The British Marine Finfish Association (BMFA) welcomes the royal seal of approval that cod farming received today, when the Princess Royal officially opened the Machrihanish Marine Farm Ltd cod hatchery.

Viewing cod as a species with a good future potential, Marine Farms ASA formed a joint venture company with Stirling University's Institute of Aquaculture to develop Scotland's first commercial, purpose-built, cod hatchery at Machrihanish on the Mull of Kintyre, which has a planned production of 1.2 million fish.

Said Richard Slaski, adviser to the BMFA: "The opening of the hatchery is a major step towards the industry meeting the strategic targets which BMFA has set for cod cultivation in Scotland. The association believes there is an exciting niche market opportunity for up to 30,000 tonnes per annum of cod production from aquaculture, which will play its role in helping the aquaculture industry to diversify, and in maintaining supplies of fish to the other parts of the UK seafood industry."

The juveniles being produced have all been pre-sold for ongrowing to Johnson Seafarms, Lakeland Marine and Wester Ross Salmon, and according to Derek Robertson, director of BMFA and director of external facilities at the Institute of Aquaculture, the fish are in great demand.

"Our problem is cod licences," he commented. "The enthusiasm for cod farming is great and many salmon farmers want to diversify but they are having difficulty in obtaining the licences to change some of their production from salmon to cod. In Shetland, this is not the case as farmers can use part of their salmon licence for cod."

The BMFA hopes the opening today in the presence of industry members and local politicians will highlight the success that has been achieved in the production of juvenile cod and the need for new licences to ongrow the fish for market.

"The facility at Machrihanish is currently providing seven highly skilled jobs in the Kintyre area and the development of new finfish species could see 600 new full time jobs in 10 years," commented Mr Slaski.