Scottish Sea Farms opens Billy Baa salmon farm in Shetland with maximum biomass of 4,091 tonnes

Stirling-based aquaculture company Scottish Sea Farms confirmed on 12 November 2026 that its Billy Baa salmon farm on the west coast of Shetland has been officially opened and is now operational. The company, jointly owned by Norwegian salmon farming companies SalMar and Lerøy Seafood Group, calls the project "Scotland's largest salmon farm".

The farm represents a £7.5 million investment (approximately USD 10 million, EUR 9 million) and has a permitted maximum biomass of 4,091 tonnes. The company says the project is part of its overall strategy of concentrating production at large sites in locations with greater water depth and stronger currents.

The farm was officially opened by Hannah Mary Goodlad, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Shetland. She said the project is a good example of the islands' "unique ability to attract key high-value investment".

Billy Baa is equipped with nine 160-metre pens and one 120-metre pen, with the 160-metre pens being the first of that size to be installed in Shetland. The pens were supplied by Inverness-based Gael Force Group and are the SeaQurePen 500 model, designed to withstand conditions in the exposed waters around the islands. The site has an average water depth of 45 metres, making it one of the deepest of Scottish Sea Farms' Shetland assets.

The farm was stocked in September, with smolts transferred from the hatchery at an average weight of 1 kg. Farm manager Peter Muir said the company expects to harvest the first adult fish from the site in October or November next year. "Even though we have more fish on our site, they still have plenty of room to swim. The fish look in very good condition," he said. Muir, who was involved in designing the farm's infrastructure, said the larger pens also provide staff with a more practical and safer working environment, with wider walkways and stronger structural load-bearing capacity.

Another key facility at the project is a 500-tonne steel feed barge supplied in Scotland by ScaleAQ. It is the largest barge in Scottish Sea Farms' fleet to date and is equipped with a Fjord Maritime hybrid system that combines diesel generators with battery storage to provide continuous power supply. Billy Baa also has a 10-line feeding system that can feed all pens simultaneously. Muir said this should improve site management efficiency, especially when feeding needs to be completed quickly before bad weather arrives or ahead of planned treatments. The site has created 8 full-time jobs.

Operations at the new site should help Scotland's national salmon production maintain its growth trend. Recent Scottish Government data showed that 2025 Atlantic salmon production rose 3%, or 5,836 tonnes, to 197,836 tonnes. Salmon Scotland chief executive Tavish Scott said the figures are "another vote of confidence" in Scottish salmon, and that the increase in production reflects growers responding to strong demand in both domestic and export markets.

The farm will also help Scottish Sea Farms maintain its own production growth. In its recently published Q3 2026 report, SalMar chief executive Frode Arntsen said Scottish Sea Farms "achieved significant volume growth" during the three-month period, and projected SalMar's share of the joint venture's total 2027 harvest at 45,000 tonnes gutted weight.