Experienced project engineer joins Great Northern Salmon
Former Mowi global project manager Mick Watts will be responsible for construction planning and execution of 7,500t salmon RAS
Great Northern Salmon (GNS), which plans a 7,500-tonnes-per-year land-based fish farm in the United States, has hired an experienced head of construction for the project.
Mick Watts spent more than 11 years in Bjugn, Norway, and Kyleakin, Scotland, as an engineer and global project manager for salmon giant Mowi. He will be responsible for construction planning and execution for GNS' recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility at Millinocket in northern Maine.
GNS said Watts had had career in global leadership, spanning project and maintenance management. He has overseen substantial construction projects in the livestock, seafood, grain, and feed industries.
Watts’ most recent role was as construction manager for striped bass farmer Pacifico Aquaculture in Mexico, and he has also worked with agribusiness Manildra Group Australia, and has held several global roles at Continental Grain.
A great asset
“Mick has already spent time with our team and vendors in Maine. His good fit with the experienced GNS team and good amount of experience from the industry, also previously in Maine, make us confident that he will be a great asset in Great Northern Salmon,” said GNS chief executive Marianne Naess in a post on LinkedIn.
“We look forward to bringing Mick on board full-time in Millinocket next month.”
In April, GNS announced that it had entered a strategic partnership with Norwegian company Eyvi. The deal makes Eyvi the supplier of the RAS for the fish farm at Millinocket and future projects, while GNS will benefit from a significant strategic investment from Eyvi.
Eyvi’s experience includes the development of Hima’s 8,000-tonne trout farm in Rjukan, Norway, which is set for its first commercial harvest this summer.
