Profile

I love to try to grow my own food where I can. As I live so far North, we have very long days in the summer and short days in the winter. To help grow food I have a polytunnel which helps to warm and protect my crops.

I have 7 chickens, who love to explore my garden – and occasionally my neighbours gardens too! They produce lovely tasty eggs which are excellent in cakes and omelettes!

I also have 5 pet ferrets. Ferrets make great pets as they sleep for around 20 hours a day and love to have fun.  They have their own room in my house and come out to make lots of mischief when I get home in the evenings.

I enjoy living in Shetland – it is wild and sometimes very windy, but always beautiful. I love living and working around the sea. I get to see whales, sea birds and otters on a regular basis through my work.

We can have up to 25 marine farms around Shetland which might have tiny 100g fish or great big 8kg fish. Typically the fish spend around 18 months in the sea water phase of their life. It’s my job to look after them during their time at sea.

I visit each sea site around once every month or so to have a look at the salmon to see how they’ve grown and checking up on the health of the population. Gills – the organ which helps the fish to breathe – are one of the most important organs in all fish. Unlike humans lungs, fish gills are open to the environment so can be damaged by things in the water like plankton and jellyfish.

I spend my mornings looking at the fish to check over gills, skin condition and any other health concerns. In the afternoons I write reports on what I’ve seen and look at all the data that we collect on our fish.