The world's largest fish-farmer has identified a quarry on Skye as the place it wants to build a new £80m fish feed plant, only weeks after it confirmed major job losses.
The site earmarked for the development by Marine Harvest is at Kyleakin near the Skye Bridge, and it could be working in two years.
It is projected to create 55 full time, permanent jobs. This would help offset the 80 jobs in Scotland the company confirmed, at the start of the month, it was shedding to make it more efficient and sustainable.
The choice of the Kyleakin quarry location was made by Marine Harvest Scotland after it had considered a number of different sites on the west coast.
Known as Altanavaig (Allt Anabhaig) quarry, it is more than large enough to accommodate the plant.
Ben Hadfield, who is the Chief Operating Officer Feed for Marine Harvest globally as well as the Managing Director of Marine Harvest Scotland, said: “We are delighted to have found a site which sits at the heart of our operations, one that is already an industrial site but which has not been fully utilised for some time. We would like to have the chance to bring it back to life and provide well paid jobs, as well as taking the opportunity to produce our feed in the most sustainable way.”
“This is a large investment in Scotland and the development of a feed plant here is part of our overall drive to become a more efficient and sustainable business.
“We hope this will be a major boost for the local economy and we are keen to start discussions with the local community and hear their views about our proposals.”
Marine Harvest Scotland said in January it was looking for a site to accommodate a new plant to produce feed for use on Scottish fish-farms, as well as for Ireland, Norway and the Faroes. The company hopes to replicate the success of a similar plant in Norway which has provided a boost to the local economy by providing jobs directly, as well as generating employment for local contractors and suppliers.
It will now start consultation with the local community as part of the planning application process. Public meetings in Kyleakin and Kyle of Lochalsh on the mainland are planned next month.
Construction of the plant would take between a year and eighteen months and Marine Harvest believes it could be up and running as early as 2018, depending on the planning process.
Around four acres of the site would be used to accommodate the buildings including the processing plant itself as well as raw material storage silos, product storage and packaging, a loading area and car parking. The existing pier would need to be extended.
Ben Hadfield added: “We considered a number of different locations before deciding on Kyleakin Quarry. The site more than meets our criteria which included a central location for our farms, access to an existing jetty or pier, or the potential to build one, good road transport links and the availability of power and water supplies at a reasonable cost.
“This is a great opportunity for Kyleakin and the local economy and we hope to have the chance to discuss our plans with the local community as soon as possible.”
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