Scottish Ministers have been urged to provide support to Northbay Pelagic following the fire at its fish processing plant in Peterhead on Saturday.
During Topical Questions in the Scottish Parliament today, Alison McInnes, Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for North East Scotland highlighted the challenges facing the company and the wider impact that the incident could have upon the local economy.
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment, Richard Lochhead MSP, said that the Scottish Government will be represented on a new multi-agency taskforce set to meet on Friday to establish how the public sector can assist the company in the short and long-term.
Afterwards, Ms McInnes commented, “The damage caused by the fire on Saturday was devastating. Thankfully no-one is believed to have been injured. By all accounts the emergency services did an excellent job in the face of a hazardous situation.
“However, these are obviously uncertain times for the hundreds of people who are employed either directly by the company or in the wider supply chain. The challenge now for the Scottish Government and others in the public sector is to help in any way possible to assist the company’s recovery and enable it to continue to operate in the short and long-term. This will both protect local jobs and help preserve the town’s status as the largest fishing port in the UK.”
The Northbay processing factory was ablaze for more than 10 hours. At its peak 10 fire units and several specialist crews were on site to stop the flames from spreading to canisters containing ammonia.
Northbay Pelagic is one of the largest fish factories in Scotland, a major employer with around 120 full-time staff and 100 temporary staff. The fire has destroyed the processing plant and production line but the company has said that intends to rebuild the plant as quickly as possible.
There are fears that this incident could lead to buyers and fishermen looking to other ports, even to Norway, to do business. When asked if he had had discussions with local stakeholders about how to prevent this occurring – for example finding temporary accommodation – to limit the impact the incident of the fire on the local economy, Mr Lochhead replied that the Scottish Government is “very keen” to help in any way it can and that its officials will be involved in the taskforce set up this week.
