Flagship hatchery 'will take a year to reach capacity'
Applecross facility now more stable and focused on build up, says Bakkafrost chief
Bakkafrost Scotland’s flagship hatchery and smolt facility at Applecross in Wester Ross won’t reach its biomass limit for another year, Bakkafrost Group chief executive Regin Jacobsen has said.
The salmon farming boss set out the timescale for the ramp up of production at the recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility during his presentation of Faroes-headquatered Bakkafrost’s results for the fourth quarter of 2025.
Applecross is intended to produce large, robust smolts that are central to Bakkafrost’s plans for reducing mortalities at its Scottish marine sites and returning the Scottish operation to profitability.
But the facility has encountered some problems with disease and in Q2 last year exceptional mortality caused by an outbreak in one of the modules at Applecross cost the company DKK 52 million (approximately ÂŁ6m).
Change of management
After that, the company placed its Scottish freshwater operations under Faroese control and transferred some Faroese staff to Applecross.
Bakkafrost Scotland’s freshwater segment, which comprises Applecross and two smaller, older hatcheries, made an operating loss of DKK 4 million (£466,000) in Q4 last year, an improvement on the DKK 28m operating loss incurred in the same period in 2024.
“The negative result is primarily driven by a combination of low capacity utilisation and some losses. In this quarter the average utilisation was about 3kg per cubic metre and we aim for 12, so we are still quite low,” Jacobsen said in his presentation yesterday.
Pointing to a graph (see right), the CEO said: “In Scotland the main focus is to achieve a steady ramp up of the production – the red line in the bottom shows this ramp up is progressing and this will continue through the whole of 2026 and we expect to be at full biomass in the first quarter of ’27.
“This means that gradually we will see lower cost per kilo of smolts produced during the next 15 months."
More stable
Jacobsen said operations at Applecross were now more stable, biosecurity had been improved, and the focus now is to ramp up the operation.
“We plan to transfer 10 million smolt in 2026 in Scotland, with Applecross set to produce batches of 200-250 grams, and some batches between 350 and 400 grams. The average weight for all smolt released in ’26 is expected to be 179 grams in Scotland.
“Although the operational EBIT in the fourth quarter was negative, we see clear progress compared to the same period last year.”
In Q4 2025, Bakkafrost Scotland transferred 2.2 million smolts to sea sites, but only 1 million were produced by its freshwater segment, with the other 1.2 million from third parties. For the full year, Bakkafrost Scotland transferred 7.3 million smolts, of which 2.7 million were externally sourced. The average weight of smolts transferred to sea was 154 grams, while the average weight of smolts from Applecross was 216g, up from 113g in 2024.
