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Work begins to remove sunken barge that smelled of rotten eggs near Skye

The barge is sunk near Portree Harbour, Isle of Sky. Image: Sandy McCook/ DC Thomson.
The barge is sunk near Portree Harbour, Isle of Sky. Image: Sandy McCook/ DC Thomson.

Work has begun to remove a sunken 400-tonne barge near Portree in Skye.

The barge has been a wreck since November 26, 2021, after it was sunk during Storm Arwen.

The barge is owned by Bakkafrost Scotland, which recently changed its name from the Scottish Salmon Company after it was acquired by Faroe Island-based Bakkafrost in 2020.

Last week, they said the removal of the barge would start soon, weather depending, nearly a year after it sank.

The decision to remove the wreck comes after a strong smell of rotten eggs was noticed around the harbour in August.

It was attributed to the sunken vessel’s cargo of putrefying fish feed.

The Bakkafrost feed barge before it sank. Image: Don Staniford.

Anti-fish farm campaigner Don Staniford has published a number of documents from consultants and government bodies alleging the vessel was giving off “significant levels” of hydrogen sulphide at potentially flammable levels.

At the time, authorities including police and Highland Council established an exclusion zone around the site of the barge and installed monitors to warn if levels became hazardous.

Bakkafrost told the BBC in August, gas would be vented to reduce any potential risk.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said at the time: “Sepa continues to work with partners to ensure that the waste feed within the barge is recovered or disposed of in accordance with waste management legislation.”

It is not clear how long the work to remove the barge will take.

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