More than 150,000 salmon were lost when storms lashed a Shetland fish farm during this winter's storms.

The Ness of Copister site on the island of Yell suffered serious damage in January during some of the area's worst storms in decades.

Owners Meridian Salmon said yesterday: "There was in excess of 364,000 fish on the farm. Fish from three of the cages were safely removed. However, after weather conditions relented to allow a thorough site assessment, it has been determined that 154,569 fish were lost. All remaining fish on the site have also been removed to new locations."

The lost fish had either died or escaped but the spokesman couldn't estimate the balance of numbers

He said the Marine Scotland had been kept fully informed, and the delay in releasing was caused by the fact a full report had first to be submitted to the agency. Meridian suffered a similar loss from a fish farm off the Unst in 2011 when an estimated 300,000 salmon either died or escaped at a cost of £1.77 million.