Salmon cage tow “treading water”
EFFORTS to tow 12 salmon cages against strong winds after they drifted 60 miles east of Shetland were “treading water”, according to one obesrver on Monday afternoon.
On Sunday morning the Danish tug Westsund managed to attach a towline to the 30 metre diameter cages containing 1,000 tonnes of salmon.
However the tug has made little headway from its original position and on Monday afternoon was travelling towards Shetland against a Force 7 westerly wind at about half a knot.
The towline broke on Monday morning but the crew managed to reattach the line by midday.
The salmon tender Orcadia is heading for the scene to help, while the Shetland fishing boat Opportune is standing by.
The cages containing 300,000 fully grown salmon worth around £3 million were washed out to sea from the south coast of Uyea Isle, off Unst, during the Christmas day gales.
After an initial attempt to tow them on 30 December failed, the cages went missing until a Marine Scotland fish patrol aircraft spied them on Friday.
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