He was gathering feedback from aquaculture representatives ahead of the planned introduction this autumn of a controversial Aquaculture and Fisheries Bill. The industry in Shetland has already criticised the excessive red tape assoicated with the new legislation.

Mr Stevenson  visited sites off Wadbister and Laxfirth before undertaking a tour of Lerwick Fish Traders in Lerwick. The minister also met Michael Stark of Grieg Seafood Hjaltland and David Sandison of Shetland Aquaculture.  

During the visit he insisted the isles played a major part in the growing sector.

“Shetland has about 27 per cent of Scotland’s marine farming industry,” he said. “Conditions here are a bit different from elsewhere, with much more open water, which creates its own challenges, but means we produce a different quality of fish.

“I have been able to see the very substantial investment being made in what is a growing industry across Scotland, and an important local industry in Shetland.”

Evan Padraig Dube, 19, from Plaistow, New Hampshire, was with a group of 10 students from Batest College, Lewiston, Maine, in Shetland to work on a climate project.

Police said the group were on the beach intending to have a barbecue and arrived shortly after 9pm last night. Mr Dube went into the water and collapsed after coming ashore.

His friends attempted to resuscitate him and called emergency services. He was then airlifted to the Gilbert Bain Hospital, but attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.

A police spokesman said: “There do not appear to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident and a report is being submitted to the procurator fiscal.”

The group was participating in the Shetland Islands Climate and Settlement Project, an ongoing archaeological research project funded by the National Science Foundation, involving scholars from Bates and other higher education institutions.

In a statement Bates College said: “Bates College has been shaken and deeply saddened to learn that first-year student Evan Dube died on Saturday night, May 19, in the Shetland Islands, Scotland.

“At this time we have no other information about the incident to offer— simply that we have lost a member of our Bates community long before his time. Evan’s fellow students in Scotland are receiving grief counseling and will return to Boston on Tuesday.”

On Sunday night, the Bates campus community gathered in Perry Atrium to offer one another comfort and support.

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It was a historic, moving and above all celebratory day for the people of Scalloway as Norway’s Prime Minister graced the village to officially declare its brand new museum open.

Nine years after the Scalloway History Group and Shetland Bus Friendship Society (SBFS) teamed up to develop the new building, and 70 years since the Shetland Bus operation base was established in Scalloway, Jens Stoltenberg carried out the ceremonial honours in front of hundreds of happy villagers and visitors.

The morning saw a succession of poignant tributes to the Norwegians who lost their lives while taking part in the heroic Shetland Bus operations, a vital part of the fight against Nazi Germany’s occupation of Norway during World War II.

The clandestine special operations group’s activities form a major part of the new, larger and modern museum’s permanent exhibition. There are wooden replicas of some of the ships used to transport people and equipment to contribute to sabotage and other resistance activities.

Also exhibited is one of the lifeboats carried on a Shetland Bus boat, one of several made by local boat builder Walter Duncan of Hamnavoe and brought here aboard the Heland last year. Shetland Amenity Trust has built a wooden replica wheelhouse, named Skalavag, featuring the same design as that found on the Shetland Bus vessels.

In a short speech outside the new museum’s entrance – which sits in the shadow Scalloway Castle – Mr Stoltenberg said it was a “pleasure” and an “honour” to open the building.

Paying tribute to the assistance Shetlanders provided between 1941 and 1945, Mr Stoltenberg said: “Today we commemorate an important part of our common history: that of the fight against Nazi German occupation during the Second World War.

“Here in Scalloway, and before that in Lunna, Norwegians were treated with outstanding generosity and hospitality. Without your active support, neither the Shetland Bus nor the Norwegian air operation from Sullom Voe and Sumburgh could have taken place.

“Seventy years ago, the base of Shetland Bus operations was established here in Scalloway. Today we mark a proud part of our war history by establishing this permanent exhibition at the Scalloway Museum.

“The exhibition will tell the stories of hardship, hospitality, bravery and solidarity between Shetland and Norway. A number of individuals and organisations have made a tremendous contribution to make this important project a reality. I thank you all for your efforts to keep this proud and common history alive for future generations.”

To warm applause and cheers from those gathered to witness the momentous event, Mr Stoltenberg announced: “It is also in profound gratitude for Shetland’s support to Norway during the Second World War that I now have the pleasure of declaring the new Scalloway Museum officially opened.”

A short poetry reading was followed by an impromptu flyover by coastguard helicopter Oscar Charlie.

Young girls Sarah and Emma Anderson then proudly presented a Shetland shawl to Ingrid Stoltenberg, the prime minister’s wife, who thanked them kindly for the beautiful gift.

Following the opening, a community party at Scalloway Harbour’s Muckle Yard began, with a line-up of live music including Jenna Reid, Maggie Adamson and Sheila Henderson. Among the attractions were a barbecue selling local fish and meat products, locally produced cakes and a variety of side stalls and two kubb courts providing some Viking-style entertainment.

Shetland Bus boats the Hitra and Heland, floating Norwegian museums Nybakk and Haugefisk, Norwegian Coastguard vessel Bergen and local vessels the Swan and Aith lifeboat were alongside the harbour and open to the public.

SBFS secretary John Nicolson described the day as a “momentous occasion” for the whole community. He said the society was “absolutely thrilled” to have attracted Prime Minister Stoltenberg to open the museum.

“It has taken almost a decade of dedicated hard work to bring this project to life, and the museum truly is a wonderful asset for our community,” he said.

“It’s been a long, long process and it’s really a very happy moment for everybody to see it all coming together,” Mr Nicolson continued. “It’s not just what it can do for Shetland-Norwegian relations, it’s what it can do in pulling the community together too. It’s really been a tremendous force for uniting, bringing folk together.”

Earlier, the visiting dignitaries began the day with a sombre wreath-laying ceremony at the Norwegian war graves in the Knab cemetery. On a sunny but breezy and decidedly cool morning, Mr Stoltenberg and his wife were joined by multi-linguist Derick Herning of the Norwegian Shetland Friendship Society and a trio of pipers during the short, dignified observance.

Mr Stoltenberg said those who established the Shetland Bus risked their lives with “each and every journey”, and he felt privileged “to be here to honour those who lost their young lives in the name of freedom and democracy”. He said the Norwegian people would be “eternally grateful for those who made the ultimate sacrifice”.

The VIP guests had an action-packed schedule, with barely a minute to spare during their 24-hour visit. Within 20 minutes they were being greeted by hooting horns from grinning pupils at Scalloway School, where head teacher Morag Fox, her staff and the bairns pulled out all the stops for the special visitors.

In the school’s packed assembly hall, Norway’s first couple were met with a sea of miniature Norwegian and Shetland flags waved by the delighted, impeccably well-behaved children. They were treated to a whistle-stop cultural tour which, though condensed into 12 minutes, still managed to encompass Norwegian fiddle tunes, Shetland dancing and Guinean drumbeats performed by the pupils.

Mr Stoltenberg thanked the school for the lovely reception, saying he had thoroughly enjoyed the “beautiful music” and was especially taken with the display of flag-waving.

After being sent on their way with three hearty cheers, the Stoltenbergs joined 250 school pupils, members of the local community and Norwegian visitors for a civic parade through the streets of Scalloway and down to the Shetland Bus memorial at the village’s picturesque seafront.

Arriving on Main Street in a black Mercedes, the Prime Minister was one of several dignitaries to lay wreaths at the foot of the memorial. Jack Burgess of the Shetland Bus Friendship Society and the captain of the Hitra were also among those laying garlands.

The Rev Magnus Williamson then gave a short, impassioned sermon marking the sacrifices made by those who lost their lives, before overseeing a well-observed minute’s silence in remembrance of the fallen.

SIC chief executive Alistair Buchan described it as a “very special and very moving day”, while Mr Stoltenberg complimented the warm embraces his countrymen had received during the war from people first in Lunna, then in Scalloway.

He singled out for special tributes the surviving veteran who was present, Sverre Syversen, and the late, highly-decorated Leif Larsen, whose adventures have become the stuff of legend and are known to most Norwegians through a popular film about the Shetland Bus.

First Minister Alex Salmond announced the support in the Scottish Parliament following his visit to Norway earlier this week for talks with Lerwick Port Authority and Norwegian decommissioning specialists AF Group.

The port authority signed an agreement with the Oslo-based company in 2010 to develop the little-used base north of Lerwick, dredging and building a new quay to a depth of 24 metres and creating a vast yard for dismantling offshore platforms.

The so-called centre of excellence in decommissioning, which will cost a total of £50 million, could create up to 80 jobs in Shetland with additional spin-offs for local companies.

The base aims to capture a share of the lucrative and expanding trade in scrapping old oil rigs but could also attract a wide range of other activity too, including rig repairs – which it was originally built for in the early 1980s – scrapping ships and constructing offshore installations, such as topsides, jackets and subsea equipment.

Mr Salmond said: “Lerwick has already established itself as one of the main deep-water harbours in the Northern North Sea, with extensive experience in the offshore oil and gas and decommissioning sectors.

“I was pleased to meet with Lerwick Port Authority and the AF Group representatives to discuss their ambitious plans and delighted to be able to confirm that we are making up to £10 million available for their ambitious deep-water quay project.”

He is putting pressure on the UK government to match the funding.

Funding of £5 million each is to be made available from the government and its agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise for the project which the government said would provide a scale of capacity and environmental standard currently unmatched in the UK.

Overall, in the region of 150 new jobs will result from the development, many of them in Aberdeen.

The funding still depends on the completed financial business case and the project securing the remaining finance, consents and contracts necessary to proceed.

The Dales Voe base has several key strengths, including its deep water access to handle the massive heavy-lift ships used to bring oil rig and its position close to oil and gas fields in the Northern North Sea and the new province west of Shetland.

The First Minister said North Sea oil and gas would continue to play an important role in Scotland’s economy well into the middle of this century with reserves worth up to £1.5 trillion still remaining to be extracted.

In addition, the scrapping of old and redundant structures from declining oil and gas fields could be worth over £30 billion in the next 30-40 years. In the next decade 82 installations in the central and northern North Sea are due to be decommissioned.

The new base, operated by AF Group, will be the biggest single infrastructure development among the many carried out by Lerwick Port Authority. LPA chief executive Sandra Laurenson welcomed the announcement and expressed delight that the Scottish government recognised the importance of offshore decommissioning to Shetland.

She said the funding provided “a fantastic platform” to ensure delivery of the new base. “The planned significant investment in new port infrastructure allows us to look forward to the next phase of Lerwick’s capability in meeting the needs of the oil and gas industry for many years to come.”

AF Group chief executive Pal Egil Rønn said his company was pleased with the support for its long-range and major investment plans for Shetland. “AF wish to bring our experience from development and operations of similar business in Norway to develop a unique site when it comes to operational and environmental standard for the UK market.”

HIE director of energy and low carbon, Calum Davidson, who spent some of his childhood in Shetland, said his agency had been working with the LPA for some years now to capture emerging opportunities in oil and gas decommissioning. He added: “Geographically, Shetland is a key strategic location for this project and we have the infrastructure, the skills and the experience to make it happen.”

The AF Group is one of Norway’s biggest civil engineering and construction companies. It has a similar base to that proposed for Lerwick at Vats in south-west Norway, which employs 80 people.

Until now the site of decommissioning work in Shetland has been the Greenhead Base. A large module from the Frigg field was scrapped there in 2007/08.

Click on image to enlarge.

BP has ordered four new platform support ships which will be based in Aberdeen and deployed in the company’s West of Shetland and Norwegian operations.

The vessels, designed to help BP deliver its “long-term strategy” in the North Sea, will be built by Hyundai, chartered for 15 years and delivered between the winter of 2013 and summer of 2014.

BP is investing around £6.7 billion over the next five years in the North Sea – including major UK projects such as the Clair Ridge, Quad 204 (Schiehallion/Loyal), Devenick and Kinnoull and also two in Norway.

The new vessels will have oil-spill response capability and special tanks to transport fluids required for planned enhanced oil recovery (EOR) schemes. Performance and safety will be further improved by having dedicated crews on long-term hire, minimising turnover.

BP’s North Sea regional president Trevor Garlick said: “Our long-term commitment to the North Sea gives us the confidence to make major investments in vital support services. These new vessels will provide BP with a number of safety and commercial benefits, as well as allow for the greater deployment of technology. Improving our capability to recover more oil from our reservoirs is crucial to the future of the North Sea.”

The announcement is also seen as positive news for the local economies in Scotland and Norway, as nearly 80 per cent of the total project and operating costs will be spent there. The operating and maintenance work will be locally supplied and officers and crew will be UK and Norwegian-qualified mariners. The vessels’ operators will support seafarers’ development by sponsoring personnel through their professional qualifications, including an officer cadet training scheme.

Nigel Timberlake, 50, of Queens Lane, Lerwick, pleaded not guilty to stealing a quantity of aluminium and copper from the Co-op, Holmsgarth Road, on 2nd June last year but pleaded guilty taking the same quantity of metal from 60 North Recycling Ltd on 30th June.

The court heard that the “unusual” case involved 529kg of scrap left in a shed Mr Timberlake had previously rented to tenants from “another part of Europe”. When clearing the shed it was suggested there might be value in it, and Mr Timberlake, who had no idea where it had come from, sold it to 60 North Recycling.

He later went home and found the price he had been paid was “significantly” lower than the market price. Unhappy about this, he phoned the yard but was fobbed off, so went back the next day and returned the money, leaving it with a receptionist. Seeing his scrap was exactly where he had left it, he took it back. There was no dispute about this and Mr Timberlake thought he was entitled to take the scrap as he had returned the money. However the receptionist did not have authority to let him do this.

The case was described in court as “very much a technical crime as against wilful dishonesty”, and defence solicitor Tommy Allan said it resembled a “classic exam question” which was a “quasi-civil matter”.

Mr Allan said it was a semi-contractual situation in which a deal had been done and was only technically a theft.

After the incident the scrap yard contacted the police, who seized the scrap. Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said: “Nobody’s lost and nobody’s gained.”

Mr Allan said Mr Timberlake, a businessman with no convictions for dishonesty, had spent a total of 10 hours in custody over the incident for his “error of judgement”. Taking this into account, Sheriff Philip Mann gave Mr Timberlake an absolute discharge, saying he was satisfied any criminal intent was “minimal” and Mr Timberlake had “suffered through the unhappy chain of events”.
 

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has arrived in Shetland on a visit which will see him open the new Scalloway Museum tomorrow morning and help further cement the close historical ties which bind islanders and Norwegians together. 

Mr Stoltenberg flew in this afternoon and arrived in the village, where the Scalloway people are limbering up for three days of celebrations to mark the museum’s opening, shortly after 4pm.

Several buildings were bedecked in Norwegian and Shetland flags on a bright, blustery afternoon as the Prime Minister and his wife were taken on a short stroll and shown the Prince Olav slipway, which formed a major part of the Shetland Bus base during World War II.

Mr Stoltenberg and his entourage paid a visit to the Walter & Joan Gray care home, where he was introduced to family members of those involved in the heroic campaign of resistance against the Nazi occupation between 1941 and 1945.

Those included relatives of Kaare Emil Iversen, who made in excess of 50 trips across the North Sea before marrying a local girl, Cissie Slater, and living in Scalloway for the rest of his life. Also present was Sverre Syversen, 92, a surviving Shetland Bus veteran with whom Mr Stoltenberg had a lengthy discussion.

The clandestine special operations group’s activities form a focal point of the new museum’s exhibition, and Mr Stoltenberg said it was a “pleasure” and an “honour” to be invited to open the building.

He said: “I believe that it is very important that we are able to take care of the memories and the common history of Shetland and Norway. The museum is a way of expressing the very close ties between Shetland and Norway and everything that happened during the war.”

Mr Stoltenberg spoke of how those involved with the Shetland Bus had not only helped Norwegians to flee the German occupation, but transported people and equipment to contribute to sabotage and other resistance activities: “Shetland was really important for all the people that were fighting for freedom in Norway.”

Tomorrow is Norway’s constitution day, expected to be an especially poignant event this year as it is the first since the terrorist atrocities which took place on 22nd July last year. It comes in the middle of far-right extremist Anders Breivik’s trial for massacring 77 people in Oslo and in the island of Utöya.

“I think that the constitution day will be even more important this year than before because what happened on 22nd July last year reminds us of the importance of freedom, democracy, that we have the right to take part in political discussions without feeling afraid,” Mr Stoltenberg said.

On the day of the attacks, many Norwegians were in Shetland as part of the Tall Ships celebrations and Mr Stoltenberg spoke today of his nation’s gratitude for the support shown by Shetlanders during those trying and traumatic days.

“So many people expressed their support for the Norwegians that either were wounded or killed or lost their loved ones,” he told this newspaper. “It is in times of grief that we really need friends like the people of Shetland.”

Billy Moore, one of those involved in the latter stages of the project, told The Shetland Times he was “privileged” to meet Mr Stoltenberg and said it was “remarkable” that the committee had been able to attract such a major figure to open the village museum.

He feels young folk in Scalloway remain very conscious of the sacrifices made during World War II, both through school visits to wreath-laying at the village’s war memorial and through the inter-marriages between Norwegians and Shetlanders which have helped keep the history alive.

Mr Moore added: “Tomorrow’s going to be a very busy day, more of a celebratory day than anything else.”

Following a wreath-laying ceremony first thing, a visit to Scalloway School and a civic parade to the Shetland Bus Memorial, Mr Stoltenberg is due to open the museum at 10.45am. Following that a community party, including live music, will take place throughout the afternoon.

Karl Mortimer, 45, of the city’s Linksfield Court, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of heroin at Holmsgarth, Lerwick, on 2nd August last year and to failing to appear at court in Lerwick on 21st March.

Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said that Mortimer, who had no connection with Shetland, brought two packs of heroin containing a total of 37.3 grammes into the isles concealed internally.

Police, acting on intelligence, were waiting for him when he got off the ferry. After this offence he was released on bail.

Defence solicitor Graeme Murray said Mortimer had had a severe drug problem in the 1990s but recently this had improved. However he had difficulty coping with the death of his mother last year and started using heroin again regularly.

He had run up a drug debt of £5,000 and told the “alarming” story that people he owed money to bundled him into the boot of a car, took him to a house, tied him to a chair, knocked some of his teeth out and gave him the “stark choice” of taking heroin to Shetland or being put in a 45 gallon drum and being dropped in a lake. Mortimer took the option offered by the dealers.

Mr Murray also said that Mortimer did not have funding to attend Lerwick Sheriff Court in March, but had since kept in touch. He said that Mortimer was now on a reducing methadone prescription and asked for leniency.

Sheriff Philip Mann said that those who deal in drugs must accept the consequences. He said: “Coercion is no excuse for peddling misery. I must send a message to anyone bringing misery to the people of Shetland: they will be dealt with severely.”

Sentencing Mortimer to 32 months in prison, the sheriff said: “You had no business trying to disrupt the lives of the good people of the isles.”

* A man who had £100 worth of heroin in his possession last year was fined £100 at Lerwick Sheriff Court today.

Ryan Inkster, 32, of Bridge-End, Burra, was found with the drug at a house in Grodians, Lerwick, on 26th April last year.

Defence solicitor Tommy Allan said Inkster had been on methadone since then and had put himself through courses in Aberdeen with a view to getting employment offshore.

Sheriff Philip Mann said it was time to draw a line under the matter and the fine reflected the fact Inkster was getting on well and has been of good behaviour.

Scottish Sea Farms and Grieg Seafood Hjaltland have been subject to surveillance and controls on movement of fish in the area of their 14 farm sites between Skeld, Weisdale and Burra.

Last year they became the only two operators in what has been Shetland’s most-intensively farmed area after Hjaltland bought up the local farms of Skelda Salmon and G Duncan.

Since the ISA outbreak, which affected six sites, the farmers have agreed to restrict farming to a single year class of salmon across all the sites, helping minimise the threat of problems such as disease and sea lice infestation.  

One generation of salmon has since been harvested from the zone and all 14 sites have now been restocked again. They will be fallowed after the fish are harvested late next year and early in 2014.

Announcing the end of restrictions, Scottish environment minister Stewart Stevenson welcomed it as “good news” for the reputation of Scotland’s aquaculture industry.

“Scotland is now recognised as being free of ISA. This makes a significant contribution to the sustainability of the Scottish salmon aquaculture industry and helps maintain the high health status of Scotland’s farmed fish.”

He warned that the industry and government needed to remain vigilant to try to ensure no repeat of the outbreak.

The companies affected by ISA received substantial EU grant support to ease the multi-million pound losses incurred in harvesting salmon early, selling it cheaply and restocking their farms.

Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation chief executive Scott Landsburgh also welcomed the ending of ISA restrictions and praised the government. He said: “The Scottish government’s pragmatic approach to handling the issue and working with the industry has been an excellent example of timely, efficient collaboration.”

Stewart Robertson, 48, of Willial, Levenwick, took £40 from a house in Virkie on 31st October last year.

Defence solicitor Tommy Allan said the nature of the offence and the previous convictions were “concerning”, adding “something’s going on”.

Mr Allan said Robertson would have a “huge bridge to build” to get people to trust him again and the latest offence was a step back. The sum of money involved was not big but Robertson would be punished by the community, and this would be more of a sentence than the sheriff could impose. The £40 was handed to the court clerk.

Sheriff Philip Mann said he did not believe Robertson’s explanation that the money had been found in a box which had fallen out of a drawer in the house, and said the offence “brings into prospect a custodial sentence”.

As an alternative to custody, however, the sheriff imposed the community payback order over a nine month period, and if it was not done satisfactorily Robertson would be brought back to court.

The sheriff warned him that if he offended in this way again he would not “have much hesitation in sending you to custody”.