture assets, but also demonstrates to the wider aquaculture sector the breadth and depth of technical engineering competence which exists within Scotland.”
“We were challenged some years ago with how we may deal with end-of-life small concrete barges; whether to fully dismantle, decommission or re-purpose and we came up with the lowest impact idea to upcycle the Sea-Cap feed barges to unmanned low profile feeding units,” said Stewart Graham, Gael Force Group managing director.
The proposed changes to the Loch Etive site were well received by members of the local communities, who made their wishes known during a consultation process.
“Upon consultation to gauge the views of the communities surrounding Loch Etive, residents were largely supportive of the changes to lower profile equipment and hybrid battery barges. Some fairly stated that farming operations could be tidier, so this shift is an important step to reduce the impact on the surrounding area,” said Clara MacGhee, Dawnfresh area manager.
