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Scottish Sea Farms, BioMar, and the University of Stirling. Atlantic salmon is the UK’s largest food expor t, with a retail value of over £1bn. With demand for Scottish salmon increasing in traditional markets such as the US and France, and emerging export markets such as China, the Scottish Government has set increased production targets for 2020. Progress on the use of cleaner fish such as wrasse and lumpfish to control sea lice on fish farms will suppor t the industry’s work to raise production. Cohabitation of salmon with cleaner fish, especially wrasse, has been shown to significantly reduce the sea lice challenge to salmon – an issue that has hampered growth in the industry. It can also help to reduce the usage of licensed anti-lice medicines on farms. The previous use of wrasse in fish farms has largely involved the collection of wild wrasse, a solution which is not sustainable. However, the culture of wrasse is in its infancy in the UK, and production challenges have limited the deployment of farmed wrasse. This project brings together aca-
demics leading wrasse research in the UK with major salmon producers to solve the bottlenecks limiting productivity, and to improve the quality and delousing efficacy of farmed wrasse. Building on proof of concept established in previous research, the SAIC project will extend current knowledge through to upscaling of hatchery technologies; optimisation of cleaner fish welfare in salmon cages; and prototyping in the commercial environment. Project outcomes will include commercial protocols, research tools and a new knowledge of the biology of the ballan wrasse. This will permit production of a handbook that individual farmers in Scotland – including SMEs - can use as a beginning-to-end guide on the breeding and husbandry of farmed wrasse. Heather Jones, CEO of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre, said: “The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre’s role is to bring industry and academia together to help grow the industry sustainably through innovation. This project exactly fits that bill; sea lice control heads SAIC’s list of Priority Innovation Areas. Our grant funding has galvanised an industry-academic collaboration
that not only leverages substantial investment, but will feed into Scottish economic growth.” S t e ve B r a c k e n , B u s i n e s s Suppor t Manager at Marine Har vest (Scotland) Ltd, added: “The deployment of wrasse as a means to control sea lice should increase the availability of farm sites, reduce medication costs and increase production efficiency. All parts of the industry – from large companies such as ourselves, to SMEs - will see benefits from this, and the already-excellent reputation of Scottish salmon will be enhanced.” And the academic lead on the project team, Professor Her vé Migaud, Professor in Fish Physiology and Director of Research at Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, commented: “The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre’s support and funding will enable us to extend this project from proof of concept to the commercial environment. The impact of the research will be considerable in both scientific and economic terms. In addition, PhD and Masters students at the Institute of Aquaculture have the opportunity to gain research exper tise in one of the aquaculture industry’s most pressing issues.”
eries and aquaculture women’s groups in Mexico. Veronica has always been ver y suppor tive of aquaculture and has actively played a major role in Mexico's strategic planning for more than a decade. Recently she was part of the team that coordinated the National Development Plan of Fisheries and Aquaculture in Mexico, where she made sure that gender issues were always
addressed. Since the elaboration of this plan Mexican aquaculture has improved 32 percent. According to Antonio Garza de Yta, Director General of Planning, Programming and Evaluation at CONAPESC A and President LACC,World Aquaculture Society, “Veronica is a silent warrior who needs to be honoured. It has been an enormous pleasure to collaborate with her in recent years and there is no doubt whatsoever that Veronica is a role model to any person who has contact with her. She is a synonym of professionalism and hard work.” Alleviating poverty and malnutrition is a major issue in Mexico and as a means of supporting the poor population, the federal government has invested around US$150 million through CONAPESCA to support more than 36,000 families in 145 municipalities in 22 of the 32
states of Mexico. In Mexico the role of women in the rural environment and the development of aquaculture is of utmost importance. Aquaculture production models are at three levels, namely extensive, semi-intensive, and intensive with rural integration, varying according to climate and activities integrated with land and animal husbandry. Veronica is currently collaborating in the Depar tment of Planning and International Affairs for CONAPESC A and has worked tirelessly for the organisation in areas such as administration, management, governance and strategic planning. Veronica has shown willingness for transferring knowledge and technology and developing within the sector an increasing capability and capacity to ensure the issues of gender are well covered.
Wrasse project offers production boost to Scottish salmon industry
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he Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre has kicked off a £4 million applied research project to upscale the use of farmed wrasse in commercial salmon farms. The new project, now rolling out on Scotland’s West Coast, has the potential to increase productivity on salmon farms and reduce the use of medicines in the industr y. With the project agreement in place, the project team can set about taking validated lab research through to full application in the commercial environment. The deployment of farmed wrasse to control sea lice on farms could lead to the creation of new jobs in rural communities, not just in salmon production, but in wrasse production and management. Wrasse can co-habit with salmon in the same pens and can be used as ‘cleaner fish’ to remove sea lice from the salmon. The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) has awarded grant funding of £831,530 to this cleaner fish project. The grant has leveraged contributions worth £3.01 million from Marine Harvest (Scotland),
First woman of the month award for Latin America
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quaculture without Frontiers is very pleased to announce that Veronica Esquivel Medina from Mazatlán, Mexico is our Woman of the Month for July. This is the first such award presented to anyone in Latin America. A current leader for all women who are working in the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Mexico, Veronica is an example of hard work, honesty and collaboration. She is always involved in young professionals’ career development and everyone seeks her out for her advice. Veronica has always fought for the rights of women in Mexican policies and has led several fish-
6 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | July-August 2015