Jan Feenstra, managing director at Mowi Ireland, is retiring from the company on July 1, 2022, after more than two decades at the helm.
Feenstra first joined the Irish operation in 1982 -- 40 years ago -- when it was called Fanad Fisheries which at that time had a 50-50 joint venture with Mowi.
He took over the leadership helm in 1997 and participated in several ownership and name changes over subsequent years.
Mowi will begin a leadership recruitment process to find a replacement early next year.
"I am most grateful for Jan’s long tenure with our company, during a period that has seen our Irish business unit grow into a world-leading supplier of premium organic salmon," Mowi CEO Ivan Vindheim said.
Feenstra will continue to support Mowi throughout 2022 in order to share his knowledge.
"This business is never boring and certainly not for the faint of heart when working in the wild and natural environment," said Feenstra.
"Our company’s success over these years comes down to the commitment and efforts from our staff and my colleagues – they made it easy for me and I am most grateful to them over the 40 years that I have been here."
In July, Mowi was finally given the green light to expand its organic salmon farming operations in Bantry Bay in Cork, Ireland after a 10-year wait. It will invest €6 million ($7.1 million) in the project.
Mowi Ireland (which was then called Marine Harvest Ireland) first applied for the license to develop the farm in June 2011.
Mowi currently operates fish production sites at Ahabeg and Roancarrig on the western side of Bantry Bay, and is responsible for around 80 percent of Ireland’s production.
