Gael Force’s Sinking Feeling: barges scuppered by bad weather or is the ‘greed of feed’ to blame?

Photo sinking Iceland barge in Jan 2021

 

 

 

The operation of feed barges – storage units moored at salmon farms which are used to deliver pellets of food to farmed salmon – raises serious public safety and environmental issues.   In the wake of a spate of sinkings across Scotland (and Iceland), questions must now be asked of both barge manufacturers such as Gael Force and salmon farm operators such as Bakkafrost, Mowi and Grieg Seafood (Scottish Sea Farms).  

 

 

 

 

Here's video footage overlooking two salmon farms operated by Bakkafrost (formerly known as The Scottish Salmon Company) off Portree on the Isle of Skye shot on a calm Summer day in September 2020 – notice the 400 tonne feed barge listing under the weight of the feed (ca. 350 tonnes were on board when it sank during Storm Arwen in November 2021), chemical containers, equipment, machinery and mort bins weighing down the floating structure:

 

 

 

 

And here's a close-up of the overloaded barge shot from a boat in September 2020 – imagine this in the heavy winds and swells of Storm Arwen (the storm raging in November 2021 when the Gael Force barge sank to the bottom of Loch Portree/Sound of Raasay):

 

 

 

Photo of Portree barge listing in water

 

 

 

The feed barge looks like one of those overloaded tankers carrying hundreds of containers which you read about on the news sinking in bad weather:

 

Listing boat

 

 

 

Or one of those overloaded boats carrying too many people which inevitably keel over and sink:

 

Overloaded

 

Listing boat #2

 

 

With all the feed (ca. 350 tonnes according to FOI documents disclosed by the Scottish Government) and mort bins on board at the time of the barge sinking off Portree in November 2021, it was an 'accident' just waiting for bad Winter weather to happen (i.e. it was entirely foreseable and avoidable – anyone who has lived in Scotland knows that severe gales happen every year!).

 

Overloaded lorry

 

 

 

This photo of a feed barge at Mowi's MacLean's Nose salmon farm in Loch Sunart illustrates the precarious nature of salmon farming:

 

 

 

 

The Press & Journal reported in January 2019 on the sinking of a feed barge at a Mowi salmon farm off South Uist:

 

Mowi sinking Jan 2019 #1

 

 

Salmon Business reported in January 2019:

 

Mowi sinking Jan 2019 #2

Mowi sinking Jan 2019 #3

Mowi sinking Jan 2019 #4

 

 

Another feed barge sank off Uig in Loch Snizort on the Isle of Skye in 2017 – costing Grieg Seafood an estimated NOK 10 million (£921,000):

 

Snizort sinking #1

 

 

Fish Farming Expert reported in March 2022 that the Gael Force feed barge was not salvaged until late 2021:

 

Snizort sinking #2

Snizort sinking #3

Snizort sinking #4

 

 

Here's a photo of the salvage operation by Ocean Kinetics:

 

Snizort salvage #1

 

 

More details on the salvage operation are contained in a report published by Marine Scotland:

 

Snizort salvage #2

 

 

In Iceland, the salvage of feed barge from under a salmon farm was featured on the news in August 2022 – including video footage of the salvage operation:

 

Iceland salvage #1

Iceland salvage #2

 

 

Here's Icelandic News on the feed barge sinking during storms in January 2021:

 

Iceland salvage #3

Iceland salvage #4

 

 

The Scottish Salmon Company (since renamed Bakkafrost) published a video via Friday Film Productions in 2018 showing off the new Gael Force feed barge off Portree (in the photo below – sourced from the video – you can see how close the town of Portree is to the salmon farm):

 

Photo from barge with Portree in the distance

 

 

 

 

A video tour of a Gael Force SeaMate 400 tonne concrete feed barge destined for Mowi – understood to be similar to the one bought by Bakkafrost for their Portree salmon farm – is available online here:

 

Gael Force #1

 

 

 

 

The Scottish Salmon Company (renamed Bakkafrost Scotland in June 2022) were keen to trumpet the delivery in 2018 and launch of their 'sophisticated' 400 tonne SeaMate Gael Force feed barge in 2019: 

 

Gael Force #2

 

Gael Force #3

 

 

Gael Force #4

Gael Force #5

 

 

Stewart Graham, founder and managing director of Gael Force Group, told Fish Farming Expert in March 2019:

 

“The design and build of one of our most advanced feed barges along with an eight-line SeaFeed feeding system for SSC is yet another example of our commitment to innovate in this sector.

“The build epitomised the type of collaborative approach we like to take with our customers, and by doing this we ensured we addressed all SSC’s needs from the outset which will enable them to safely and sustainably grow their fish.”

 

Craig Anderson & Stewart Graham

 

 

Stewart Graham, managing director at Gael Force Group, said in January 2018:

 

“This new barge will be one of the most sophisticated of its kind in Scotland"

 

Photo SeaMate feed barge

 

 

Here's photos of the 'sophisticated' Gael Force SeaMate feed barge sunk on the bottom of Loch Portree in December 2021 (obtained via FOI from the Scottish Government) – leaking the ca. 350 tonnes of feed on board which later during 2022 built up "explosive" levels of toxic Hydrogen Sulphide gases:

 

Photos

 

 

 

The barge building by Gael Force in Inverness apparently created 20 new jobs:

 

Gael Force #6

 

 

 

A similar SeaMate 350 tonne feed barge was delivered in 2020 to Organic Sea Harvest by Gael Force (who reported building "close to 100 feed barges" – it's not clear how many have sank):

 

Gael Force #7

Gael Force #8

 

 

 

Another 200 tonne SeaMate feed barge was delivered by Gael Force to Cooke Aquaculture in April 2022:

 

 

 

 

And Gael Force has built even bigger live-aboard SeaFarmBase 400 tonne concrete barges for Mowi in Eastern Canada:

 

Gael Force #9

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The operation of feed barges at salmon farms can sometimes go tragically wrong – as was the case at Mowi's Ardintoul salmon farm in February 2020 when Mowi worker Clive Hendry was crushed to death between a feed barge and a Mowi workboat:

 

 

 

 

The Daily Mirror reported (26 May 2021):

 

MAIB Mowi #4

 

 

STV News reported in May 2021:

 

 

 

 

Read the Marine Accident Investigation Branch's damning report published in May 2021:

 

Maib

MAIB Mowi #1

MAIB Mowi #2

MAIB Mowi #3

 

 

Clive Hendry's widow is taking legal action against Mowi for corporate negligence and is championing the vital public issue of safety at work: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The West Highland Free Press reported (29 April 2022):

 

P&J Catriona Lockhart 28 April 2022 #6 WHFP

 

 

The Times reported in November 2021:

 

Times Woman suing Mowi 23 Nov 2021 Newspaper version

 

 

 

 

The 'greed of feed' by Mowi, Bakkafrost and other salmon farming giants demands greater scrutiny. 

 

Anastasia Geo Sept 2020 #11 Don kayak Mowi boat

 

 

 

 

 

$camon $cotland reported earlier this month (8 November 2022):

 

 

 

 

Last week (18 November 2022), $camon $cotland wrote to Scottish Ministers:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Times reported (17 November 2022):

 

 

 

Times 17 Nov 2022 #1

 

 

 

$camon $cotland first broke the news in August 2022 following a tip-off from a whistleblower in Portree:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more via:

Letter to Scottish Ministers re. "Explosive" Scottish Salmon – Please Defuse the Toxic Time-Bomb!

The Times: "Secret plans to evacuate island homes over toxic gas"

Risk Assessment Highlighted 'High' Risk of Exposure to Public from Toxic Hydrogen Sulphide Gases – Why the f*ck was there no public warning?

Bakkafrost is Dead in Water in Scotland – "Explosive" FOI Disclosure Lifts Lid on Hazardous Scottish Salmon!

Document dump by Scottish Government following FOI review: floodgates opened on "explosive" salmon barge off Portree!

Bakkafrost's Scottish Salmon Nightmare Gets Worse with 10,000 Tonne Black Hole in Scotland!

"Explosive" FOI disclosure from SEPA on Toxic Gases Spewing from The Scottish Salmon Company (Bakkafrost) Off Portree!

Bakkafrost is Dead in the Water in Scotland – 2021 Annual Report Details "Deadly Cocktail"!

Toxic Salmon Barge Salvaged This Month Off Portree (as revealed by FOI disclosure by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency)

500m exclusion zone near Portree Harbour in Skye as barge gives of rotten eggs smell

P&J: "Exclusion zone set up around Skye barge giving off rotten eggs smell"

"Experts tackle lethal gas leaking from sunken feed barge" (Fish Farming Expert)

BBC News: "'Rotten egg' gas leaking from fish feed barge wreck – 500m exclusion zone placed near Portree on Skye"

Toxic Gasses Spew From The Scottish Salmon Company (Bakkafrost Scotland) Off Portree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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