Brae-based Blueshell Marine said yesterday the acquisition will help the company continue to grow and safeguard existing jobs.

Blueshell is one of the largest mussel farming businesses in Shetland,

employing between 15 and 18 people depending on the season, and farming at 12 sites

The company hopes to become the first Scottish mussel producer to break through the 1,000 tonne production barrier this year.

Managing director Michael Laurenson said mussels from the newly acquired sites at Ronas Voe, Olnafirth and Lunna Ness would be harvested before the sites' equipment was shipped to the German partner in the buy-out, Nordsee Muscheln GmbH.

He added that he had no immediate plans to develop the sites, but added that they would give the company the capacity to grow up to 2,000 tonnes of mussels annually.

"This is giving us an initial boost this year in the amount of mussels we can harvest. It will safeguard existing jobs and could lead to the creation of some new jobs in the future," he said.

A seventh mussel farming site belonging to No Catch has been sold to

Scottish Sea Farms.

No Catch had to call in the administrators in February this year after

accumulating debts of £40 million.

The company had set out to revolutionise the fish farming scene with the first organically grown cod in the world, but failed after three years in the business.

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.

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