MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mussel fact finding trip

Starting a mussels industry plus attracting Scottish investment to the Falkland Islands was the main objective of a two weeks fact finding trip by representatives of the Islands fishing industry.

Julian Morris, John Barton, Simon Hardcastle, Stuart Wallace, Dick Sawle and Hamish Wylie covered over 2,000 miles by vehicle in order to meet with key players in fisheries farming, production systems, processing and marketing.

The need for this particular trip was identified by a group of local fishing companies following their production of a business plan for growing mussels in the Islands. Hamish Wylie who coordinated the visit said "we knew from Simon's experience that mussels could be farmed, but our business plan was based upon a lot of assumptions and we knew very little about the industry we wanted to participate in, or the markets they sold into."

Mr. Wylie said that the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) was, "...unfamiliar with the industry and the regulatory environment that would enable development."

He added, "We have all learned a staggering amount about the mussel industry in the past two weeks.

"Following this visit we can now complete the work necessary to determine if the risk of investing in the creation of a mussel industry is acceptable. We will ultimately have to take a view on where the mussel industry is going over the next five to ten years, and success will weigh heavily on getting this right."

Mr. Wylie said his expectation is that by the end of this year, "... we will be in a position to decide whether to go for it or not."

Members of the group also attended meetings with the Bank of Scotland and The Royal Bank of Scotland regarding corporate finance for the fishing industry.

With the reduction in the Scottish fleet size both banks have potential opportunity in their fishing portfolios and, says Mr. Wylie, "...the new (Falklands) fishing policy provides a raft of opportunities to the industry that will require finance not available from local sources."

Aquaculture 2004 was run concurrently this year with Fishing 2004.

Source: Penguin News.