Vónin has supplied Meridian Salmon Farms with a complete mooring system for a set of 14 100m diameter cages at its Yell location in Shetland.

Vónin has supplied Meridian Salmon Farms with a complete mooring system for a set of 14 cages. © Vónin

Vónin has supplied Meridian Salmon Farms with a complete mooring system for a set of 14 cages. © Vónin

The 14 cages are set up in two rows, and are secured in position with 24 anchors with a network of chains and ropes to secure the cages.

“There are a few differences between this system and others, notably that there is more weight in the chains, as well as a higher breaking strength,” said Vónin’s Sigvald Jacobsen. “The ropes are heavy-duty Vónin Royal rope with a 67t breaking strength.”

Unlike the usual chains used to link the network of buoys to the connection plates underneath them, Vónin opted to use 5m straps made in lightweight but super-strength Dyneema rope. One issue was to find a knot that would not compromise the rope’s strength.

“A rope generally loses 50% of its breaking strength when it is knotted, so we tried a lot of different knots to find something that would allow the rope to maintain its strength. The solution we came up with was to splice eyes and to bend this onto a ring that is then shackled to the connecting plate,” he said. This resulted in only 5% loss of breaking strength.

Meridian Salmon Farms is a relatively new customer for Vónin - although Vónin has supplied Meridian with components before, this is the first full mooring system for this customer.

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