Fish Farmer Magazine February 2019

Fish Farmer VOLUME 42

NUMBER 02

FEBRUARY 2019

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

Serving worldwide aquaculture since 1977

SEA LICE SOLUTIONS

SALMON INQUIRY

TRADE BLOWS

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

Working together to beat the common enemy

Fergus Ewing on Fish Health Framework progress

Brexit fears focus of Norway seafood summit

Feeding flies to fish is natural: Martin Jaffa

February 19 Cover.indd 2

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Contents 4-15 4-14 News

What’s What’s happening happening in in aquaculture aquaculture in the the UK UK and and around around the the world world in

16-21 16-17 16-22 Industry pioneer News Extra platform Parliamentary inquiry

JENNY JENNY HJUL HJUL –– EDITOR EDITOR

Fair French connection Farmers must Uphold the Goodhearing deal tocode dofight back

TIAT

Steve Bracken SSC’s record results Stewart Graham Fergus Ewing on the REC The final sessions

salmon farming sector in Scotland, when it was to he focus this month istopictures on Europe, the internati onal T HE is coincidence that andwhere videos of unhealthy Sno Fish Farmer went press, there was sti lltold no offi cial HIS time last year Scotland’s salmon industry was preparing be the subject of a parliamentary inquiry, embraced the industry will soon be gathering for the EASinto (European salmon were sent toof news outlets just asjoint the Scotti sh news from the Scotti sh parliamentary inquiry salmon for the scrutiny two parliamentary inquiries.

These, as opportunity this would provide explain how it month. operated.

Aquaculture Society) and WAS (World Aquaculture Society) parliament back to work atto the start of this These farming, conducted earlier this year by the Rural Economy readerswent may recall, were prompted by the angling sector’s The industry had nothing to hide and, ifon given fair hearing, conference, to be staged over five days in theaof southern French images had litt le to do with thesea current state Scotland’s ficould sh and Connecti vity (REC) committ ee.

MSPs have now held fias ve concerns about the impact of lice wild stocks.

Just address much of the criti cism levelled against it. city of Montpellier.

As well as highlighti ng the latest technological farms where sea lice levels are in decline and, in fact, at a fivemeeti ngs,of in Fish private, to consider their reportthe andresults we must be this issue Farmer was going to press, of the Fish Farmer supported this at times salmon advances in our fast moving sector, Aqua 2018 willthat also feature year low (htt p://scotti shsalmon.co.uk/monthly-sea-lice-reports). pati ent.

However, waiti ng forview, recommendati ons has been Holyrood probe were about totheir bebut debated by felt MSPs. We already farmers were being drowned out by the noisier elements of thethe sessions on emerging markets and look at the role of fi sh This latest propaganda campaign, which involves all the usual made harder by leaks from within the REC to anti -salmon know that no evidence was found to justify a moratorium farming on angling lobby, which had called for the investi gati on.

But as the farming in alleviati ng poverty.

Increasingly, industry meeti ngs anti -aquaculture suspects, came as Holyrood’s Rural Economy acti vists.

The latest of these (see our news story on page 4) industry’s expansion, as some had demanded. And we also now sessions progressed, and eventually farmers’ voices were heard, are broadening their scope, tackling subjects such asthat the social and Connecti vity committ eelevels returned from the summer recess to makes grim reading for the industry asyear it suggests committ ee know that average sea lice last were the lowest sincewe became more opti misti c.

We now believe that MSPs, perhaps with acceptability of aquaculture and the contributi on it makes to global consider its draft report into the future of salmon farming. members have been willing to listen to those campaigning to records began. Salmon farmers have invested much time and food security and saving the planet, aindustry move that isour toanti be welcomed. the excepti on ofvaluable one two Greens in cahoots with -farming Those who want toor shut down thewe as expected, shut down this sector, rather than tohave, those who operate money to achieve such success, as report in special sea Also investi gati ng initi ati ves in the developing world, Dr Harrison campaigners, will, on balance, regard the industry in a favourable stepped activiti now involve breaching the within it.up their lice feature, but there ises, nowhich complacency.

Measures to further light.

They will hopefully see that farmers take their environmental Charo Karisa of WorldFish writes the farming potenti al in biosecure environments of farm sites snatch photographs in Of course, such stories may beabout inaccurate and, in any case, the improve fish health are underway andto hopefully businesses can Nigeria, both in catf ish and ti lapia culti vati on. responsibiliti es seriously and that businesses will only ever invest the hope of fifinding incriminati evidence against farmers.

Onein committ ee’s ndings arespirit not binding.

Scotland’s fish farmers move forward in a new ofngcollaboration, following the In Scotland, the summer been something of a waiti ngdead game growth thatof isfibeen sustainable. campaigner lmed himselfhas searching, unsuccessfully, for have always fortunate to have the support of their minister, conclusion the lengthy investigation. while the parliament is in recess and the members of Holyrood’s If the ee members, those yet to of fi sh at acommitt Marine Harvest site.especially Another said hewho saw ‘hundreds’ Fergus Ewing, grow There will beto no quicksustainably. resolution over Brexit, andhave seafood Rural Economy and Connecti vity committ ee conti nue to weigh up visit a salmon farm, would like to learn more about the subject of infested salmon in a pen, but we only have his word against that But it should not go unchallenged that some MSPs on the REC traders are talking about worst case scenarios.

AtWe thedon’t Norwegian the evidence in their inquiry into salmon farming. expect their inquiry, we have plenty of good stories in our May issue.

Even of the professional vets and biologists who manage the welfare of committ ee, with their own agendas against the growth of the Seafood Council in London lastthe month, about their report until summit the autumn but hope MSPs we are heard using the time the bett er, they could head to Highlands later this month, where these farms on a daily basis. industry, are in breach of the Code of Conduct for MSPs. As they thebecome uniquefully position of fisheries caught) in the to acquainted with (farmed the facts and about fish farming. they meet the aquaculture industry en masse at Scotland’s If the isto proud ofreti its high standards, as itsalmon says is, itof are inwill aindustry positi on inflthe uence the future course of farming, ‘backstop’, about tariffs and transition and the it fears This month also sees rement ofperiods, Marine Harvest’s longest biggest fish farming show. must mount a much more robust defence of itself, through its and of businesses vital to Scotland’s economy, we have a right all involved not just in the UK but in our trading partner Norway serving employee, Steve Bracken. We had no trouble collecting We will certainly be at Aquaculture UK inindustry, Aviemore and look representati vethey body, the SSPO, than itthe has done tothrough date.

The to know who are, and weand hope its too.

We hope Norwegian fisheries minister Harald Tom warm tributes from his friends colleagues to mark theNesvik’s forward to seeing many of you there too. campaigners, we nowpressure see, willto stop at farmers representati ves, will the parliament toand investi gateatbefore milestone along with the rest of the industry, the team Fish confidenceand, that ‘we’re going reach anothing, good deal for everybody’ should be prepared to fivery ght back. the REC report published. is not over optimistic.

Farmer wish himisall the best for the future.

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Editorial Advisory Advisory Board: Board: Steve Editorial Bracken, Scott Landsburgh, Hervé Steve Bracken, Scott HervéLandsburgh, Migaud, Jim Treasurer, Chris Mitchell, Migaud, PatrickJim Smith and Jim Hervé Migaud, Patrick Smith, Patrick Smith, Treasurer and Jason Cleaversmith and Hamish Treasurer, Wiliam Jim Treasurer and Dowds William Dowds William Dowds Macdonell Editor: Jenny Hjul Designer: Andrew Editor: Jenny Hjul Balahura Designer: Andrew Balahura Designer: Balahura Adverti singAndrew Manager: Team Leader: Advertising Dave Edler Team Leader: Dave Edlershupdate.com dedler@fi Adverti sing dedler@fishupdate.com Adverti sing Executi Executive: ve: Advertising Scott Binnie Executive: Scott Binnie sbinnie@fi shupdate.com sbinnie@fishupdate.com Publisher: Alister Bennett Publisher: Alister Bennett

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Cover:Steve Alisonsh Hutchins, Dawnfresh Cover: Bracken explains Lumpsucker Scotti Sea Farms regional Cover: Health check. farming director, Loch Etive. salmon farming toon Prince Charles producti on manager for Orkney, Photo: SSPO Picture: Scott during his visit Binnie to Marine Richard Darbyshire (left), Harvest and the in 2016. Photo: Iainat Ferguson Westerbister team Scapa Pier

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Contents – Editor’s Welcome

44-45 48-49 41-43 42-44 38-39 Brussels Sea Lice Aqua 2018 Innovation Aquaculture Salmon market Montpellier preview From shrimp torobust salmon Investor advice Committee report

46-48 44-46 46-49 40-41 50-55 Sea Lice Brussels Aqua 2018 Innovation Aquaculture Thermolicer New processors’ groupon Sti rling course Pictures atmarket the exhibiti Insurance

18-19 22-23 18-19 24-27 News Extra Salmon market SSPO New Dawnfresh

Current trends In good Julie Hesketh-Laird Meet thehealth new chief executive

24-25 SSPO

SEPA concerns

56 50-51 48-49 50-58 42-45 Book review Sea Lice Training Aqua 2018 Innovation Aquaculture

24 20 20-21 28-29 Comment BTA Shellfish

52 57 53-55 60-63 48-49 Sea cleaning Lice Aquaculture Nor Fishing Aqua 2018 UK Net Caught in a trap

26-28 26 22-23 30 Shellfish Shellfi sh Comment BTA Dr Nick Lake

54-55 58-59 60-63 68-69 51 Sea bass Lice UK Aquaculture Australia Training Sea Genetic solution

Future farming Martyn Haines Conference round-up Best ofon the start-ups Focus cleaner fish

Introducti onons Farming angle Focus Africa Robot on soluti

Phil Thomas What’s in a name?

Dr Nick Lake Phil Thomas

Barramundi boom Martyn Haines European leaders Chris Mitchell

Montpellier report Dr Marti n Jaff a Doug McLeod

30-31 28-31 24-25 32-33 Comment SSPO Comment Scottish Sea Farms Shellfi shJaffa Dr Martin Rising stars Marti nBrown Jaff a Orkney anniversary Janet

32-34 32-33 26-27 26-30 34-35 Norway Shellfi Cleaner sh Farms Scottish Sea Comment Businesssh as fi usual?

Janet Machrihanish Orkney farm Marti nBrown Jaff a visit

13 13

36-39 34-35 28-29 32-33 36-41 Norway Backstopvisit explained Comment Cleaner fish Orkney Farm Marti nofJaff a era Vaccines New player Dawn new

36-39 32-35 34-35 43-45 IoA careers Wild salmon Cleaner fish decline Orkney

69 64-67 70-73 52-54 56-57 UK Aquaculture Nigeria Networking Research Sea Conley Lice Meet the team on Boosti ng producti Dave Chris Mitchell Transparent problem

81-82 76-77 56-59 62-63 From the Archive Value chains Aquaculture UK Archive Awards David LittinleChina reports Growth Developing trends Loch Ailort, 1978

91 78-79 63 64-66 Retail & Marketing Processing & Retail News News Eat more fish

Figure 9.

9. Development Development of of salmon salmon nominal nominal catch catch in in southern southern and and northern northern NEAC NEAC 1971 1971 to to 2016.

2016.

Figure Text at at top top inserted inserted by by author. author. Filled Filled symbols symbols and and darker darker line line southern southern NEAC. NEAC. Text

The mackerel hypothesis Transport Leask Marine Sti rling students

40-41 Norway

Save Pinneys jobs Carlisle jobs Recruitment Eat more fishchallenges Counter attack

Healthy competition

92-93 80-81 64-65 68-69 Aqua Source Directory Find all you need for the industry

42-43 46-47 40 37 36-37 Sea Lice Brussels Ronnie Soutar Innovation Cleaner fishconference Aquaculture Innovation

94 82 66 70 Opinion

By Nick Joy

Find Find all all you you need need for for the the industry industry

Figure 10.

10. Examples Examples of of the the young young mackerel mackerel currently currently growing growing up up ‘all ‘all over’ over’ the the North North Sea, Sea, Figure Norwegian Sea Sea and and along along the the Norwegian Norwegian coast coast at at the the moment. moment. These These were were caught caught in in aa ‘washing ‘washing Norwegian set’ by by the the purse purse seiner seiner ‘Brennholm’ ‘Brennholm’ at at an an arbitrary arbitrary position position 100 100 nm nm west west of of the the Lofoten Lofoten Isles Isles in in set’ January 2018.

At this stage these small mackerels are competitors to the postsmolt salmon, January 2018. At this stage these small mackerels are competitors to the postsmolt salmon, later they they will will be be both both competitors competitors and and potential potential predators. predators. The The new new and and abundant abundant availability availability later Printed in Great Britain for the proprietors Wyvex Media Ltd by J Thomson Colour Printers Ltd, Printed in Great Britain for the proprietors Wyvex Media Ltd by J Thomson Colour Printers Ltd, Printed Printed in in Great Great Britain Britain for for the the proprietors proprietors Wyvex Wyvex Media Media Ltd Ltd by

by JJ Thomson Thomson Colour Colour Printers Printers Ltd, Ltd,of juvenile mackerel in the multi sea winter salmon feeding areas may be a good explanation to of juvenile mackerel in the multi sea winter salmon feeding areas may be a good explanation to Glasgow ISSN 0262-9615 Glasgow ISSN ISSN 0262-9615 0262-9615 why the the MSW MSW fishes fishes have have such such aa good good condition condition at at present present despite despite their their poor poor early early sea sea growth. growth.

Glasgow Glasgow ISSN 0262-9615 why Photo JC JC Holst.

Holst.

Photo

Introducti on Novel technology Temperature Introducti on

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Welcome May.indd Aug.indd Welcome ---- May.indd Sept.indd Oct.indd Feb.indd 3333 Welcome Aug.indd Welcome Sept.indd Oct.indd

By

By Nick Nick Joy Joy

33

09/05/2018 18:05:09 08/08/2018 15:36:28 06/09/2018 16:32:15 04/10/2018 09:15:28 05/02/2019 18:05:09 14:32:15 09/05/2018 08/08/2018 15:36:28 06/09/2018 16:32:15 04/10/2018 09:15:28

United Kingdom News

NEWS...

Lowest lice figures since records began SEA lice numbers recorded at Scottish salmon farms in September were the lowest for that month in five years, and overall numbers for 2018 were the lowest since reporting began in 2013.

According to the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO), which published the latest figures on its website last month, the industry lice average for September 2018 was

0.61 adult females.

On the whole, lice levels during 2018 have remained the lowest they have been since 2013, said the SSPO. At the moment, farm by farm data is published three months in arrears, but there is pressure on the industry to share more up to date data, following two parliamentary inquiries last year.

Salmon farmers, along with representatives from Marine Scotland, the Scottish

Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) and Fisheries Management Scotland (which represents wild salmon interests), are currently engaged in reviewing sea lice strategies as part of the Farmed Fish Health Framework.

The framework was set up by Rural Economy Minister Fergus Ewing last year and is divided into sub-groups, one tackling sea lice, gill health, cleaner fish and

information flow and transparency.

As part of the overall framework, salmon farmers also committed to publishing salmon mortality data on a farm-by-farm basis from 2018.

The Scottish government has said it will publish the sea lice information it holds as part of the sea lice compliance policy from March 2019 onwards, one month in arrears.

It will also publish mortality information.

A review of the sea lice compliance policy has been identified as a priority by the sea lice

workstream, and is expected to be concluded in the spring, according to the sea lice group chair, Dr Rob Raynard of Marine Scotland Science.

‘Sea lice modelling and farm connectivity is also being prioritised and the group is working hard to map out work which is already underway, and what is required in future, in order to make tangible progress,’ he said in a written reply to Fish Farmer’s request for an update.

‘The activities of this workstream aim to continue improving

control of sea lice on Scottish fish farms, building on and recognising current good practice and the wider environmental benefits, including a potential reduction in farmedwild fish interactions.’

Of the 2018 lice averages, he said: ‘It is important that we use this momentum and keep developing sea lice management tools to help to ensure sea lice continue to be effectively managed in Scotland over the framework’s lifetime and beyond.’

Sea lice reports: from page 42.

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level of industry interest. They will THE judging panel for the 2019 be open to international entries, Aquaculture Awards has been too, this year. announced.

The awards ceremony will be held The judges are: Alex Adrian, at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh on aquaculture operations manager May 29, and will include prizes for of Crown Estate Scotland; Nicki applied research breakthroughs, Holmyard, seafood journalist and sustainability, international director of Offshore Shellfish; impact and animal welfare, among Martin Gill, head of aquaculture the categories. and fisheries at Lloyd’s Register; Aquaculture UK said the judging David Little, chair of aquatic repanel this year bring ‘valuable source development and research international experience to bear, director of the Institute of Aquawhich is essential when considculture, University of Stirling; Rob ering the achievements of the Fletcher, senior editor of the Fish aquaculture industry in a global Site and Sustainable Aquaculture context’.

Magazine (part of awards The deadline for enowner 5M); and Susan tries to the AquaculTinch, event manager ture Awards 2019 of organiser Aquais Friday, March 1, culture UK. and the shortlist The awards, will be announced last held at the in early April.

Aquaculture UK For information show in Aviemore in about how to enter May 2018, have now visit www.aquaculturebecome an annual event Above: Above: Alex Adrian awards.com because of the high

18/02/2015 11:57

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All the latest industry news from the UK

Gael Force launches recruitment drive in expanding business LEADING aquaculture equipment supplier Gael Force has launched its largest ever recruitment drive to staff its ever growing business.

Up to 40 new positions are being advertised in a range of roles so the company can meet increasing demand for aquaculture equipment, including offshore pens, concrete and steel feed barges, and marine technology systems.

Gael Force, which currently has more than 225 employees UK wide, expanded last year to incorporate, first, Oban based pen maker Fusion Marine and then the Corpach Boatbuilding Company into its stable.

Now these have both been renamed - Gael Force Fusion and Gael Force Boatbuilding – and will have new logos, as part of a branding exercise, it was announced last month The new jobs will be spread across a number of locations which include Oban and Corpach, as well as in Gael Force’s headquarters in Inverness and in Forres.

The name changes represent the ongoing seamless integration of both Fusion and CorAbove: Fusion pens pach into the Gael Force Group, said the company, and highlight its end-to-end product and service supply to the aquaculture sector.

Since the two firms were acquired by Gael Force, they have been working together, accelerating the development of innovative projects and conducting R&D. Group marketing manager Marc Wilson said:

‘Both companies have been an excellent fit within the group, sharing in the common values we believe to be vital in achieving our vision and mission, and ultimately enabling us to provide our customers with a first class competitive product offering.

‘Both workforces have been utterly commendable in their motivation and willingness to integrate as part of a bigger team – a huge credit goes to those colleagues.

‘We are all very much united in our approach and therefore the changing of names and adoption of new logos is the natural next step to take.’

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United Kingdom News

£4.2m predator nets help cut seal culling Salmon farmers soar in top firms list

our economic activity takes place in SCOTLAND’S salmon companies some of the most remote regions of have been recognised among the Scotland’s Islands and Highlands.’ country’s top performing firms, with Mowi Scotland employs 1,250 several leading producers moving people within its vertically integrated up in an annual league table of business. businesses.

Bertil Buysse, managing director Mowi Scotland moves up 12 places for Mowi Value-Added Products UK, to rank 31st in Scottish Business welcomed news of the Rosyth plant’s Insider’s Top 500 (2019) table, pubsuccess. lished last month.

‘Since opening our doors in 2015, Mowi’s value-added processing we have seen our business perforbusiness, based in Rosyth, also mance grow year after year.The last showed a significant jump from the year saw our fresh salmon producprevious year’s rankings – up 248 tivity increase 15 per cent over 2017. spots to 116.

We’re currently supplying product And Scottish Sea Farms moved up Above: The seal culling target for salmon farmers is zero to Sainsbury’s,Aldi and Lidl from our one place to reach 48th, the Scottish do this, however, is dictated in Salmon Company was 63rd (up from Rosyth plant and will be pursuing SCOTTISH Sea Farms has released its seal culling figures large part by nature as there additional supply opportunities in 366), and Loch Duart made the list are limited opportunities in for the past year, which show 2019.’ for the first time, entering at 277th the growing cycle where we a drop of 31 per cent on 2017, Other aquaculture companies in place. can install the new nets withfrom 16 to 11. the list include feed producer Ewos, Mowi managing director Ben out risking stress to our salm- Hadfield said:‘We are pleased to be The company, which has 45 which was ranked 73rd (up from on.The ideal time is ahead of recognised amongst other major salmon farms around Scot113), Farne Salmon, which was ranked each new crop. land’s west coast and islands, at 176th (up from 184), and AquaScot, employers and businesses so integral ‘On occasion, we have inhas installed Sea Pro anplace at 284th (up from 299). to the economy and social fabric of stalled Seal Pro netting at one Scotland. ti-predator netting, supplied farm only to see seals reloby W&J Knox, at 21 of its ‘Perhaps even more impressive, farms at a cost of £4.2 million. cate to another farm where and often forgotten, is that most of there had been no prior seal It said it had plans to equip a further nine farms – specifical- challenge. ly those facing a seal challenge ‘This, we believe, accounted – in 2019 and 2020 at the start for five of the 11 seals culled SCOTTISH salmon farmer Loch Duart is to invest in new feed barges in the last reporting period of each new crop cycle. after securing £1.2 million finance from HSBC. and is further reason why we At the company’s seven farms The additional barges, to be built by Gael Force, will be significantly will continue to roll-out the in Orkney, where the new bigger than the producer’s existing barges. They will free up Loch Duart’s new netting until each and protective Sapphire Seal Pro employees from repetitive manual labour and allow them to focus on every farm is protected.’ nets were first trialled in 2016 building on a tradition of innovation within the industry, said the company.

Now being widely adopted before being rolled-out, there ‘The new barges improve the safety of our staff, which is a priority for across the sector, protective have been no seal culls in us, and enables them to take on more skilled work within the company,’ netting, along with the use of almost three years. said Simon Maguire, Loch Duart financial director. acoustic deterrent devices, Seal culling is the last resort ‘The funding from HSBC UK has enabled us to take a natural next step has contributed to an 81 per option taken by farmers to in enhancing our processes as we look for opportunities to grow the cent drop in the number of protect the salmon in their business and broaden the supply of our award winning salmon.’ seals culled by salmon farmcare and is carried out under Grant Bett, relationship director at HSBC UK in Scotland, said: ‘The licence only when seals persist ers since 2011. team at Loch Duart continues to innovate, finding new ways to streamUnlike traditional nylon nets, beyond all other preventative line the business and prioritise its staff as the key employer in the local which are treated with a measures. communities. copper based anti-foulant Legislation soon to be en‘We’re delighted to support this next step for what is a truly ambitious to protect against marine forced by the US will ban the Scottish business, with an excellent success story, as they continue to growth, Seal Pro nets require import of any seafood that deliver world-class, acclaimed premium salmon which is exported globally no such treatment. has been produced in conand served in various Michelin starred restaurants around the UK.’ Engineered from high density travention of strict rules on This deal is part of HSBC UK’s £650 million lending fund to support polyethylene, they have a animal welfare, which prohibsmall and medium-sized enterprises in Scotland. stronger frame that can withits the shooting of seals.This Loch Duart was named a Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 ruling has the potential to end stand regular cleaning in-situ. company in 2018, a showcase for Jim Gallagher, managing lucrative salmon exports to mid-market private companies with director of Scottish Sea North America from farmers the fastest growing international sales.

Farms, said: ‘It’s has been a still culling predators.

Managing director Alban Denton long-standing goal of ours Scottish Sea Farms’ head of said, on picking up the award in to use zero copper on our fish health Ralph Bickerdike September: ‘Despite being a relatively nets, taking us beyond SEPA said: ‘Our priority has been to small farming business, we currently compliance, and the coninstall Seal Pro nets at those export our extraordinary salmon to tinued roll-out of Seal Pro farms with a historic seal over 20 countries. It’s a huge boost netting takes us a step closer challenge.

Above: Loch Duart managing which will inspire the brilliant team at to achieving that goal.’

‘The speed with which we can director Alban Denton Loch Duart.’

New barges will boost farm growth

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05/02/2019 14:34:33

All the latest industry news from the UK

Aqua women: your sector needs you

‘Major incident’ training at Mowi mill

‘The scenario began on the REPRESENTATIVES from Fire fourth floor of the feed mill.

Scotland, the Scottish AmA worker was discovered bulance Service, the Marine lying unconscious on the floor.

Coastguard Agency, Police Mowi’s first aider escalated the Scotland and the Highland case to the team leader, who Council all participated in a called for an ambulance. major incident training day at ‘Once the paramedics were Kyleakin, Skye, organised by with the casualty, we escalated Mowi Scotland last month. the scenario further. First of The assembled team worked all, the head injury became a through two scenarios, spepotentially fatal head injury, cifically selected as incidents which necessitated police which could occur at the site intervention on site. when it opens later this year.

‘Secondly, we introduced a The first scenario saw a volunteer fall into the sea from fire to the factory.The fire Above: A panel at Aquaculture UK in Aviemore last May debate women’s role in aquaculture (L - R): SSPO chief executive Julie Hesketh-Laird; Ruth Clements, head service quickly arrived on site the pier at Kyleakin.The Maof veterinary programmes at Benchmark; Ben Hadfield, managing director of Mowi and evacuated the building. rine Coastguard Agency sucScotland; and Sheila Voas, chief veterinary officer for Scotland Our casualty was stretchered cessfully brought the casualty off site. to safety and transferred him A NEW initiative aimed primarily at supporting women working in the ‘We learned a lot from the to the ambulance for immediaquaculture industry was launched at the end of last month. day and will be immediately ate treatment.

The scheme will focus on professional mentoring and will also be available looking at measures to make Commenting on the rescue, to men in the sector, with anyone interested invited to apply for a place on improvements to our proceDave Philips from the Marine the initial pilot. dures.’

Coastguard Agency, said: ‘This The brainchild of the Fish Site, which is owned by 5M, the project was Every team from the particiwas a very realistic scenario to inspired by its interviews with women in aquaculture around the world, pating emergency services on test as the pier will be central said Ellen Hardy, managing editor. the day agreed that the exerto the operations at the site.

‘This is a really exciting time for diversity initiatives in aquaculture,’ she cise was successful and that it ‘It was extremely useful for said, in a press release, adding that an expert panel of aquaculture mentors was valuable to get access to us to get on site and underwould be able to ‘share their insights as women in the industry and make a the feed mill before it opens, to stand the layout and access real difference to the careers of the next generation’. better understand the site and points for us to get a casualty ‘At the Fish Site, we want to take an active role in enabling the future plan accordingly. out of the water as soon as sustainability of the aquaculture industry, and we believe that promoting the Lynda Allan, area possible. diversity of its workforce is an essential contribution.’ inspector for Skye, Lo‘The operation went well The Fish Site said it welcomes applications irrespective of gender or chalsh and Wester Ross, Police with good collaboration ethnicity; the panel of mentors will be mostly female, though, as the organScotland, said: ‘It was great between us and the other isers want ‘to enable female led experience sharing, support networks and to be involved with Mowi and emergency services, especially career advancement’. the teams form the ambulance also to have the opportunity The project has already received support from leading figures in aquaculto work alongside all the other and police.’ ture. teams from the emergency Things got very interesting in Nicki Holmyard, a leading seafood journalist and director of Offshore services.’ the second scenario as Kevin Shellfish, who has been involved in the sector for 30 years, said: ‘I think the A thorough debrief was due O’Leary, site manager at KyWomen in Aquaculture initiative is a brilliant idea and believe that it will leakin, explained: ‘Our scenario to take place within a week of have a positive effect in encouraging more women into the industry… a the live exercise and a plan will for the second exercise was a mentoring programme will provide direct and instant access for women to be made to repeat the training major head injury, a risk in any learn more about the opportunities open to them, and the expectations of on a regular basis. manufacturing facility. them.

‘The ability to question, be mentored by and network with women at the heart of the industry, is a tried and tested method in many trades, and I applaud its introduction to ours.’

Sophie Fridman, a post-doctoral research fellow at Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture and founder of the women in aquaculture lobby group, the Aquagettes, agreed.

‘Hopefully, it will result in many more women not only reaching key leadership positions within the sector in the future but also provide a vital support throughout their journey, allowing them to really fulfil their potential,’ she said.

There are 15 mentee places available on the pilot 2019 scheme, and applicants are invited from any country, stage of career or aquaculture specialism.

Successful applicants will be matched with a mentor, an established female aquaculture professional, and receive virtual training ahead of a programme of eight to ten developmental mentoring sessions over a 12-month period.

Anyone interested in applying to be a mentor or a mentee should contact mentoring@thefishsite.com.The deadline for applications is February 28.

Above: Emergency services train Mowi staff on the quay at Kyleakin

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European News

NEWS...

Farmer sells first algal oil fed salmon

NORWEGIAN salmon farmer Lingalaks has begun commercial production of salmon fed on alternative fish oil, produced from algae.

Since last October, the producer, based in Hardanger fjord, has been feeding 50 per cent of its salmon a diet developed by Skretting, containing omega-3 EPA + DHA algal oil created by Veramaris.

The German retail chain Kaufland (part of the same group as Lidl) will be the first to put the salmon on its shelves.

‘Omega-3 EPA + DHA from natural marine algae allows us to produce healthier and better salmon,’ said Lingalaks owner Erlend Haugarvoll.

‘It also gives us the unique opportunity to differentiate our company within a competitive market.

‘Our courage to pioneer a new and more sustainable

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production method using algal oil resonated well with our philosophy.

‘By being the early adopter of this new technology, we found partners along the seafood value chain who supported us in realising our vision of superior, sustainable salmon quality and finding new outlets for it.’

Veramaris is a Dutch based joint venture between DSM and Evonik, and said it has driven the collaboration between the producer and retailer.

‘Our omega-3 algal oil, rich in both fatty acids EPA and DHA, is a novel ingredient for better and more sustainable salmon farming, but sometimes it takes a lot of courage and the right mindset to take the first step to adopt a breakthrough innovation,’ said Veramaris CEO Karim Kurmaly.

‘We quickly realised that traditional

marketing and sales approaches would likely be to no avail and we had to bring key stakeholders around one table.

Only by collaborating were we able to make this change to current practice.’

The retailer Kaufland said it saw great potential in the collaboration with Lingalaks and Veramaris. The company is pursuing a comprehensive corporate responsibility strategy, of which the seafood portfolio, particularly salmon, is an integral element, reflecting consumer demands.

‘Our customers have high demands on quality and competence of the assortment,’ said Andreas Schopper, head of purchasing at Kaufland.

‘The algal oil-fed salmon is an innovative and high quality product that lives up to our customers’ high demands

for good taste and healthy nutrition, and that meets the increasing sense of responsibility for conscious consumption of resources. We are convinced that this cooperation is a forward looking decision.’

Veramaris algal oil is produced on land by fermentation of natural marine algae.

The algal oil is of a high purity, free from sea-born contaminants, stabilised with natural antioxidants, excluding Ethoxyquin.

Skretting director of product development Mads Martinsen said: ‘As an industry leader with the knowledge to produce 100 per cent fish-free feeds on a commercial scale, Skretting is very happy to support Lingalaks in taking this innovative step.

‘It’s not as simple as just substitution, and many years of research have allowed this breakthrough.’

Norway seafood alarm at Brexit vote THE Norwegian seafood industry has expressed alarm over future sales to the UK in the wake of the crushing Brexit deal defeat in the House of Commons on January 15.

Britain is Norway’s fourth largest export market for fish. It exported 148,000 tonnes in 2018, worth more than £5 billion, more than half of it salmon. Add in oil and gas and it means 20 per cent Norway’s total export output is sent to the UK. Hans Frode Asmyhr, who heads the Norwegian Seafood Council’s office in London, said it would be the worst possible outcome for his industry if Britain crashes out at the end of March without a deal of some kind.

On January 23, the Council hosted its annual summit in London, which this year was primarily focused on the ramifications of Brexit.

A lot was at stake and the salmon sector faced great uncertainty, said Asmyhr. Postponing the decision to leave the EU would be better than a hard Brexit.

He added that salmon had become hugely popular in Britain over the last few years, and fish and chip shops purchased large amounts of Norwegian cod and haddock. In fact, seafood exports had increased by 18 per cent in value last year.

He told the financial newspaper Finansavisen: ‘A hard Brexit without a trade agreement with the EU will have major implications for Britain’s neighbouring trading partners.

‘And for the Norwegian seafood industry, a hard Brexit will be the worst possible result because all rules on trade as we know them will be removed and we will be entering unknown territory with WTO rules.’

He added: ‘Brexit now goes from being an internal challenge within the UK to having major consequences for trade with neighbouring countries as well as for the European economy.’

So far, there has been no official comment from Iceland, which is the main supplier of cod and haddock to the UK. London summit: Page 32.

Left: Hans Frode Asmyhr

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05/02/2019 14:51:58

All the latest industry news from Europe

Iceland fish farmers join fishing body

Above: Fish farming leader Einar K. Guðfinnsson

ICELAND’S fish farming companies are to join forces with the country’s main fishing organisation, which has traditionally represented the interests of the deep sea trawler companies and associated fish processing businesses.

The decision was taken at an extraordinary general meeting of the Icelandic Federation of Fish Farming shortly before Christmas, but the news was only made public last month.

The companies have requested membership of the Confederation of Icelandic Fishing Companies or SFS. It has also been decided to abolish the daily activities of the farmers’ federation, which in future

Focus on RAS in Berlin show

will be handled by the SFS. A statement said the interests of the aquaculture sector, which has grown considerably in recent years, would be better served by coming together.

Federation chairman Einar K. Guðfinnsson said: ‘There have been considerable developments in aquaculture in recent years and the projects that need to be solved have become more extensive and perhaps in some ways more complicated .

‘I therefore consider this to be a logical step in the development of the association and aquaculture in Iceland, by becoming part of an organisation based on an old foundation.

‘Laxeldi (salmon farming) has the means to become a core industry in Iceland in the same way as the fishing industry has been for a long time, and thus remains the sole pillar of the economic prosperity of Icelanders. We will work on that.’

SFS chairman Jens Garðar Helgason said he celebrated the arrival of the fish farming sector.

‘Several aquaculture companies have already been members of SFS for some time. It will both strengthen SFS and, not least, the good work that has been done by the National Federation in recent years.

‘We are going to integrate the operations under the SFS hat in the coming weeks and I hope that this work will be completed by the summer.’

Einar K. Guðfinnsson, a former Icelandic fisheries minister, will become part of the SFS team and will look after issues related to aquaculture.

RECIRCULATING Aquaculture Systems (RAS) will be one of the themes of this year’s European Aquaculture Society (EAS) conference, to be held in Berlin in October.

Alongside the EAS Aquaculture Europe 2019 event, the Nordic Network on RAS (NordicRAS) will stage a workshop. This will be held on Monday, October 7, and on the morning of October 8, while the EAS RAS sessions will be scheduled afterwards to avoid a clash.

Both events, to take place in the Estrel Hotel and Congress Centre in Berlin, will provide a focus on RAS in a hosting country where it is a key development objective, said the EAS. The main theme of Aquaculture Europe 2019 is ‘Our Future Growing from Water’.

AE2019, from October 7-10, will also feature an international trade exhibition, industry forums, student sessions, and updates on EU research.

See www.aquaeas.eu and www.nordicras.net

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European News

Photo: Joe Urrutia, Nofima

Research boosts EU fish breeding

Above: Anna Sonesson A FIVE year EU funded study into advanced aquaculture breeding programmes has demonstrated the potential of selecting for disease resistance, say researchers.

The NOK 75 million Fishboost project, led by Norwegian research organisation Nofima, has involved scientists from nine countries, 14 research institutions, 11 companies and an NGO. Their goal was to improve European aquaculture for six species of farmed fish: Atlantic salmon, common carp, European sea bass, gilthead sea bream, rainbow trout and turbot.

The project, which started in 2014 and concludes this month, looked at a wide range of traits and developed tools and technologies to contribute to more balanced, sustainable and long-term profitable breeding programmes.

‘Fishboost has contributed to increased awareness in Europe that breeding is an important part of fish farming,’ said Nofima scientist Anna Sonesson, project coordinator for the EU project.

Many breeding programmes in Europe have

only selected for growth and other traits related to production efficiency.

But the Fishboost partners have examined the potential of also selecting for better disease resistance, estimating the heritability of the main diseases for the species and mapping the genes behind them.

Fishboost has developed important tools such as gene maps and thousands of genomic markers, which show where on the DNA there is variation between animals.

Genomic markers are used in genomic selection, which is more accurate than traditional breeding. In the Fishboost populations, accuracy using genomic selection was up to 22 per cent higher.

But the method is expensive. The Fishboost researchers developed ways to reduce the cost of using this method and therefore increase the use of genomic selection in European breeding programmes.

Fishboost has also developed better selection and phenotyping methods to increase production efficiency.

The Norwegian industrial partner Salmobreed sees a potential for knowledge transfer between species.

‘Much has been done to develop indirect methods for measuring feed utilisation and production efficiency on several of the species in Fishboost,’ said Haavard Bakke, project manager at Salmobreed. ‘The research done on rainbow trout has a particularly high transfer value to salmon.’

The Fishboost scientists worked to optimise the design and profitability of the breeding programme when new traits are included in the breeding objective, taking into account different technological levels, reproduction and biology in the species, said Nofima.

SalMar recruits seafood high flier ONE of the most experienced players in the international aquaculture sector is to become the new chief finance and chief operating officer of salmon farming giant SalMar, the Norwegian company that owns 50 per cent of Scottish Sea Farms.

Trine Sæther Romuld will take up her post at the beginning of July. She replaces Trond Tuvstein, who announced his resignation before Christmas after six years with the business.

Romuld has extensive experience from a broad range of management positions within seafood, consulting and auditing, from both Norwegian and

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ambitions in the company.’

Romuld has worked with a number of financial capital management, industrial and seafood businesses during what has been a varied career.

She entered the fish farming industry when she joined Panfish, which became Marine Harvest (now Mowi), rising to become the group’s chief Above Trine Sæther Romuld financial officer. international companies.

She later became deputy SalMar CEO Olav-Andreas chair of Aker Seafoods, before Ervik said: ‘I am very pleased moving to accountants Arthur to get Trine as part of our Anderson and Ernst & Young. team. Her experience from the Her other companies have seafood industry combined included the Faroese salmon with her broad experience from farmer Bakkafrost and the growth companies are qualities white fishing company Havfisk, that suit very well with our now part of the Lerøy group.

Enter now for innovation award NOMINATIONS are now open for the sought after Aqua Nor innovation award, the winner of which will be announced at this year’s exhibition in Trondheim in August.

Companies or individuals from all over the world that supply equipment or services to the aquaculture industry, or are in the aquaculture industry, are invited to apply for the award.

In 2017, the last time the awards were staged, Dundee based Ace Aquactec beat off stiff Norwegian competition to win the NOK 100,000 (about £9,000). Ace’s Nathan Pyne-Carter, who picked up the award for his humane slaughter electric stunner, said the prize would raise the company’s profile. He has since gone on to open offices around the world, and last year won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the innovation category.

The deadline for applying for the innovation award is May 1, and the winner will be revealed on August 20, at the opening of Aqua Nor 2019.

Visit www.aqua-nor.no/innovation-award-2019-application.

Above: Nathan Pyne-Carter of Ace Aquatec picks up part of his award from then Norwegian fisheries minister Per Sandberg at Aqua Nor 2017

Robotic net cleaners get to work NORWEGIAN net cleaner company Mithal is in the process of fulfilling an order for two of its Remora robotic net cleaners for Mowi at a Norwegian farm.

After successful testing, Mithal, which won the innovation award at the Aquaculture Innovation Europe summit in London last September, is hopeful of taking on orders for more farms.

Another development came in January when the company signed with SINTEF, the independent Norwegian research institute, for further in-depth trials.

Mithal founder Leiv Midthassel forsees one problem in the development of the company, however.

‘The resurgence in the Norwegian oil and gas industry means that staff retention is more difficult than it once was, particularly with those people whose experience was initially in oil and gas before moving into aquaculture,’ he told Fish Farmer.

Left: Leiv Midthassel

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

05/02/2019 14:52:38

All the latest industry news from Europe

Body found in Lerøy blaze

Above: Aerial view of the damaged plant

A MAN has been confirmed dead following a fire at Norwegian salmon farmer Lerøy’s hatchery in the north of the country.

The body of the man, aged 35, has been identified by police. He was an employee of a company that makes plastic products and had been working at the Laksefjord plant in Finnmar when the fire broke out on a Sunday in January.

Lerøy, the world’s second largest salmon and trout farming group, reportedly lost 2.6 million young fish in the blaze.

The stock weighed 50 to 60g each and were due to be released in April 2019, Lerøy said.

‘Lerøy Seafood Group will continue to assist the subcontractor, the police and other public bodies in conducting an enquiry into what has happened,’ the group said in a statement.

Lerøy farms salmon and trout in Norway and owns 50 per cent of Scottish Sea Farms, Scotland’s second biggest producer.

The Norwegian company also sells wild produce since buying Havfisk, Norway’s largest trawler company, in 2016.

It harvested 162,000 tonnes of farmed trout and salmon in 2018, up from around 158,000 tonnes the previous year.

Bookie taking bets on fish rationing

THE Irish bookmaker Paddy Power is taking bets on fish and other foods being rationed if there is a no deal Brexit. Punters can get 25-1 on fish and 11-1 on food in general being rationed by the government.

Food rationing in the UK, which began at the outbreak of World War Two, finally ended 65 years ago. Ironically, despite the threat to trawlers from U-boats, fish was never rationed although there were strict allocation controls on its sale and distribution.

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Iceland tips big rise in salmon exports MORE than a quarter of Iceland’s seafood exports could be from salmon farms within the next four years, a leading figure in the industry has forecast. Þorsteinn Másson, regional manager of the aquaculture company Arnarlax, said that while his prediction – made in a recent lecture – may be ‘a bit daring’ at the moment, he was basing his theory on the fact that Iceland’s Marine Research Institute predicted that more than 70,000 tonnes of salmon could be bred safely without harming the environment.

He thought that salmon farming could account for 27 per cent of fishery related exports

by 2022. However, he warned there were still several issues to overcome before his forecast could become a reality.

For example, a number of licence applications still had to be formally completed and a great deal of necessary infrastructure, including the fish farms themselves, needed to be in place. Þorsteinn Másson pointed out that cod, still Iceland’s most valuable species, ac-

counted for just below 46 per cent of marine product export value.

With even 71,000 tonnes, Iceland would continue to be a relatively small player compared to other salmon farming countries, such as Norway, Scotland and the Faroe Islands, because of the determination to protect wild salmon stocks.

He pointed out that in 2017 the Faroe Islands produced 77,000 tonnes of salmon, the UK 157,000 tonnes Canada 143,000 tonnes, and Ireland 16,000 tonnes.

But the giant was Norway, at 1,300,000 tonnes.

Iceland’s output, by comparison, was a mere 10,000 tonnes.

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World News

NEWS...

Global showcase for RAS technology LEADING experts in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) are expected to gather in Washington DC in May for an international conference and exhibition.

The RAStech 2019 event will feature education sessions designed to provide the latest in RAS research, technology development, best practice and implementation.

The show takes place against a backdrop of growing global interest

Above: Ivar Warrer-Hansen

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and investment in RAS technology, with the US the location for several major salmon RAS developments, from Miami in Florida, to Maine.

The conference speakers include Ivar Warrer-Hansen, an adviser to Nordic Aqua Farms and a world renowned RAS expert; Bjarne Hald Olsen, of Danish RAS pioneer Billund; Andrew Preston of the Israeli RAS innovator AquaMaof; Craig Browdy of Zeigler; and Steve Summerfelt.

David Kuhn, also one of the speakers and associate professor

in the aquaculture research and extension programmes at Virginia Tech, an event organiser, said: ‘Whether you are a current user of RAS technology or considering implementing a RAS project, or even thinking about investing in this market, you will find this event very relevant.

‘We are working with different associations and organisations in the aquaculture industry to develop the education sessions and ensure that we continue to provide a high quality education conference for our attendees.’

RAStech, formerly the International Conference on Recirculating Aquaculture, is jointly hosted by Annex Business Media, publishers of Hatchery International and RAStech magazine, and Virginia Tech. Oxygen Solutions and Veolia Water Technologies are the platinum sponsors.

The event, to be held at the Capital Hilton in Washington DC on May 13 and 14, also includes an exhibition showcasing the latest in RAS products and services from around the world.

For more details and to register, visit www. ras-tec.com

Super farmer formed in Chile deal THE Chilean agriculture and aquaculture company Agrosuper acquired AquaChile last month to become the second largest salmon farmer in the world, behind Mowi (formerly Marine Harvest). The deal is reportedly worth $850 million.

It is the latest in a series of consolidations in the Chilean salmon farming industry, with both Agrosuper and AquaChile recently concluding deals to buy smaller firms.

AquaChile, one of Chile’s largest salmon producers, recently struck a $255 million deal to purchase two smaller Chilean fish farming operations, boosting the company’s access to the Magallanes region of Patagonia. Agrosuper, meanwhile, owns the salmon farmer Los Fiordos.

Agrosuper will produce more than 200,000 tonnes a year, about 30 per cent of Chile’s total production and reportedly around double that of its closest competitor, Cermaq.

‘The acquisition will allow a highly qualified team with vast experience in the business to be integrated into the company’s aquaculture segment, together with high-standard facilities and a great productive potential,’ said the company.

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05/02/2019 14:44:41

World News

South African salmon plant delayed World’s first salmon ‘ATM’ opens THE world’s first salmon vending machine has gone into action in Singapore. From a distance it looks like a brightly coloured bank cashpoint, but move in closer and it will dispense not banknotes but frozen Norwegian salmon fillets, all ready to cook.

A local and as yet unnamed local distributor has come up with the novel idea of selling raw fillets to the citizens of Singapore in the middle of this affluent city state.

The salmon ‘ATM’ had its grand launch recently in a new shopping centre at the Wisteria Mall basement near Above: The Kogelberg biosphere reserve the Kopitiam food hall.

PLANS for the first land based salmon farm in South Africa have been The 200g delayed while a new site is found for the project. frozen fillets Atlantis West Coast’s original location – in the Kogelberg biosphere sell for (Sinreserve - has been declared too environmentally sensitive, and the company must now embark on a new environmental impact assessment for an gapore) $5.90 each and can alternative site, Intrafish reported last month.

The company said the project, reportedly costing ZAR 766 million (£43.7 only be bought million), will still go ahead, in an area around 200km north of Cape Town. using a debit or credit card.

The RAS farm is expected to produce 4,800 tonnes of salmon a year The salmon is once operational. totally frozen The RAS technology is a new concept pioneered by US firm Veolia.

Called the RAS2020, it is more compact than traditional RAS and designed and contains no seasoning or to lower operating costs and environmental impact, Intrafish reported.

other additives.

The plan is to increase the number of machines to at least 14, locating them in various neighbourhoods around the city over the next few months. So far there is no indication as to how the machine has gone down with the locals.

Salmon has become increasingly popular among the health conscious citizens of Singapore, where it is usually eaten as a part of sushi meals.

But sales of salmon fillets are now on the increase too. Last year, the Norwegian Seafood Council organised a highly successful mission to the islands, which included master class cooking demonstrations using top chefs from both countries.

But the salmon vending machine is a new development altogether, even on an island where high technology is the norm.

Stirling leads Kenya fish health workshop A HEALTH project led by Stirling University and involving fish farmers in Asia and Africa held a workshop in Kenya last month.

The IMAQulate (Immuno-modulators in Aquaculture) project has explored the growing use of prophylactic health management products (PHPs), including pre-biotics and pro-biotics.

These are often used in place of antibiotics, which are becoming increasingly restricted in the aquaculture industry.

The market for PHPs is poorly regulated and knowledge of their effectiveness under highly variable production conditions is largely unproven, yet their use is widespread among small-scale farmers in Asia.

Dr Francis Murray of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture and colleagues on the IMAQulate project travelled to Machakos, Kenya, for the project’s final consortium meeting and a stakeholder policy workshop, hosted by Dr Patricia Muendo and her team at Machakos University.

Partners attending from India, Bangladesh and the UK shared their findings and explored opportunities to build on this research.

The project meeting was followed by an interactive gathering of policy, industry and research professionals from across the Kenyan aquaculture sector. Researchers highlighted quality assurance learning from Asian value chain studies.

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The issues discussed included fraudulent active ingredient and functional claims, risk of contamination by antimicrobials, presence of human pathogens in the products and acquired anti-microbial resistance genes (ARG).

The lessons learnt will be used to improve the regulation of a still emergent market for PHPs in the Kenyan aquaculture sector.

The project was funded by the Newton Fund (delivered by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Economic & Social Research Council), the Department for International Development, and the Indian Department of Biotechnology under the Newton Fund Global Research Partnership in Aquaculture programme.

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05/02/2019 14:45:19

World News

Fish farm fuelled flight takes off A JET airliner has completed the world’s first commercial flight using biofuel originating from a fish farm.

A United Arab Emirates Etihad Airways Boeing 787 made the 3,200-mile journey from Abu Dhabi in to Amsterdam, opening the way for a new era in much cleaner aviation fuel.

The initiative, said the team behind the project, also addresses food security in the UAE, with the farming of seafood a core element in the process.

The technology was pioneered by the Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium (SBRC), a non-profit entity established by the Masdar Institute that is part of Khalifa University of Science and Technology in the UAE. Sustainable fuel for the flight was derived from oil in salicornia (salt tolerant) plants, which were grown on a five-acre desert ecosystem farm in Masdar City.

Known as the Seawater Energy and Agriculture System (SEAS), the ecosystem is the world’s first such system designed to produce fuel and food in saltwater.

Fish and shrimp raised at the facility provide nutrients for the plants, as well as contribute to the

UAE’s food production.

Operated by the SBRC, the SEAS pilot facility became operational in March 2016. Salt-tolerant halophyte plants that thrive in desert conditions and do not require fresh water or arable land to grow are nurtured there.

After wastewater from the fish fertilises the plants, it is diverted into a cultivated mangrove forest. This further removes nutrients and provides valuable carbon storage before the naturally filtered and treated effluent is discharged back into the sea.

Over the course of the next few years, the system is expected to scale up to 200 hectares in the

move towards full-scale commercial implementation.

The biofuel is blended directly with jet fuel and does not require any modifications to aircraft, engines or airport fuelling delivery systems.

The unique initiative also bolsters the oil and gas industry by using existing refining infrastructure, with the potential to become an important new option for sustainable aviation fuel in the future.

Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, minister of Climate Change and Environment, said: ‘The UAE’s visionary leadership is strongly committed to positioning the country as a global hub for innovation and sustainability.

‘In this context, productive cross-disciplinary public-private partnerships are crucial to fuelling research and development efforts and creating game changing innovations that enable a more sustainable future.’

Tony Douglas, group chief executive officer of Etihad Aviation Group, said: ‘This is a significant milestone for the UAE and its key industries.

‘Etihad is fully committed to this project, which demonstrates a successful proof of concept that is local, viable, cost effective and sustainable.’

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The Norwegian government has issued special licences for aquaculture with emphasis on reducing strain on the environment.

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05/02/2019 14:45:49

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05/02/2019 10:11:42

News extra – Parliamentary inquiry

Addressing challenges Minister announces new environmental monitoring in response to committee probe

T Above: Fergus Ewing Opposite: Salmon farm, Scotland

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HE success of Scotland’s aquaculture sector reaches far and wide and has driven a resurgence in subsidiary businesses, according to Scotland’s Rural Economy Minister, Fergus Ewing.

In a detailed written response to the report on salmon farming published by Holyrood’s Rural Economy and Connectivity (REC) commitee, which undertook an inquiry into the industry last year, Ewing said he agreed with many of the findings.

The report was due to be debated in the Scottish parliament on February 6, just after Fish Farmer went to press.

Ewing, an outspoken champion of the industry, said while it was in the interests of both the sector and Scotland as a whole for salmon farming to grow sustainably, the status quo was not acceptable.

He also spoke of a ‘collective resolve to make tangible early progress’ in addressing industry challenges.

The industry, he said, was investing in growth and jobs, and through its efforts had success-

fully tackled sea lice in the last year, which saw the lowest overall lice numbers since reporting began in 2013.

The government is already conducting a review of the sea lice compliance policy, which will be completed by spring, he added. This will consider, among other recommendations, making compliance and reporting a mandatory requirement.

This work was part of the 10-year Farmed Fish Health Framework, which was promoting innovation in fish health management and a reduction in fish farm mortality.

Other initiatives already uunderway included the Salmon Interactions Working Group; and SEPA’s (the Scottish Environment Protection Agency) draft aquaculture plan to better regulate the sector’s environmental footprint in the future.

‘We anticipate that over the next twelve months these processes will allow us to identify whether there is a case for further legislative change, and/or modification in the enforcement regime governing how the aquaculture sector interacts with others,’ said Ewing.

One immediate move, outlined in his response (dated January 29), will be to introduce Environmental Monitoring Plans as a condition of consents.

‘This plan will stipulate that an effective monitoring regime should be put in place in the identified aquaculture farming area and will detail what its key components should be. This will then inform an ongoing process of adaptive management to manage future fish farm applications.’

This approach, said Ewing, will inform the regulatory framework of the future and fill the current regulatory gap, a key criticism by the REC committee. The format of the monitoring regime will be informed by a current project being developed by Mowi (formerly Marine Harvest) and Fisheries Management Scotland (FMS) and will also be considered by the Salmon Interactions Working Group before introduction.

Referring to industry expansion plans, the government acknowledges the need to balance the interests of other marine industries, said Ewing, and it will work with the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO) on the ‘reinvigoration’ of the sector’s 2016 Community Charter.

The aim will be to ensure the sector demonstrates how its commitments to the community are being delivered.

‘We will seek to agree with the sector a binding commitment to publish evidence each year of adherence to the Charter and progress made towards the attainment of social licence. This will bring both greater accountability and recognition of the work the sector is achieving.’

Disappointing Ewing said it was ‘disappointing’ that the committee’s recommendation on mortalities – that no expansion should be permitted at sites which report high or significantly increased levels of mortalities – did not recognise industry efforts to reduce the problem.

‘It is difficult to see how an ‘acceptable’ level of mortality could be defined, nor how that would be appropriate, given the different circumstances in which mortality events occur,’ said the minister.

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05/02/2019 14:55:59

Addressing challenges

‘The government’s key objective remains to ensure that we have a mechanism in place to address these concerns quickly and effectively to protect fish health and welfare and retain consumer confidence; this is a core aim of Scotland’s 10-year Farmed Fish Health Framework.

‘One of the key challenges will be to develop a well-resourced research base to investigate causes of emerging disease and make the epidemiological analysis required to identify options for prevention and control as quickly as possible.’

He confirmed that mortality reports by the Fish Health Inspectorate would be published monthly in arrears on the Scottish government website as an interim measure, while webbased and real-time site reporting is considered.

He also said sharing more sea lice data publically is being considered; in the meantime, information which Marine Scotland holds will be published from March 2019 onwards, monthly in arrears.

‘We recognise the importance of better access to data from a research/science, compliance and public accountability perspective.’

Legislation The REC committee’s concerns about medicine use will be addressed by the government; ministers will now propose secondary legislation to transfer responsibility for controlling discharges of medicines from wellboats from

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to see how an ‘acceptable’ level of “It is difficult mortality could be defined ” Marine Scotland to SEPA, said Ewing.

‘This will make SEPA the regulator of discharges of all wastes and medicines from marine cage fish farms; and enable a consistent and more integrated approach to controlling such discharges.’

On wild and farmed salmon interactions, the government welcomed efforts by the aquaculture industry to finance the improvement of local habitats in west coast rivers, and thereby either mitigate any potential impacts of industrial activity or enhance stocks of wild fish.

‘We acknowledge that there is currently a lack of clarity with regard to the regulatory arrangements that apply to the impact of salmon farms on wild salmon stocks and where the responsibility should lie in regulating this impact.

‘This is a key reason for establishing the Technical Working Group to work in parallel with the Salmon Interactions Working Group.

‘This technical group is tasked with developing a practical framework for assessing the level of risk posed to wild salmon and sea trout, taking account of the best available scientific under-

standing and the precautionary principle.’

A key challenge for regulators in the technical group – who include Marine Scotland, SEPA, SNH and representatives of local authorities - is evaluating any risk posed by marine farms on wild fish via their effects on sea lice numbers, ‘given the complex range of factors that have the potential to affect wild salmon stocks’.

‘However, scientific knowledge has been increasing over the last few years as a result of work in Scotland and other salmon producing countries,’ said Ewing. ‘The Technical Working Group is aiming to prepare its proposals by the end of June for subsequent public consultation.’

It will consider the ‘practical steps... to implement a clearer longer term regulatory regime for managing impacts of farmed salmon on wild salmon’.

The minister’s full response to the REC report can be read at https://www.parliament.scot/ S5_Rural/20190129_Cab_Sec_RE_-_SG_response_to_Cttee_report_on_salmon_farming_in_Scotland.pdf REC sea lice recommendations: Page 44. FF

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05/02/2019 14:56:52

News extra – Trout

Dawnfresh thinks big UK’s largest trout farmer plans £16m offshore expansion

S

COTTISH trout farmer Dawnfresh is to expand its operations, with plans for four new offshore farm sites, creating an extra 36 jobs in the west of Scotland.

The company, which is the UK’s largest producer of farmed trout and already employs more than 500 people, is to invest £16 million in growing its farming business.

It has submitted scoping reports for four fish farm sites across Argyll and Bute and North Ayrshire as the first steps in the planning process.

If the company proceeds with a planning application and it is consented, the proposed sites at Ardentinny, Isle of Bute, Great Cumbrae and Little Cumbrae would produce around 14,000 tonnes of trout per 22.5 month cycle.

The company said the sites would bring economic benefits to the areas, as well as the wider Scottish economy. Apart from the jobs, the development would include the building of seven new workboats and four new feed barges.

The estimated increased trout production for Scotland of around 7,000 tonnes per year equates to a value of £45.5 million based on current market value, almost doubling the production level in Scotland.

Dawnfresh currently farms at Loch Etive and Loch Awe in Argyll and Bute, and the new sites represent ‘a big step up’, said the company’s environmental coordinator, Peter MacDougall, who prefers the term ‘high energy’ to ‘offshore’.

‘People have the impression of oil rigs when you mention offshore but they are certainly high energy locations and the currents are strong. They are much more exposed locations than we’re currently operating.’

But Loch Etive experiences vey strong currents, too, so farming the new locations would not be that much of a departure.

‘I’ve been in the company for almost two years and I was surprised by the strength of the current in the loch,’ said MacDougall.

Formerly at Mowi (then Marine Harvest), where he was involved in their expansion to offshore sites, MacDougall is well placed to take the expansion of Dawnfresh forward.

The company began investigating new locations in 2017, he said, with several possibilities considered, before narrowing these down to four.

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‘You tend to start with a much higher number when you look for sites and then, as the investigation goes on, the sites tend to drop off for one reason or another once you investigate further.’

The chosen areas are full salinity seawater, so not the same as Loch Etive, which has uniquely brackish conditions, and ‘they will have the same challenges as if we went anywhere else outwith Loch Etive’, said MacDougall.

‘Each new farm will have 10 pens in a five by two grid. And each will have its own feed barge. For farms that size you need a feed barge.’

The applications are for barges of around 200 tonnes but McDougall said they are looking for feedback on the proposals.

The state of the art new equipment will include 120m pens, with more capacity than the producer’s current 80m pens, and will be robust enough to cope with the conditions.

‘It’s a big jump in production and that’s why having the four sites makes it work that bit better. The larger pens need larger boats to operate them.’

Dawnfresh will create jobs for suppliers elsewhere in Scotland through the construction of the boats and feed barges, and equipment provision, with further positions created in processing.

The 2017 Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) report on Scottish aquaculture quantifies the knock-on benefit of the sector to Scotland as able to support approximately 4.8FTE (full time equivalent) positions per one FTE direct position, which means the Dawnfresh expansion could equate to up to 170 additional FTE positions in Scotland in addition to the 36 direct new jobs.

Community engagement Dawnfresh is now looking for opinions from stakeholders in the new farming areas and starting community engagement.

Three different local authorities are involved in the application process: the two sites off Cumbrae will be North Ayrshire and the Bute site will be Argyll and Bute, and although the Ardentiny site is still Argyll and Bute it will be dealt with by the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, said MacDougall.

The company said it had already been in touch with local community councils, in September 2017, when current meters were placed in the water, and in December 2018 when CAR licence applications were submitted to SEPA. ‘We’ve been keeping them abreast of the process as they have investigated the locations,’ said MacDougall.

‘There is confidence in the sites, they’re good locations and we’ve done hydrographic surveys in the areas, and wind and wave analysis. We’ve done a good body of work prior to getting to this stage, as you always do in the application process.’

Although Dawnfresh has in the past met with community opposition to growth from the Friends of Loch Etive, MacDougall said: ‘I think we’ve got quite a good relationship with the community now around Taynuilt and we would hope to bring the lessons learned into the new locations.’

Dawnfresh already provides significant support to many community

Opposite: Alison Hutchins, farming director of Dawnfresh

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05/02/2019 14:58:39

Dawnfresh thinks big

groups, sports teams, organisations and events. It will liaise closely with communities around the potential new sites to ensure benefits for these areas are maximised.

The high energy sites are in areas which are in line with the recommendations of the recent REC committee report into salmon farming.

‘I think it’s just the direction the whole industry is moving, towards the higher energy locations, well flushed locations in places that maybe ten years ago wouldn’t have been considered for farming,’ said MacDougall.

The sites will also go some way to realise the Scottish government’s ambition to sustainably grow the non-salmon finfish industry.

‘I think there is an opportunity to grow the export market for trout and this is something that was mentioned by the committee…developing non salmon aquaculture. It is something that would be supported,’ MacDougall added.

Alison Hutchins, farming director of Dawnfresh, said: ‘Our four projects at these sites represent a major investment in Scotland’s food and drink

Maybe ten years ago these “places wouldn’t have been considered for farming ”

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sector, with the potential to directly create 36 jobs and support many more.

‘Through meticulous planning and research, the locations of these sites have been selected in keeping with the recent recommendations of the Rural Economy and Connectivity (REC) committee towards high energy and offshore, but they also benefit from being located in and around the Firth of Clyde, which has a heritage of production.

‘These locations will allow us to protect the health and safety of our fish with minimal impact on the environment.

‘At Dawnfresh, we are committed to supporting the local communities we operate in and will continue to provide local people in Argyll and Bute and North Ayrshire with information and opportunities to give their views throughout the application process.

‘We believe our investments will greatly benefit not only the local economy in each of these areas but also the wider Scottish economy, providing new jobs and aquaculture infrastructure.’ FF

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05/02/2019 14:58:58

News extra – Wild salmon

Who ate all the smolts?

Atlantic nations flout advice over bumper mackerel shoals

BY MICHAEL VINEY

T

HE strongest voice for marine science in the north-east Atlantic comes from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), based in Denmark. With seagoing data from national research agencies, including Ireland’s Marine Institute, and surveys of its own, ICES tries to guide Europe’s political decisions on human use of the ocean.

The council’s precautionary ‘ecosystem approach’ demands concern for ocean life as a whole. But in dealing with national politics, fixing and sharing catches of individual species is still its main business.

One such species on which it issues advice and conducts research is mackerel. There is no long-term management strategy between fishing nations relating to the pressure on mackerel stocks, and Iceland, Russia and Greenland still set their own quotas.

In Bergen, Norway, last November, the EU, Norway and the Faroe Islands agreed a total allowable catch of mackerel in the north-east Atlantic for 2019 of 653,438 tonnes, a 20 per cent cut from 2018. Ireland’s Killybegs trawlermen feared worse. ICES had urged a reduction of 61 per cent.

Its scientists had claimed a severe decline in stock since 2011. But Sean O’Donoghue, head of the Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation, insisted that Irish and all other trawler fleets were finding large shoals of mackerel over the entire north-east ocean, suggesting an actual increase in stocks.

O’Donoghue’s narrative also appears in the Marine Institute’s latest advisory Stock Book as additional ‘information from stakeholders’. Along

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with ‘good recruitment to the fishery’, it asserts that mackerel is being caught ‘in substantial amounts’ outside the usual target waters.

ICES agreed in Bergen to look at the evidence again and come to another meeting with the coastal states in the next few months.

The council is used to having its advice resisted, but this conflict seems exceptional. It also coincides with a new and dramatic scientific hypothesis that claims an explosion of Atlantic mackerel, and blames it for major declines in salmon and seabird populations.

This comes from Dr Jens Christian Holst, a scientist at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen until 2013. An authority on the ecology of salmon at sea, Holst worked for many years on Norwegian herring stocks before switching to studying fishery management in the wider ocean ecosystem.

His approach has been controversial, and he now works as an adviser for the commercial pelagic trawler fleets of Norway. But Holst’s knowledge is also valued by the Atlantic Salmon Trust, where research director is Prof Ken Whelan, long eminent in Irish salmon research.

Above: Mackerel Opposite: Salmon smolt

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05/02/2019 14:59:54

Who ate all the smolts?

The fate of Irish fish in their first, post-smolt summer at sea forms part of Holst’s study, ‘Hypothesis on overgrazing and predation’, which can be found online.

This tells of a massive spread of spawning mackerel, westwards and northwards from the Norwegian Sea, producing a six-fold increase in stock over 10 years and doubling its density.

Migrating north from European rivers and entering the same waters are some 10 to 15 million post-smolt salmon, still small enough to be the prey of increasingly hungry mackerel.

The collapse in salmon returning to their native rivers – down by more than 70 per cent in Ireland – points to massive mortality at sea.

A former director of the Atlantic Salmon Trust, Tony Andrews, says in a foreword to Holst’s scientific paper that this ‘provides a possible and feasible explanation’.

Apart from direct predation, mackerel and salmon are competing for the same food as they graze on marine zooplankton. Both are showing signs of starvation. A seven-year-old mackerel is now, says Holst, half its weight of 10 years ago. He points to the virtual disappearance of G6 mackerel, which at 600g or more were once valuable in the Japanese market.

Overgrazing by billions of mackerel and fast-growing migrant salmon is also, he suggests, hitting seabirds such as kittiwakes and puffins that depend on the same zooplankton and small fish for food.

Gannets, on the other hand, dive for mackerel and are feasting on their shoals. They have followed them northwards, even building a breeding colony at the tip of the Svalbard archipelago. Mackerel were scarcely seen in northern Norway before 2008, but now are netted off east Greenland and Iceland.

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Holst combines data from existing marine research with the wider experiences of professional fishermen. In the current Inshore Ireland journal he urges a start to tests of his hypothesis. He proposes catching 50 tonnes of mackerel this May on known salmon migration routes west of Scotland, and inspecting the 150,000 stomachs for smolt. He also proposes an international ‘thinning out’ of mackerel stocks.

In this, the International Year of the Salmon, a five-pound fish was caught (and released) on a Donegal river on New Year’s Day. This was one, at least, to have dodged the wall of hungry Scomber Scombrus (Atlantic mackerel) – a predator, says Dr Holst, scarcely met by Irish salmon north of Ireland 20 years ago.

This article was first printed in The Irish Times. See also ‘The mackerel menace’, Fish Farmer, August 2018. FF

The “ collapse

in salmon returning to their native rivers points to massive mortality at sea

”

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05/02/2019 15:00:16

News extra – Lantra awards

Fish farm stars on

prize shortlist

Photo: Alan McCredie

Four aquaculture contenders join impressive Learner of the Year line-up

F

OUR aquaculture trainees have made the shortlist for this year’s Land-based and Aquaculture Learner of the Year Awards.

They are among 24 finalists named by Lantra Scotland, the sector skills council for land-based, aquaculture and environmental conservation industries, which organises the competition.

Among the aquaculture hopefuls is Harry Hamlin-Wright, a vet from Perth, who was taken on as a graduate trainee by Dawnfresh after completing an MSc in Aquatic Veterinary Studies at the University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture.

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‘At one point, a career as a small or farm animal veterinarian would have seemed much more likely for me,’ said Harry.

‘However, I can safely say that since making the switch I have had no regrets whatsoever.

With my background in veterinary medicine and farming, I believe I can contribute to the development and improvement of aquaculture in Scotland.’

Also nominated is Scottish Sea Farms employee Billy Welsh, from Stromness in Orkney, who has been doing a Modern Apprenticeship in Aquaculture with SSF through NAFC Marine Centre UHI. He has been an outstanding student, say his tutors, with written and oral work of an exceptionally high quality.

He said: ‘I feel like I deserve an award because of how far I have come in such a short period of time. I have developed a broad and useful set of skills and would consider myself a determined, hardworking salmon farmer.’

And Janis Brivkalns, from Dunoon, has been recognised too. He is undertaking a Modern Apprenticeship in Aquaculture with the Scottish Salmon Company through Inverness College UHI. Janis, who is seen as an inspiration to others, said: ‘I am keen to learn more and hope this award may help me progress within the company.’

Another aquaculture finalist is Andrew Richardson, from the Isle of Lewis, who has been studying for an Erasmus Mundus joint masters degree in Aquaculture, Environment and Society through the Scottish Association for Marine Science in Oban.

As well as excelling on his course, Andrew was recently elected as one of two national coordinators in Scotland for the European Aquaculture Society Student Group, and is an active member of the Sustainable Oceans Alliance.

He said: ‘I am very proud of what I have achieved in the last year. I would love to get recognition also for the fantastic MSc

Left: Harry HamlinWright of Dawnfresh.

Below: Janis Brivkalns, Scottish Salmon Company. Opposite - (top): Billy Welsh, SSF. (below): Andrew Richardson, Scottish Association for Marine Science

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05/02/2019 15:01:57

Fish farm stars on prize shortlist

programme within which I am enrolled. Being able to show that through a prestigious Lantra award would be incredible.’

As well as aquaculture, the awards include categories for the agriculture, animal care, equine, horticulture, game and wildlife, trees and timber, land-based engineering and environmental conservation industries, as well as Higher Education, Rural Schools, Modern Apprentice of the Year and CARAS (Council for Awards of Agricultural Societies) Awards.

The winners will be announced at a gala dinner and award ceremony on Thursday, March 7, at the Doubletree by Hilton Dunblane Hydro.

The highlight of the evening will be the announcement of the Learner of the Year Overall Winner. This goes to an outstanding trainee who has demonstrated exceptional ability, hard work and a passion for their industry.

The Tam Tod Trophy will be awarded in association with Countryside Learning Scotland to an outstanding young learner. The trophy was created in memory of the late Tam Tod, described as a well-loved gamekeeper, ghillie and lifelong friend of the countryside.

Jean’s Jam Award will also be making a return. The award recognises an inspiring mentor, teacher or trainer and was donated by training instructor Elspeth Watson in memory of her friend, Jean Costello.

The finalists for the 2019 learner of the year awards were chosen by an independent judging panel made up of influential figures from across the land-based and aquaculture sector: agriculture and rural affairs journalist Erika cultural banker Jimmy McLean; Lisa Connell Hay; Keith Paterson of Forestry Commission of the Scottish Salmon Company; and Rebecca Scotland; farmer Keith Redpath; former agriDawes of Jane Craigie Marketing.

MC and host for the evening will be Perthshire farmer and stand-up comedian, Jim Smith.

Liz Barron-Majerik, director of Lantra Scotland, said: ‘We’re delighted to announce the finalists for our 2019 Land-based and Aquaculture Learner of the Year Awards.

‘As well as highlighting the achievements of new entrants to our sector, the awards play a key role in promoting the importance of gaining qualifications and developing skills, for both trainees and their employers.

‘Everyone who was nominated, whether a finalist or not, should be extremely proud of this recognition.’

Erika Hay, chair of the independent judging panel, said: ‘As in previous years, we’ve been very impressed with the quality of people nominated for Lantra’s awards, and it’s been a privilege to meet them.

‘We know how much it means to finalists to get to this stage of the awards, as it’s a

I believe I can contribute to the “development and improvement of aquaculture in Scotland ”

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great boost for their self-confidence and demonstrates their potential to the rest of the sector.

‘There’s a real depth of talent and enthusiasm coming through across the country, and that can only be a good thing for Scotland’s rural economy.’

Tickets for the evening are available from Lantra on 01738 310164 or scotland@lantra. co.uk. FF

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05/02/2019 15:02:20

News extra – SSPO

One-size-fits-all

‘won’t work’

Salmon farmers challenge environment agency’s proposed overhaul

S

COTLAND’S salmon farmers have raised several concerns over the proposed regulatory overhaul by the environmental watchdog, outlined in a report published in November.

The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO), which represents the sector, said that it is ‘delighted SEPA [the Scottish Environment Protection Agency] proposes to give salmon farmers the support they need to grow sustainably over the long term’.

However, it warns that SEPA’s ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is not appropriate for Scotland’s salmon industry.

SEPA recommendations to relocate farms, tighten monitoring, and tackle non-compliance require more detail, and more time to implement, and need to be science based.

The SSPO said it is ‘keen to pursue this new agenda as soon as possible’ but there is still a lot of work to do.

In a written response to SEPA’s aquaculture sector plan, the salmon body said: ‘The sector would like to progress with the new framework with pace, to allow farming in the most appropriate locations, but there is a need to get this change right rather than change it quickly and get it wrong.

‘The proposal for new farms entering this new regulatory framework, with 2019 as the stated implementation date, is challenging, given the details still to be completed with regard to the determination process and licence conditions.’

SEPA’s proposals include moving farms further offshore, closer monitoring of waste, tighter controls on medicines, and the creation of an enforcement unit to ensure ‘compliance is non-negotiable’.

On the siting of farms, the agency said ‘this may allow for the approval of larger farms than would have been traditionally approved previously, provided they are appropriately sited in sustainable locations’.

But SEPA has alarmed smaller operators by saying it anticipates there will be fewer fish farms in shallower, slow flowing waters and more fish farms in deeper and faster flowing waters.

The SSPO asks SEPA to define what it means by a small site in terms of footprint size and biomass.

‘We are concerned that the impact on small companies does not appear to have been taken into account when developing the sector plan. The modelling, monitoring and sampling requirements are extensive in terms of cost and resource.

‘Innovations like high energy sites and RAS [recirculating aquaculture systems] are not necessarily within reach, financially, for small companies. Support for alternative innovation which can benefit smaller companies should also be considered.

‘There is some concern that the ‘one-size-fits all’ approach does not necessarily suit the diverse nature of the Scottish finfish sector.’

The new strengthened framework should result in farms developing in the most suitable locations and ‘the general direction of travel is supported by the sector’, said the SSPO. However, it pointed out that there are significant gaps in the technical detail

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and these gaps need to be filled to ensure there is a responsible approach that can work in practice.

‘There is a pressing need for further discussions with relevant stakeholders to work through the practicalities of the proposals.

The sector would welcome those discussions starting in Q1 of 2019, as a matter of urgency, given the continuing uncertainty regarding regulatory controls and processes and before any implementation takes place.

‘We propose the implementation of the framework could be progressed utilising a pilot approach where a number of sites are transferred quickly to the new approach to test the process and procedures before a full roll-out to the sector.’

In other comments, the SSPO said farmers would welcome a simpler licensing system: ‘The current licence arrangements are not fit for purpose and compliance with them does not provide a true reflection of environmental impact.

‘Under the existing regulatory regime, non-compliance in the finfish aquaculture sector has been dominated by failures in benthic surveys,’ said the SSPO. ‘These compliance failures are, in the main, where the farm’s footprint does not match the model prediction. This does not necessarily mean environmental harm has taken place, but it does mean that the footprint is not where it was predicted to be.

‘Moving to a position where compliance is based on actual environmental harm is welcomed by the sector and we believe it will demonstrate a step forward in our compliance performance.’

The SSPO said the industry goes beyond compliance in many areas and is already working to improve compliance in other areas.

‘Examples include significant reductions in use of anti-foulant, reducing the amount of copper discharged and new techniques such as on-site desalination for bathing fish in freshwater rather than using bath medicines like hydrogen peroxide.

Above: Scottish salmon farm, and salmon Below: The industry goes beyond compliance in many areas

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05/02/2019 15:04:09

One-size-fits-all ‘won’t work’

‘Across the sector we are continuing to develop and explore new technologies to increase the sustainability of our businesses. We are already developing and utilising many of the innovations mentioned in the [SEPA] document.’

The SSPO also said it would welcome further work – along with that being carried out by the Salmon Interactions Group- to protect wild salmonids, which should include ‘consideration of all other pressures identified as potential impacts’ and ‘identify and confirm the known causes for the decline and pursue actions to address them’.

Salmon farmers held a consultation workshop with SEPA in December to discuss their concerns, which also included the proposed measure to use feed as a control of environmental impacts.

‘There are several questions around the mechanisms which could be set for this control measure.

These include questions around FCR, composition of feeds, weekly feed rates, cycle length etc. and, importantly, of particular concern is the impact of a feed control on the health and welfare of the fish. We do not support the use of feed as a control measure.

‘Feed use is a poor proxy measure of seabed impact since different diets, environmental conditions and genetic make-up of different strains of salmon will result in markedly different levels of waste from the fish. We urge SEPA to engage with suitable experts and stakeholders in this area before committing to the use of feed as a control measure.’

The SSPO also urged that any review of current medicines should be undertaken in an open and transparent fashion and be inclusive of all relevant stakeholders to ensure that the decision process, including the instruction of any review, is evidence led.

‘We seek flexibility in medicine use that, over the longer term, would allow reduced medicinal release, but potentially improved treatment efficacy and health management.

‘Clarification on the monitoring requirements

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There is a need to get this change “right rather than change it quickly and get it wrong ”

for in-feed medicines, such as emamectin benzoate, is needed. The current approach of cage edge and 100m sampling locations is not appropriate or scientifically justified given the proposed extensive monitoring programme under the new regulatory system.’

The SSPO expressed reservations over the switch to new modelling, saying SEPA’s NewDepomod requires ‘significant work to develop it into a useable format and will need upskilling of staff and a commitment to development’.

‘The economic impact on a small company or start-up in the sector which needs to develop a hydrographic model linked to NewDepomod could be excessive.

‘Assisting smaller companies to become more efficient/update equipment or move to other locations should be considered. The current proposal would be a barrier to entry to the sector.’ FF

Consultation continues APPROXIMATELY 275 people attended SEPA’s nine community drop-in events, held before Christmas as part of the consultation over its salmon farm proposals.

A total of 28 one-to-one meetings were facilitated between SEPA specialists and stakeholder groups, which included community groups, local fisheries, NGOs and industry representatives, said a SEPA spokesman.

Specific round table discussions were also arranged for NGOs, fish farming environmental managers and partner public agencies in addition to the nine community events.

Meanwhile, around 120 responses to the consultation had been received by the deadline, including the SSPO’s.

SEPA said it is ‘still compiling and analysing the consultation responses at present and it is still too early to confirm the timetable for finalising our proposed regulatory approach and the new sector plan’.

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05/02/2019 15:04:30

Trade Associations - Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers

Trade Associations – ASSG

BY

BY DR NICKNICK LAKELAKE

Cultivating growth

Food of love

But new legislation needed to overhaul flawed planning rules

L W

OOKING consumption back, 2017 was a packed year both shellfia sh role cultivatiin onsaving the planet Greater of shellfi shforhas and the wider world. Our conference at the end of October seems a

distant memory, but I would hope that all those who made it to Oban will have some lasting value from trip.a lot of growth in ITH gained low water temperatures, therethe is not We are grateful to the Rural Economy minister, Fergus Ewing, for opening shellfish at present, but farmers are gearing up for the next the event with a positiveindescripti on of ouron sector withinChristmas the wider Scotti sh big demand their producti following and New aquaculture industry.

Year – St Valentine’s Day. The nutritional (and other!) benefits nounderlies doubt thatthis the traditi support of the Scotti sh government ofThere shellfiissh onal extra market boost. in helping producers to be part of the rural economy is welcomed, a goodand working Quiet times on the shoreline allow some forward and planning in adrelati be maintained to assist with future development. diti ononship to ourcan annual conference, scheduled for sustainable October 31-November didhave striketwo me in listening tongs the minister we should dates be making a 1,Itwe other meeti in train. whether (The conference are later case for shellfi sh cultito vatifion be recognised in its own right and not to be than usual, having t intowith spring tides and school holidays.) subsumed the general title Scottimembers sh aquaculture.

We plan within an oyster meeting forofASSG at the end of March to discuss issues specific to this side of our industry, such as recent Positive achievements interest in restocking native oysters and how it relates to our current There have been a range of achievements for individual producers, ofton enof as industry economics and outputs, an update on risks of importati aoyster resultherpes of strategic investment.

The European Mariti me and Fisheries Fund virus, and assessment of risks and management of INNS (EMFF) strategic funding has beenincluding well usedbiosecurity by our sector and has undoubted(invasive non-nati ve species), measures. lyThe encouraged further private investment from businesses. one positi ve benefi t of future freedom from the constraints of EU But looking forward, now just next year that our withdrawal the regulati ons may be toit is regain control of the deposit of shellfifrom sh within EU will become a reality.

(We will not, of course, be withdrawing from Europe Scotland and the potential pests that could be introduced by accident. asMussel geographically we areisallanother united by physical in the marine seed supply topic for aproximity, meeting,and scheduled immeenvironment counts a lot!). diately prior this to the nextforASSG conference. Following on from presentaHence, theat questi has to be, when it comesonal to strategic investment what tions given last on year’s event, an internati perspecti ve on the needs to replace the EMFF type approach within Scotland to conti nue to see is productivity of natural mussel stocks and how to monitor their health shellfi sh cultivatiinterest on prosper? of widespread to industry.

In part, answer to the administrati and business planning The aimthe would berelates to consider the variousve research projects that framehave work we operate countries under, through the various requirements of site been setcurrently up in northern to investi gate whether wild mussel selection,ons consents to operate, lease agreements, physical locationthe andreal public populati are actually in decline, or to better understand infrastructure (piers, roads, ferries and so on). dynamics.

These all greatly influence the ability for what are, primarily, small rural businesses Market issues to operate and contribute to the wider community and rural economy in a seems highly sustainable way.

Given that all news to be Brexit focused at present, it is reasIn determining what public investment may be required to help terms, EU suring to have some fixed points in our calendar.

In general facilitate this may we need wider public administrati ve withdrawal havetoaconsider variablethe economic impact on UK consumers.

For systemshthat private businesses these are currently to work under, hence we Scotti shellfi sh producers are ourhaving primary customers, and whether through it could yield benefits for have to be aware of changes potential market challenges forbusinesses cultivatedwithout shellfish over reliance on public finance. products.

While much has been made of the opportunity to increase exports Environmental of UK productscredenti aroundals the world, it has to be recognised that in the One of the bett er headlines we attimport racted last yearthan waswe ‘How musselOur farms context of seafood we currently more export. can boost biodiversity’ descripti evaluate how mussel challenge seems likelyand toaconti nue on to of beresearch how wetoget consumers to buy longlines havesha products positive impact the range of speciesScotti within farmvated site. and valuecan Scotti – and,onmore importantly, shaculti Last year, shellfi sh. I made a trip down to the Holmyards’ mussel farm (Offshore Shellfish) and saw for myself the scale of the developments off the Devonshire coast. It is good to see that the impacts have been rigorously documented and 26 reinforce what we already intuitively know – that, in the right location, shellfish cultivation has a range of positive benefits.

It could easily be argued that such developments are providing, in tech speak, Shellfish.indd 26

‘positive ecosystem services’. So it would seem appropriate that we should be seeking such a recognition of positive benefits within our regulatory and administrative system for the development of Environmental challenges shellfi sh cultivation within Scotland.

Working with the natural environment is the Such could provide the added foundation of a shellfish culti vatian onapproach business. encourage The inherent variability ofimpetus conditito ons at any private business investment shellfilends sh cultito vati on, while recognising the wider location over seasons andinyears the benefi t to society of collective knowledge and experience of the such activities and facilitating additionalhigh public sector engagement and support. growers in being able to produce quality It is worth remembering the fundamental benefit shellfish. shellfi sh cultivatiand on- that of producing a high This past year has seen of some extended quality protein food source with a carbon footprint extensive biotoxin bloom formations in some far lower than terrestrial livestock production. of our coastal waters - a natural phenomenon It also hasonthe added benefits of providing many which we are variously faced with a seasonessenti al vitamins al basis. Stratification of the water columnand dueminerals and the right profile of oils to assist our lifeti to the prolonged summer temperatures will me health.

Even more important in a business context is, of have no doubt played a role in the maintecourse, that it is a highly sought after food, to be ennance of bloom conditions. forathe tasteand and feel good factor alone!

Scotland is fortunate in joyed having varied geographically disparate coastline, ranging Sustainability accreditation from the shallow, sheltered lochs and inner relati on totothe sea lochs of the west coastInand isles, thegeneral consumer expectation of environmental sustainability it has also been exeast coast firths and the deeper voes of the tremely encouraging that Scottish mussel producShetlands. tionthe has fact achieved world first. Hebridean mussels This range of features, and that afrom were Aquaculture Stewardship Council the Solway to the Shetlands is awarded over 500the miles certi fication formix theirofcultivated shellfish, a standard of latitude, should provide a dispersed cultivation environments.that authenticates both the method of production and environmental safeguards.

If we are to face the challenge of restricted Thistonow means that the vast majority of mussels harvesting opportunities due natural biotoxproduced in geographScotland are accredited through one or in blooms, we need to have a wider other of the independently ical spread of activities from our existing north- verified schemes.

With major retailers now being able to supply west coast and the isles strongholds. their consumers with products having a known sustainability profile, there is a positive outlook in Food miles greater sales The green credentials ofsecuring the shellfi sh culti va-of Scottish shellfish. tion industry are well versed and at last year’s Producer responsibiliti es ASSG conference these and the nutriti onal Onwere a lessexpertly positive note, all ASSG members were value of mussels and oysters noti fiedsecurity of the recent demonstrated. In terms of food and identification of oyster herpes virus in the last ‘approved carbon footprint, culti vated shellfi sh are clearly zone’ production area for Above: Fergus Ewing; last Pacifi c oyster in Northern Ireland. a benchmark against which other terrestrial year’s Oban conference; Consequently, there should be no movement of and marine food sources can be compared.

ASSG award winners stock for on-growing or placing in Scottish waters Richard Tait, Judith Vajk and as they are currently all approved to be clear of this www.fishfarmer-magazine.com Craig Archibald.

Opposite page: Pacific oysters shellfish disease.

Fish health monitoring and control systems are in place specifically to protect the industry from dis05/02/2019 15:05:28

Food of love

In addition, the nutritional profiles of essential oils, minerals and vitamins makes their consumption a prerequisite to a balanced diet in a world of fast food.

Geographically dispersed production also helps to counter the fact that the raw material is both bulky and a relatively low unit value protein source. Local consumption and the ability to source local supplies fits in with the future challenges of sustaining the health of the nation.

Above: Oysters with

wine

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and offered to a far wider consumer audience through the multiple retail network.

One of the current challenges is for the industry to make the case for Infrastructure investment why continued public sector support is required. Also, there is a need to The Scottish seafood industry has benefited identify where such intervention can have the maximum impact – and from a range of funding initiatives over the what the objectives are for the future development of the industry. years, supported by both our own developThe terrestrial agriculture sector has made the case that farming the ment agencies and also EU structural funding countryside is a way of ensuring stewardship of the land (to prevent programmes. it from returning to scrub/woodland), and contributing to the mainteThe shellfish cultivation sector has been the nance of wildlife and the natural environment. recipient of both direct funding for business This is within the context that its basic function is to provide food start-ups and large items of capital equipment security for the nation (while supporting the maintenance of rural - together with community infrastructure sup- communities). port, such as transport networks and improveThe shellfish cultivation sector has a similar range of social and ecoments to landing locations. nomic credentials which can be built upon to justify public sector supIn addition, one major success in expanding port. However, a major difference is that the production techniques are production volume has been through facilitatsolely reliant on the maintenance of the natural marine environment. ing the development of processing operations.

Surely the role of Scottish shellfish cultivation businesses operating This has allowed products to be both preserved in remote rural locations is one of the most important in monitoring

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“

We have to maximise the collective expertise of the current cultivation industry and deploy it to best effect’

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Trade Associations - Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers

the health of the marine environment. No other marine stakeholder has such a vested interested in ensuring that the marine environment continues to act as feed source and nursery for shellfish, which ultimately can have a uniquely beneficial role in both the health and wealth of the Scottish nation.

Time will tell as we are engaged in a debate with the Scottish government and HM Treasury to determine the possibility of UK structural funding being available for the shellfish cultivation sector in the years to come.

Above: Oysters in bags

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Climate change The phenomenon of a changing and variable natural environment is nothing new to shellfish cultivators as no two years are exactly the same and the major challenge is to live with such variability and still successfully produce shellfish.

Good examples of this are the sometimes evident and sometimes not - biotoxin blooms, the natural variability of mussel seed settlement, the influence of ambient water temperature on growth and the ever variable weather patterns, creating lowered salinity conditions or rough seas preventing harvesting.

But what sort of challenges will climate change bring and how will we be able to monitor and define what the new normal is?

At the end of September in Kent it was reported that the ambient water temperature on the basis of our long and hot summer was at 20˚C! Will we ever have to deal with such a challenge in Scotland and what would the implications be, as cultivation is so closely enmeshed with the current environmental conditions?

Well, the converse scenario could also happen, with a change in the Gulfstream leaving us with warm summers but far colder winters more akin to Atlantic Canada.

The changes are almost boundless - the World Climate Change Conference debated such issues in Poland at the end of last year and has predicted grave consequences for mankind if there is not a reversal of greenhouse gas emissions.

Of course, most think of the polluters being cars, lorries and electricity generation stations but, equally, our diet, with its high meat content, is responsible for a large element of emissions. Some experts are saying that, with eight billion inhabitants on the planet, this simply has to change. In

the West, it is unlikely we will do without meat but we could live well by eating less of it.

Greater consumption of shellfish, therefore, has a role to play in saving the planet. However, unlike terrestrial agriculture, where species are neatly fenced in, or can be routinely monitored to ensure they can be controlled, the marine environment does not afford such a luxury for wild shellfish populations. But we can achieve this by selecting our cultivated species and meeting the challenges set by global environmental change.

Natural boundaries are partially reliant on geophysical features and the circulation of the water bodies – we are likely be faced with new scenarios in the marine environment in coming years. Change is coming in terms of the likely species make-up, and it will be a King Canute approach to management if we think current non-native species can be kept at bay.

What we have to do is maximise the collective expertise of the current shellfish cultivation industry and deploy it to best effect.

The challenges will be to produce high quality food from cultivation and help the wild shellfish populations thrive through ensuring we monitor and contain any additional manmade pollution of the marine environment.

Through such an approach, the wild and cultivated shellfish populations will hopefully maintain the widest biodiversity possible under challenging environmental climate change conditions.

We will have to hope that such an approach will be sufficient to provide all the ecosystem services that we are now beginning to understand that shellfish (both wild and cultivated) can provide.

Dr Nick Lake is CEO of the Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers. FF

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05/02/2019 15:06:30

All our products are designed to withstand the harsh weather and currents of the North Atlantic, and can be tailor made for your specific needs.

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05/02/2019 10:12:42

Comment

BY DR MARTIN JAFFA

Nature knows best Feeding flies to fish makes environmental and business sense

Y

OU can guarantee that critics of salmon farming will find any excuse to have a go at the industry, so it was no surprise that they have objected to initiatives in novel feeds.

Zero Waste Scotland has proposed the creation of insect farms, where food waste would be used to fatten up millions of black soldier flies. It believes the development would be environmentally friendly and help reduce costs, by providing a cheaper, more sustainable source of protein.

However, one anti-farming activist told a Sunday newspaper last month that many shoppers would be disgusted by the use of insects to feed salmon, and that it could also lead to the spread of disease ‘Tinkering with Mother Nature is a recipe for disaster,’ he said, apparently oblivious to what is happening in nature. He only needs to consult his friends in the wild salmon sector to learn that they engage in fishing for salmon with flies, otherwise known as fly fishing.

Presumably, they fish with flies because they are attractive to wild salmon. One wild salmon charity states that young salmon eat flies, invertebrates and plankton, adults eat other fish, squid, eels and shrimp.

How natural is that?

In fact, proponents of using insects as food are keen to encourage humans to eat insects directly. It is already more than acceptable in many countries with less distrust of other foods than us Brits.

With some critics, it seems the salmon industry simply cannot do right. They have complained for years that salmon farming is a drain on wild fish stocks, even though wild fish is widely used in other farm and pet feeds.

When salmon are fed a more plant based diet to reduce the fish content, the critics complain that the salmon no longer offer consumers the same nutrients.

Restrictions on the use of animal protein in fish feeds provide an opportunity to use insect meals as a viable alternative. I don’t see that consumers would have any objection to its inclusion in fish feeds.

In fact, it is likely that most consumers aren’t even aware which ingredients are used in fish feed and, more significantly, don’t care, as long as they are fully approved, tested and safe for the salmon to eat.

Remaining on the feed theme, I was interested to see that the Nor-

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wegian University of Life Sciences has awarded a PhD to Runi Weihe, who also works for the Faroese salmon feed company Havsbrun.

His thesis compared high protein feeds with those that are high in fat. The findings suggested that high protein feeds could produce better growth, despite the higher cost. This was because calculations showed that there was a better utilisation of the feed, reducing the length of the growing cycle, and a higher harvest yield, resulting in an improved overall economic outcome.

Certainly, high protein feeds will produce better growth, but they tend to be expensive to produce. The question is whether this can be done cost effectively and if this research shows it can, then these findings could help the industry reduce costs.

However, using high levels of protein can be wasteful. Fish use protein for laying down flesh to grow. They also use protein for energy, but this can be costly since energy components tend to be much cheaper.

It is often more cost effective to ensure that all the protein in feed is used for growth and to include fats as the source of energy. This is known as protein sparing.

With the move to extruded feeds, rather than pressed pellets, feed manufacturers were able to incorporate much more oil and fat into the diet, promoting the move to high energy diets.

Back in the late 1980s, when I attended my first Aqua Nor event, I came across a small feed company producing some of the first higher energy feeds I had seen.

The company has long gone but I was sur-

“seeI don’t that

consumers would have any objection to its inclusion in fish feeds

”

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Nature knows best

Above: Feeding salmon

prised by its message, which was that these high energy feeds were ideal for winter use.

This was a puzzle to me because salmon are cold blooded and therefore have a reduced energy need at lower temperatures. Why would you use a high energy feed during the cold winter months?

The answer was that the oils used in high energy feeds weren’t present for their energy content. Whether this was accidental or planned in these early high energy feeds is unclear, but the inclusion of the higher oil levels was primarily because it acted as an attractant.

At lower temperatures, the fish are potentially less active and thus feed less and, consequently, will grow less. High levels of oil made the feed more attractive to the fish, stimulating them to feed at a time when they were less likely to do so. This was not about energy at all.

Dr Weihe found that high protein feeds worked best at warmer temperatures and this is because the fish are much more likely to feed than when the water is colder.

I am reminded of a quote I came across when I began my own university research. It was from a Danish paper that said the aim of farming is not to grow the fish at the fastest possible rate but to do so in the most cost effective manner.

High protein feeds can be cost effective, but they need to be balanced against fish appetite.

Maybe the move to using insect meals as a lower cost protein will provide a way of reverting back to the production of more cost effective high protein feeds. FF

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05/02/2019 15:08:33

Norwegian Seafood Council Summit – Brexit

Norway ‘will strike its

own deal with UK’ Minister wants business as usual but is warned of Brussels brinkmanship

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ORWAY will reach a separate agreement with the UK in the event of a no deal or a hard Brexit, in order to safeguard the two countries’ uninterrupted trade in seafood.

This was the message from Norwegian fisheries minister Harald Tom Nesvik, addressing delegates at the Norwegian Seafood Council summit in London on January 23.

Brexit and its impact on the Norwegian seafood industry was the focus of the annual gathering, as speculation mounts in Oslo that a no deal scenario could almost bring exports to a halt in a worst case scenario.

The seafood council’s London head and summit host, Hans Frode Asmyhr, said: ‘Right now, nobody knows what the world will look like for Norwegian exporters selling seafood to the UK. It depends on what happens the next few days, the next few weeks or the next few months.

‘At the seminar we will therefore consider different scenarios that may arise. But we already know a great deal about the consequences for market access if the result would be a hard Brexit.’

Minister Nesvik drew on Norway and Britain’s shared history to promise continued collaboration, against the backdrop of uncertainty over the UK’s exit from the EU. He said although he hoped Britain would reach an agreement with the EU, Norway ‘luckily has a good dialogue’ with the UK government on a

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Norway - Minister.indd 32

no deal scenario.

Ahead of a meeting with his counterparts in Westminster, Nesvik appeared confident of finding ‘good solutions’ ‘Should an agreement not be reached, we are prepared to reach a separate agreement with you,’ he said.

‘Norway and Britain have a long and common history. We have been closely linked for more than a millennium and we are still brothers and sisters in arms. Our shared history is part of what makes our two nations both strong and prosperous.

‘There is no doubt Norway and Britain truly depend on each other and that is why it is crucial to ensure predictable and uninterrupted trade between our two countries.’

Renate Larsen, CEO of the Norwegian Seafood Council, said some 67 per cent of Norwegian seafood exports went to the EU last year, with Poland, Denmark and France the top three destinations.

The UK is Norway’s fourth largest export market for seafood, worth around £575 million in 2018, an 18 per cent increase on the previous year, and is the second largest growth market.

Salmon exports increased by 28 per cent.

‘But a large proportion of Norwegian cod and haddock goes through other countries before reaching the UK,’ she said.

‘In 2017, we researched where the seafood to the UK came from and found that approximately 50 per cent of all cod and haddock went to countries such as Denmark and Poland and China before it reached the UK. This amounts to one billion NOK.’ She said there was very strong growth in salmon exports to the UK, and growth in the consumption of salmon as well.

Nesvik described this as particularly significant, and later told Fish Farmer that Norway’s salmon farmers were looking to March 29, the date Britain is due to leave the EU, with concern, not least over potential logistics issues.

‘That is why it’s very important, in a no deal scenario, to tell everyone we are going on as

Above: Fisheries minister Harald Tom Nesvik with Norwegian Seafood Council chair Marianne E. Johnsen (left) and CEO Renate Larsen.

Left: UK fisheries minister George Eustice meets with Harald Tom Nesvik

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Norway ‘will strike its own deal with UK’

we have always done for many years.’

But Norwegian companies based in Scotland may be able to make up some of any shortfall.

One of those companies is Mowi and its group communications manager, Ola Helga Hjetland, told the website sysla.no that the company has a considerable volume of fish in Scotland so it should not be a problem supplying the UK market.

Nesvik, who met UK fisheries minister George Eustice after the summit, said: ‘My people are in very close dialogue with Defra and I’m certain we’re going to reach a good deal for

is crucial to ensure “It predictable and uninterrupted trade between our two countries

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Norway - Minister.indd 33

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everybody because we are dependent on each other.

‘Our fish industry wants to sell fish to the growing UK market and also I believe the consumers in the UK want Norwegian fish and that’s why we need to find good solutions.’

However, a warning came from a British trading expert that while the

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Norwegian Seafood Council Summit – Brexit

Farm revolution uses ocean in ‘smarter’ way

Above: The minister said Norway wants to continue selling its fish to the UK. Below: Norwegian Seafood Council London chief Hans Frode Asmyhr, CEO Renate Larsen and head of communications Celestine Cheong

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NORWAY’S total seafood exports last year were worth a record 99 billion kroner, and Harald Tom Nesvik joked to the Norwegian Seafood Council in London that he was reappointed fisheries minister in a government reorganisation the previous day so he could fulfil his ambition of hitting the 100 billion kroner export mark.

Salmon will play a major part in that export growth, with exports accounting for NOK 67.8 billion or 72 per cent last year.

UK and Norway would be free to negotiate The new Norwegian government, which is now a coalition of four their own deal, following a no deal exit on parties, still under the premiership of Erna Solberg, outlined its March 29, obstacles remained. revamped aquaculture policy but Nesvik said there was not much Norway, although not in the EU is, along with change from the existing strategy.

Lichtenstein and Iceland, a member of the ‘We are going to have growth in the aquaculture industry but we European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and have to do it in a sustainable way,’ he told Fish Farmer. ‘That is why European Economic Area (EEA), and is aligned we have what we call the traffic light system – we have indicators with EU market rules. that say if you have too much lice you have no growth. We also put Andrew Kuyk, director general of the UK ProNorway into different sectors so we can measure these lice levels.’ vision Trade Federation, said: ‘If we exit without He said the current farm policy would not stop Norway achieving a deal, we are free to do that [find a deal with expansion, but he would not set a target figure for future production Norway], that’s fine between you and us, but in the sector, which currently produces around 1.3 million tonnes I don’t imagine Brussels is going to look too annually. kindly on the UK and Norway suddenly getting ‘I never talk about specific numbers regarding targets because the a cosy agreement between themselves. next questions will always be about that specific number.

‘So you might find someone in Brussels ‘From my point of view, it’s important to have sustainable growth in picking up the phone to you and saying, yes of the industry so we can supply the market, but that’s going to happen course you’re free to do a deal with the UK, but in a way that we also take care of all the environment.’ would you like to think about that a little bit Earlier, he said that in using the ocean in a ‘smarter’ way, Norway is before you do it. taking fish farming offshore to revolutionise the aquaculture industry.

‘It’s going to get highly political, highly Outlining his vision for growth in both aquaculture and fishing, he sensitive…and we’re going to get even more said: ‘We live in times of great uncertainty. We are probably asking brinkmanship.’ FF ourselves more questions about the future now than we have done for decades. Questions concerning jobs, poverty, energy, climate, trade, and peace and stability.

‘We do not know the answers yet but we know where to look for some of them. We know the ocean holds many of the answers. We will continue to live by the ocean, from the ocean and of the ocean.

The ocean represents huge opportunities and potential is out there.’

He said that in looking to the ocean to find more food for a growing world population, ‘we have to do things far better. We have to change the way we treat the ocean’.

‘We have to stop the world’s marine ecosystems being destroyed by marine litter and mismanagement. And we have to manage our marine resources even more sustainably.

‘It is essential that we increase ocean productivity – if we manage to strike the right balance between production and protection we can continue to harvest huge resources from the sea.’

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05/02/2019 10:14:17

Norwegian Seafood Council Summit – Brexit

Backstop fears

Trade and catching shouldn’t be linked but they are, warns industry leader

A

NDREW Kuyk told delegates at the Norwegian Seafood Council summit that he was not constrained by having to say nice things about the government, before spelling out the implications of the Brexit shambles for the sector.

As director general of the Provision Trade Federation, he was speaking on behalf of the Seafood Industry Alliance, which represents the vast bulk of UK seafood processors and traders.

He explained why UK trade with the EU mattered, how access to waters and access to markets are separate issues but have been linked in the Withdrawal Agreement, and warned that, with no deal, tariffs were just the start of Britain’s problems.

‘The processing industry is where the money is in the fishing industry, we generate wealth and added value, we employ more people than the catching sector and we are the vital link between the fish in the sea and getting it on to people’s plates,’ said Kuyk.

There is a whole other negotiation about EU fishing rights and the UK leaving the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and becoming a sovereign coastal state with a 200-mile zone.

‘Our line and also the government’s line is that access to waters and access to markets are different things, to be negotiated differently. That’s an easy thing to say but the realpolitik is that they will inevitably get linked and there will inevitably be trade-offs and bargaining.’

The EU is the world’s largest fish importer, relying on global chains, which Norway is a part of. Between two thirds and three quarters of total fish consumption is from outside EU waters, and the picture in the UK is similar.

‘Who catches what in EU waters is not really the issue, the issue is maintaining those supplies to the market, the existing trade flows and keeping the market share for fish against competing protein foods.

‘Seafood faces competition from vegans, vegetarians and flexitarians so

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Norway - Brexit.indd 36

there is no guaranteed place in the market for fish or meat or dairy, it’s under challenge.’

Interruptions to supply will damage that market, he warned, and switch people away from eating fish.

Trade with the EU matters because even on the most optimistic assumptions, the EU will remain a deficit market for the foreseeable future.

‘And even assuming the UK becomes a sovereign coastal state, assuming it has a 200-mile limit, assuming that means larger catches for UK vessels as against foreign vessels, all of that – even doubling cod and haddock catches for the UK – leaves this country at best supplying 20 per cent of our own market and probably not even that.

‘We have this paradox that about two thirds of Above: Andrew Kuyk what we eat is imported and about 80 per cent of what we catch is exported (mostly unprocessed) because they are different fish,’ said Kuyk.

The Withdrawal Agreement will determine the UK’s future trade relationship with the EU, and although the CFP has nothing to do with trade, these will be bound together, Kuyk said.

‘I think it is highly likely that there will be a linkage in those negotiations between the question of trade and the question of access to waters.’

Game of two halves There are two halves to the Brexit process – the

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Backstop fears Withdrawal Agreement (the divorce settlement) and the future relationship.

The Withdrawal Agreement contains a transition period, which the government insists on calling an implementation period, ‘as if there was something to implement’, said Kuyk.

‘One of the real problems is that in this game of two halves, yes, you can agree or not agree the Withdrawal Agreement but that in itself tells you nothing about the future relationship.’

The outline of the future relationship is in the Political Declaration, which has ‘lots of good aims about concluding the closest ever partnership the EU has had with anybody’, including a free trade area that is as frictionless as possible.

‘But if you are leaving the club, if you are not part of the single market and the customs union, it’s difficult to have the benefits of membership if you have none of the obligations.

‘The Political Declaration steers a course between having the freedom the UK wants to pursue an independent trade policy, and underlines the more you go your own way and diverge from EU rules, the more likely you are to face friction in your trade arrangements with the EU. ‘You can only have fully frictionless trade and fully tariff free trade if you are totally aligned, either as a member of the customs union or as part of the single market.’

And tariffs are only part of the trade deal story.

There is a lot more uncertainty about the rules that would apply, particularly in a no deal situation, over the whole regulatory landscape, the customs clearance requirements, the health and export certification, food law labelling, consumer information – there is a lot that needs to be untangled.

‘You can do a free trade deal that is tariff free but if you don’t accompany that with regulatory alignment you are still going to face third country border checks around standards, labelling, rules of origin, and so on.

‘At the moment, the Political Declaration does not solve those trade-offs. It simply paints the level of ambition.

‘It doesn’t say that if the UK, for example, wants to do a trade deal with the US that has more favourable tariff treatment, then that’s going to make it very difficult for the UK to go on trading with the EU as though nothing has happened.

Transition and the backstop ‘This is where you come back to Northern Ireland, because the worry for the EU will be that there will be a back door into Europe for cheaper goods or goods produced to a different standard.’ (The classic examples from the US include GM soya or hormone fed beef).

The UK’s only land border with the EU, between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, has special status in Brexit.

‘So if we continue to trade freely with the EU and continue to trade on our own terms with other people, unless you’ve got a barrier, unless you’ve got a control that regulates the flow of that into the EU, it is an open back door.’

That, said Kuyk, undermines the common customs policy, it undermines the single market.

Unless the future relationship is structured in such

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a way that there is no need for those sorts of checks on that border or anywhere else, you are still going

to come back to how you deal with that land border.

‘The backstop is a major political drama but it is a symptom not the whole story.’

Transition in the Withdrawal Agreement lasts initially for two years, up to the end of 2020. At the UK’s request, that can be extended for two more years.

If the Withdrawal Agreement is ratified in the UK parliament –which means the EU would also ratify it – that gets the UK into transition, Kuyk explained.

‘That gives us two years in which to conclude the future relationship and try to solve some of these issues around the balance between independence and alignment.

‘If after the two years, and then the further two years, we have still not reached an agreement, then we have the backstop designed to prevent that hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.’

The backstop is an insurance policy that says unless and until you have concluded the longer term framework, the UK will remain closely bound to the customs union and the single market and, within that, Northern Ireland is even more closely bound.

There are further distinctions between the rules that apply to Northern Ireland and to rest of UK, which give rise to concerns about borders down the Irish Sea. ‘It could go on for a long time, everyone says it’s temporary but temporary does not mean short! It can be 10 years, 20 years, 40 years, 120 years!’

Fisheries is unique The backstop has a unique carve-out for fish and fishery products, said Kuyk, allowing the EU to impose tariffs on UK exports if there is no deal on future fishing rights. For any other agri food product, there will be free trade, but not for fish.

‘In that backstop, if there is no other deal, the EU will impose tariffs on UK fisheries exports; it’s there in black and white.

‘It’s there as a big, big stick to persuade the UK to agree to EU demands on fishing rights. President Macron said publicly ‘we have got what we want’ – if the UK does not agree to our terms on access to waters it will not get tariff free trade with us under the backstop.’

The government, said Kuyk, has wilfully misunderstood that. They say Macron, and the rest of the EU, won’t have access to UK waters, but 80 per cent of UK catches are exported and mainly to the EU. ‘We may have lots of waters and we may not let the French into those waters, but what are we going to do with the fish we catch in those waters?

‘We will not be able to export them tariff free into Europe. And we’re not going to sell them to the UK consumer either because they are the wrong sort of fish – herring, mackerel, shellfish for which there is not a market in the UK.’ Under the backstop, the EU will impose tariffs on all fish exports – and that would hit exports of farmed salmon hard.

‘The backstop on fish is a powerful lever and the UK fishing industry is ignoring that,’ said Kuyk. ‘It’s meaningless to say we’ve got control of the waters because in economic terms that is nothing.’

He said there was a conspiracy theory that failure to agree fishing rights could trigger the backstop regardless of progress in other sectors.

In the broader future relationship, the Political Declaration, there is a deadline on fish: ‘The parties will use their best endeavours to conclude and ratify

If there is no other deal, the EU will impose tariffs “ on UK fisheries exports; it’s there in black and white ”

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Norwegian Seafood Council Summit – Brexit their new fisheries agreement by July 1, 2020. That’s six months before the transition and if you’ve got to have it concluded and ratified by then, you have to have agreed it by the end of 2019. If you haven’t done that, that’s technically a reason to trigger the backstop- because you have failed to reach agreement.’

Kuyk said there had been worryingly little discussion about the future process, with all the focus so far on agreeing the Withdrawal Agreement.

‘There have been no negotiations on the Political Declaration, no discussions on future fisheries relationship, no discussions on this trade-off, still to come.

‘If we get an agreement, it just gets us to the starting point of the real negotiation which is about the long-term future, and that could take years.

‘Even if Theresa May can get a majority in the House of Commons in the not too distant future, that is by no means the end of Brexit.

‘This is going to go on for a long time and….on fish I think it’s going to be particularly difficult and highly political well into the future.’ FF

• The UK is the second largest seafood processor in the EU with a total turnover of £4.2 billion, employing more than 14,000 people, a significant percentage of them EU nationals.

• The catching side uses the phrase ‘a sea of opportunity’ but even if we get more fish in UK waters, our processing industry is not adapted to processing that whole wet fish as landed from a boat.

A lot of imported supplies have undergone first stage processing elsewhere (head, gutted, filleted, whatever), said Andrew Kuyk.

• The UK would need many more people skilled in filleting and so on if the processing sector was to suddenly start filleting and processing from scratch any increase in UK catches. Our processing capacity will need to be transformed if there is a big increase in UK catches post CFP.

Seafood pawn in ‘scary’ political game

Above: Andrew Kuyk (left) and Nigel Edwards at the London summit

WHEN Nigel Edwards, technical director of Seachill and chair of the Seafood Industry Alliance, gave a talk at last year’s Norwegian Seafood Council summit, he said: ‘We are now at the end of the beginning.’

How optimistic that sounds today as the worst case scenarios that seemed distant a year ago look ever more likely.

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Norway - Brexit.indd 38

Edwards told Fish Farmer at this year’s summit that Brexit ‘should be a fear for anybody - the disruption, trade freeze potential, potential worst cases - nobody knows what the final trade agreements will be’.

As he pointed out in January 2018, the asymmetric trade flows complicate the negotiation of the future trade relationships, with

the EU and beyond.

Most imports come from outside the EU, and most of the markets for the UK fleet are in the EU. New tariff or non-tariff barriers to trade, or new border or customs controls, could have significant effects on wider international supply chains.

Those complications have still to be resolved, with the March 29 deadline fast approaching.

‘Andrew Kuyk was honest, the potential antagonistic approach could happen should there be a disruptive no deal,’ said Edwards in London last month.

‘We’ve been very clear in the agenda we’ve set out in dealing with the Brexit process with the Seafood Industry Alliance that there has to be a complete de-coupling of trade and fisheries.

‘But the reality, as Andrew already said, is that trade and fisheries – and trade is all fish, farmed or wild – will almost inevitably be embroiled together.

‘It’s nice for the UK to say that we’ll set up independent free trade agreements but how quickly and how effectively and how robustly will that be able to be set up. And will it give us certainty long term?

‘Our worst case scenario is that we can’t rely on just being able to set up the type of free arrangements with [for instance, Norway] because there will be a third relationship always in the room.’

Edwards said the sector has regular discussions with Defra and the fisheries minister over border controls but admits there is frustration over the lack of preparedness.

‘There are so many scenarios

and preparation isn’t right for any of them. The obvious political issues overlay and stop any pragmatic solutions that actually support business.

‘From a reputation of seafood perspective, fisheries and seafood are being used for political bargaining – it has a separate, defined sub agreement within the Withdrawal Agreement and therefore it will become a pawn in the wider political game, so it really is quite scary.

‘We are part of the global seafood trade, we are highly supportive of fishermen getting what they want out of this as well. The benefits to the UK fishermen are benefits to the UK industry.

‘We’re not trying to set ourselves apart from the fishermen.

What we’re emphasising is that the fishermen’s negotiations for their rights are separate to the negotiations over trade, and that we shouldn’t be pulled apart by those negotiations becoming intertwined. It’s a scare, it’s a big concern to us.’

The obvious “political issues

overlay and stop any pragmatic solutions that actually support business

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Future is where all facts finish

Future is where all facts finish Seafish regulator urges business to prepare for the worst

W

E are all going to have to become customs experts soon, said Ivan Bartolo, Seafish regulatory affairs officer, as he outlined the realities for seafood trade with Norway, and other countries, beyond Brexit.

First, the facts: the UK imported 34,366 tonnes of seafood worth £105.5 million from Norway in 2017, and exported 1,295 tonnes worth £4.8 million.

But these were only direct imports. Much Norwegian seafood comes indirectly into the country through China, Poland, Denmark. About half the salmon consumed in the UK comes from Norway though much of this arrives indirectly, processed in other countries.

Norway currently enjoys preferential trade arrangements with the UK through its membership of the European Economic Area (EEA). This includes reduced tariffs and simplified cross border procedures, with fewer veterinary checks – ‘it just flows through’, said Bartolo.

As for the future, that is where all the facts finish and conjecture starts, he said, going on to describe what the UK government is doing now, what will happen in the hypothetical transition period, and what will happen in a worst case scenario of no deal with Europe.

Currently, the UK is engaging with partner countries, hoping to transition existing free trade agreements and to disrupt trade as little as possible if there is a no deal situation.

The UK is making a new tariff schedule – it will have the power to set its own tariffs in the future. There is draft legislation on its way to parliament. There is also legislation being prepared to cover quotas.

If there is an implementation period (highly doubtful of course, said Bartolo), there are arrangements being made so the UK is treated like a member state, and everything should stay the same for a short while.

He said a recent story in the Financial Times suggested that no free trade agreements would be ready for March.

‘But hopefully there will be some transitional bridging arrangements so that on day one after Brexit the whole situation doesn’t collapse. But it’s all conjecture, we don’t know where we are with these free trade agreements. All we can hope for is a useful stop gap.’

The UK will seek to bring into force bilateral third country agreements from exit day. If there is no deal and there are no trade arrangements, then all imports into this country will face tariffs, laid out in the UK tariff schedule. Bartolo reckons these will mirror very closely what exists now, with a few minor tweaks, if the UK wants to disrupt trade as little as possible.

This will apply to EEA countries like Norway, too, because even though the UK would like to agree zero tariffs with Norway, World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules (that would come into force in a no deal situation) say you can’t preferentially zero tariff goods from one country without a proper trade arrangement, so that is very unlikely to happen.

Full seafood tariffs with, for example, Norway will amount to about £8 million on the £105 million of direct imports. With indirect imports it will be much bigger, said Bartolo.

With the EEA countries there are currently no border checks, and the intention in the case of a no deal is that there would be no change to procedures.

The UK can unilaterally decide what imports to control. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said it’s not worried about the safety of seafood from Norway, all safeguards are in place and there is absolutely no risk, the same as with the EU. So, as far as the FSA and Defra and the border inspection posts are con-

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Time taken for the EU to conclude recent free trade agreements, compared to length of Brexit transition period

Source: Institute for Government analysis of the European Commission’s Trade Directorate-General data

Above: This slide shows how long it takes for the EU to conclude trade agreements with other countries.

Below: Ivan Bartolo

cerned, they don’t see any viable reason to increase the veterinary checks, so that should not be a problem (from what Bartolo is hearing).

He said a lot of technical notices have been produced by the UK government and he advised seafood companies to google these on the government website to find out how to prepare for no deal.

To date, seafood businesses are preparing for this outcome in different ways; mostly, they are making sure they know what the possible effects are.

Some have been stockpiling slightly, nothing huge, and looking at alternative import routes if they have to void the Channel Tunnel, for example.

The government advice is that companies should have started to think about this by now, and it was worth spending money on hiring staff who are customs experts.

‘The industry has to be prepared for this now because the chances of paying duty and having to deal with customs are real,’ said Bartolo.

‘Even if it’s going to be zero tariffs because of a quick arrangement, customs are already saying there are extra procedures, new forms you have to fill in, you have to submit customs declarations now, so people have to be ready to do that from day one, unfortunately.

‘In a nightmare, worst case scenario, from day one there will be tariffs to pay, but we’re all hoping the government will reach some deal within the next few months to be able to zero tariff seafood from Europe and from Norway.’

of paying duty and having “Thetochances deal with customs are real ” 39

05/02/2019 14:18:52

Norwegian Seafood Council Summit – Marketing

Not all fish are equal Salmon is seen as ‘outside seafood’, the spaghetti bolognaise or lasagne equivalent

M

EETING the challenge of changing consumer patterns, learning lessons from meat innovations, and treating salmon differently – these were just some of the issues raised by retail and processing experts during the Norwegian Seafood Council summit in London.

In the increasing trend towards vegan, vegetarian and flexitarian (mostly plant based) diets, the seafood sector must differentiate itself from the meat industry.

But by promoting seafood’s sustainability credentials and its health message, and adapting quickly to consumer issues, it was possible to regain the initiative.

‘I think we’re an incredibly lucky category because we’ve got one of the few food types where the government is saying eat more of it,’ said Dan Aherne, CEO of New England Seafood International.

‘The key thing for fish is to differentiate itself, we can’t be grouped in with red meat and poultry. There’s evidence that flexitarians already see fish as a lighter, healthier option. Let’s maximise that market because I think that’s going to be a growth market.

‘When it comes to veganism, what can you do? It’s a valid choice but we as an industry have the health connections and we need to promote them.’

The UK consumes four times as much meat as fish, however, and the health message alone is not enough to change habits.

‘It’s got to be healthy and delicious – we all know what we should do more and less of, but there’s a massive difference between knowing it and doing it,’ said Aherne, who was taking part in a panel discussion focused on retail trends.

‘A lot of people think they’re going to be unsatisfied when they have a piece of fish and it’s not until they experiment with the different species that they realise you can have a really sustaining meal based around fish.’

With seafood, the challenge is a lack of understanding and lack of consumer awareness – ‘we therefore need to do the education’, said Aherne, adding that those who win in the retail market will be those who are the most agile.

‘When you see sushi kiosks popping up in retailers you’re getting a far higher

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education on the deliciousness of raw fish and the accessibility.

‘The opportunity for fish is how do we find new and fresh ways to engage consumers – we don’t perhaps have the same established buying patterns as some of the other categories against which we’re competing.’

But while the sector needs to ‘be mindful of the stiff competition of other proteins, particularly the meats’, it can learn from other industries, said the chief procurement officer of Young’s Seafood, Stuart Caborn, in an earlier talk.

During the long hot summer last year, consumers moved quickly to barbecue friendly food and the meat sector responded with summer ranges.

‘I’m not sure the seafood category can say the same…we have to ask ourselves as a sector, did we miss an opportunity.’

Caborn also said the seafood sector can learn from the meat sector’s easeof-use formats- for example, the development by chicken manufacturers of roast in the bag chicken which anyone can prepare.

Ease of preparation is increasingly important and a strong trend for the future. Packaging innovation is a mega trend too, and Young’s has invested ‘hugely’ in an inspiration centre that focuses on packaging reduction.

Aherne said the seafood industry could be more proactive in how it tackles over-packaging, and he compared the presentation of meat to fish.

‘I think we could see a stripping back to more fundamental basics in terms of how we sell fish,’ he said.

When people find the one dish they can cook and realise how easy it is, they become hooked on that one go-to place that’s safe.

‘I don’t believe anyone stares at the meat fixture and looks at a pack of mince and think that looks delicious. What they’re thinking is imagining what they’re going to do with it. Fish has got to try to build those associations with consumers.

‘There is a rejection of material assets going on, people are understanding you only need so much stuff and we’re being quite wasteful and there’s a planetary impact, people are waking up to that.’

Caborn also said consumers were more aware of sustainability issues than ever before, because of TV programmes and social media, about the effects, for example, that packaging is having on the environment and this will affect consumption and the buying habits of consumers.

Aherne offered an explanation of how new species can gain traction in the marketplace. In the UK, the ‘big five’ species (salmon, cod, haddock, prawns and tuna) still account for 80 per cent of seafood sales.

The greatest acceleration of growth, that pushes a species forward, is when there is a ‘triangle’ of food service (especially gastro pubs), celebrity chefs and marketing by retailers.

‘With sea bass and sea bream over the last 10 years you can barely go into a gastro pub with that £14-£17 menu choice and not have sea bass or sea bream on the menu.

‘In the early years of farmed salmon that’s what you were getting; it was on every food service menu, Jamie Oliver and Delia and all these guys were just doing simple recipes, wrapping salmon in a piece of foil with olive oil. That was their spaghetti bolognaise or lasagne equivalent in fish.

‘Even when the prices of salmon have gone up, there’s quite a lot of data now that says it’s established in people’s baskets, so of course there is some elasticity but the volume trends aren’t hit as badly by inflation as you might think.’

Caborn also highlighted the strength of the salmon market, saying that

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Not all fish are equal

creating new markets for white fish was harder than for salmon, which was seen as a separate food category by consumers.

‘The key challenge in white fish, unlike salmon, is that there’s a lot of competition for substitutes for cod and haddock, and not so much more for salmon. Salmon seems to be a category in its own right, outside of seafood, and we need to learn from that.

‘Over a 12-week period, 600,000 shoppers dropped out of chilled salmon- when inflation hit 17 per cent. This led to the lowest level of chilled salmon since December 2014 but the consumers did not actually leave the category entirely.

‘Some of the spend switched to the frozen seafood category, and some of the spend moved into the chilled seafood category for products such as surimi, prawn cocktails and smoked mackerel.’

With white fish, sales had been quite static, he said, adding: ‘We see promotion driven campaigns in the UK where companies spend a lot of money.

We’re an “incredibly

lucky category because the government is saying eat more of it

”

This drives consumption increase, but as soon as the price normalises, consumption reverts.

‘To truly get long-term sustainable consumption of white fish in the UK we need stability in the value chain, with an aligned strategy all the way through to the retailer.

‘The way that you buy cod and haddock is quite different from the way you buy salmon. With salmon, you can look at a long-term hedging programme, you can look at the NOK, you can look at what’s going to happen on Fish Pool….and you’ve always got Scotland…you can look between the two.

‘From the research we’ve done, consumers don’t see salmon as seafood, they see it as a separate category and a separate protein altogether.

‘There has been fantastic work done by Norwegian companies over the years to create salmon in its own right, something we can learn from in white fish.’ FF

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Top: Panel (from left to right): Carina Perkins of The Grocer, Dr Hillary Shaw of De Montford University, Mike Watkins of Nielsen UK, Georgio Sangiorgi of Leroy, and Dan Aherne of New England Seafood.

Above: Egil Skarbøvik, skipper of the Ramoen (frozen at sea vessel), Norwegian Seafood Council’s CEO Renate Larsen, and London chief Hans Frode Asmyhr, and Dan Aherne.

Opposite: Stuart Caborn of Young’s Seafood.

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Sea lice – Vet’s view

BY RONNIE SOUTAR

Heading in the right

direction

The integrated management systems now evolving are proving effective

S

company vets and colleagues who provide services to farms with no in-house vet, under the chairmanship of Professor Randolph Richards, to share experience and consider, among other things, strategic lice control using all the tools available.

So, as we move into 2019, what are these strategies and how are they working in practice?

Prevention is key, and the principle of managed areas, with agreement over crop synchronisation and fallowing periods, remains at the heart of this. There is recognition that the actual areas into which Scotland’s coast is divided Below: Sea lice. for this purpose need to be reviewed to account Opposite: Wrasse for modern farming practices but, nevertheless, the principle remains sound, has proven effective, and will continue to play a very significant part in minimising the impact of lice.

Photo: SLRC

COTLAND’S 10-year Farmed Fish Health Framework (FFHF), published by the Scottish government last May, noted that sea lice treatment strategies have evolved from ones which were based predominantly on medicinal control to a more balanced strategy, including the use of cleaner fish and physical removal, alongside the use of licensed medicines.

The issue of sea lice control now forms one of the principal workstreams for the working group (FFHF WG) and its sub-groups tasked with overseeing the implementation and development of the framework.

While the framework document recognises that ‘treatment strategies will be site and area specific’, there is a general consensus, among those at the sharp-end of sea lice control, on the direction of travel. Indeed, one of the most notable features of 2018 was the move towards openness and transparency in this area, with a genuine desire to share best practice and work together to beat the common enemy.

The conversation has, of course, been taking place within the FFHF WG but also more broadly outwith that.

Very practical discussions have already occurred in the SSPO’s recently formed committee of industry veterinarians. This has brought together

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Heading in the right direction

More recently, the concept of lice shields, or ‘skirts’, has been added to the preventive mix and there has been wide take-up of this across the industry.

I believe we are seeing positive results in the prevention of lice settlement, but fine-tuning the use of these shields is definitely going to be happening this year. In particular, we need to better understand the details of shields’ effect on the contained environment and the inter-relationship between this and gill health.

Moving on to control measures, perhaps the most widely publicised strand of the anti-lice strategy has been the deployment of cleaner fish. Wrasse and lumpfish are now in widespread use, to the extent that demand has outstripped supply.

Concerns have reasonably been raised about the impact of wild catch on native wrasse populations; this is recognised within the industry, which has been working with Marine Scotland to establish a suite of voluntary measures that seek to protect the fishery and ensure the collection of data to allow better understanding of wrasse stocks.

The signs regarding farmed wrasse production at the start of this year are extremely encouraging, to the extent that balancing supply with farmers’ needs looks distinctly possible.

Lumpfish production is now well established and, as with wrasse, information sharing has been a key factor here. The cooperative effort

“

One of the most notable features of 2018 was the move towards openness and transparency in this area

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Ronnie.indd 43

”

on cleaner fish currently is on husbandry, health and welfare in the marine pens, where the impact of these little workers on mobile stages of L. salmonis in 2018 is indisputable.

The next, and newest, strand of the control strategy is the use of physical treatments. A number of variations on the theme are now in use in Scotland but it appears that the Thermolicer and Hydrolicer are currently the methods of choice.

As with any new technology, it takes a while to be sure of the best method of operation and to iron out teething problems. There have been concerns over negative welfare impacts and at least anecdotal evidence of some significant problems in this respect in early use of these systems.

However, as 2018 advanced so did the proper and efficient utilisation of physical lice treatment, again largely through sharing of experience and implementation of best practice.

Those operating the treatment kit have evolved into dedicated specialists who know how best to use the equipment. Risk assessment, carried out before each treatment, has become a major part of avoiding negative effects and maximising efficacy of treatment.

A treatment plan should, and now almost universally does, cover every aspect from preparation of the site, through the means of introducing the stock into the treatment system, to the post-treatment recovery period. Of course, veterinary input into the plan is just as important as when considering medicinal use!

Where all of the above is happening, the results are truly impressive.

The use of anti-lice medicines dropped significantly in 2018 and I would be very surprised if there were not further reductions in 2019.

However, it is of crucial importance that we retain access to the very limited arsenal of medicines available for lice treatment - they are our tried-and-tested means of control to be reached for in unforeseen circumstances.

For example, one unexpected side-effect of the reduction in medicinal control of Leps has been the rise in the impact of Caligus, the non-specific lice brought in by migrating wild fish. These seasonal pests remain very susceptible to medicinal treatment, particularly the low-impact option of in-feed emamectin. It is, therefore, vital that we retain the final strand in our control strategy - our ability to use properly controlled medicines when necessary.

The fight against sea lice can be frustrating but the integrated lice management systems now evolving within Scottish salmonid aquaculture are proving effective.

Average lice numbers had been on the increase in recent years but in 2018 we reduced them to the level of five years ago. We are definitely heading in the right direction! FF

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Sea lice – Parliamentary inquiry

eleven

The commandments MSPs’ report identified their priorities for improvement

I

N ITS REPORT, PUBLISHED LAST NOVEMBER, THE RURAL ECONOMY AND CONNECTIVITY (REC) COMMITTEE MADE A NUMBER OF RECOMMENDATIONS ON SEA LICE, WHICH WE REPRINT IN THE EXTRACT BELOW.

THE committee notes that one of the workstreams forming part of the Scottish government’s recently announced Farmed Fish Health Framework (FFHF) is specifically focused on the control of sea lice.

This notes the shift by the industry from medicinal treatment to a more balanced strategy, utilising a range of control methods. It sets out a range of activities aimed at delivering continued improvement in the control of sea lice on fish farms in Scotland.

Key activities of the sea lice workstream include: • A review of Scotland’s voluntary farmed fish sea lice compliance policy, including reporting requirements and intervention thresholds; • Industry to further evolve its sea lice strategy from primarily a medicinal one to a balanced combination strategy. Treatment strategies will be site and area specific; • Develop and introduce a desk based pilot study (funded through members of the FFHF Working Group) to look at the potential fish health and environmental benefits of consolidation of existing fish farms and identify how this could be made achievable through the current regulatory framework; • Create a sea lice modelling and farm connectivity action plan, identifying required resources and responsible parties; • Based on the findings of the pilot study and sea lice connectivity action plan- review current Farm Management Area (FMA) boundaries and their operation based on the latest scientific evidence and advice; • Develop an information source on the sea lice management tool box and guidance on operational best practice for physical sea lice treatments.

The committee notes the variety of actions and interventions being undertaken by the sector to address the significant challenge presented by sea lice infestation. However, it is clear that the industry has not as yet identified a means to fully and effectively deal with this parasite.

The committee welcomes the wide-ranging proposals in the FFHF sea lice workstream, such as the review of voluntary sea lice compliance policy, including reporting mechanisms; the development of sea lice modelling; and an exploration of the potential benefits of site consolidation.

RECOMMENDATION 15 The committee notes the various views expressed in evidence in relation to the different sea lice trigger levels and thresholds that are applied by the industry itself and by Marine Scotland for reporting and intervention purposes.

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REC.indd 44

It considers that the work of the FFHF provides an opportunity to remove confusion around this issue and develop proposals that are appropriate both to the fish health management needs of the Scottish industry and to the regulatory regime. It considers, however, that these should be challenging and set a threshold that is comparable with the highest international industry standards.

RECOMMENDATION 16 While the committee recognises that it will take time for the outcomes of the FFHF sea lice workstream to emerge, it is strongly of the view that there should in general terms be a move away from a voluntary approach to compliance and reporting with regard to sea lice infestation. The working group should therefore seek to bring forward proposals which make compliance and reporting a mandatory requirement.

RECOMMENDATION 17 The committee notes the concerns expressed in evidence that enforcement action in relation to breaches of sea lice levels has not been sufficiently robust to date. It is therefore of the view that if the revised compliance policy is to be effective it must be robust, enforceable and include appropriate penalties.

Above: REC committee convenor Edward Mountain

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The eleven commandments RECOMMENDATION 18 The committee also considers it to be essential that appropriate staff and financial resources are provided by Marine Scotland to ensure that compliance is effectively monitored and enforcement action taken where required.

Sea lice “data in

Scotland should be published as close as possible to the collection date

”

RECOMMENDATION 19 The committee welcomes the recent voluntary commencement of sea lice data provision by the SSPO on an individual farm basis. However, it agrees with the ECCLR (Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform) committee’s position that the provision of sea lice data should in future be mandatory for all salmon farms in Scotland.

RECOMMENDATION 20 The committee notes that the SSPO produces sea lice data three months in arrears, whereas such data in Norway is produced weekly in arrears. It considers that sea lice data in Scotland should be published in a similarly timely fashion, as close as possible to the collection date.

a significant enhancement in the way sea lice data and other key information related to the regulation of salmon farming is presented. It considers that a comprehensive, accessible reporting system of a similar standard to that which is already in operation in Norway should be introduced in Scotland.

RECOMMENDATION 23 If the industry has aspirations to develop and grow, having a comprehensive reporting system which is transparent, reliable and, above all, trusted can only serve it well. The committee is therefore of the view that there should be a suite of data available covering mortality, sea lice infestation, medicine application and treatment information.

RECOMMENDATION 24 The committee recognises that there would be a cost element in developing and operating such a system but is of the view that this should not preclude this work being taken forward. It considers that the associated costs should be borne by the industry, and calls on the Scottish government to discuss with industry representatives how this might be achieved.

RECOMMENDATION 21 The committee also considers that it is essential that the data provided should be that which is required to inform the regulatory and enforcement regimes, as opposed to that which the industry itself RECOMMENDATION 25 takes it upon itself to produce.

The committee recommends that the working group charged with taking forward the FFHF sea lice workstream should consider the production and RECOMMENDATION 22 presentation of sea lice data as an integral part of its work and bring forward The committee is strongly of the view that, in proposals in line with the committee’s views above. FF order to increase transparency, there needs to be

A REVOLUTION IN BIOMASS MEASUREMENT

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©2018 Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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05/02/2019 14:07:41

Sea lice – Thermolicer

Thirty-second success story SAIC man Sam Houston visits two farmers to report on latest treatment technology

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OTH Mowi Scotland and Scottish Sea Farms have made significant investments in Thermolicer technology, which has been helping salmon farmers control sea lice.

At Mowi’s Kyle of Lochalsh shore base, the Orcadia 2 – a twin-cat workboat operated by ScotMarine - supports Thermolicer technology and carries out non-medicinal sea lice treatments.

Simon Delvaux, de-licing systems and fleet development assistant manager at Mowi, hosted a tour of the Orcadia 2 and explained how all the different components worked together to carry out a treatment.

The Thermolicer is a machine used to remove sea lice from salmon by bathing them in water moderately warmer than their current environment. Treatments are carried out cage-side by drawing fish from a managed crowd into the device, using vacuum pumps.

The salmon must be separated from the seawater before passing through a circuit of lukewarm seawater, heated 22-24°C above the seawater, or a maximum of 34°C. Sea lice attached to the salmon do not tolerate the lukewarm water and respond by detaching from the salmon.

After approximately 30 seconds in the treatment bath, the salmon are separated from the treatment water and lice and returned to their cage. Lice are removed continuously by filtration, captured and disposed of responsibly on land.

For a single salmon, passing through the whole treatment system lasts 60 to 90 seconds (the range is due to batch pumping).

The result of thermal delousing is that up to 95 per cent of mobile lice are removed from the salmon without the use of medication, minimising any impact on the salmon or the environment.

‘The two Thermolicers operated by Mowi have become indispensable in our strategy to control sea lice,’ said Delvaux.

Left: Scottish Sea Farms’ head of fish health Ralph Bickerdike.

Opposite: The Voe Viking will usually treat three pens a day

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Thirty-second success story

This assessment is important in deciding, firstly, whether to carry out the treatment and, secondly, to provide the farm manager and Thermolicer operators with the information needed to plan a treatment.

There are many parameters that can be adjusted on the Thermolicer.

Throughput rate is managed by controlling the number of salmon entering the machine. It is essential to get the number just right as Scottish Sea Farms has observed that this is key to a successful treatment; you do not want the fish to pass through the system too slowly or too quickly.

The throughput rate used is also dependent on fish size, with heavier fish able to pass through the system at an increased rate as there are fewer individual fish per unit weight.

Another variable that must be controlled by the operators is residence time within the treatment chamber. This is controlled by the flow rate of the water, but again must be adjusted for the size of the salmon; the pumping speed must be increased to keep the salmon moving at the correct rate through the treatment circuit.

The operators make these adjustments by closely observing the treat‘Lice levels have been reduced at our sites and ment. Staff at both Mowi and Scottish Sea Farms stressed the importance new technologies limit our use of medicines. of having well-trained crew observing the treatment with CCTV cameras Having a range of solutions gives us flexibility to to monitor fish welfare indicators at key stages. manage our salmon effectively.

Finally, treatment temperature can be modified by the operators. The lice are dislodged from the salmon because of their intolerance for the Health and welfare difference in temperature between the prevailing environment and the At Scottish Sea Farms’ site at Loch Creran, temperature within the treatment circuit.

Scotland’s first Thermolicer is fitted on-board Clearance efficacy of sea lice is related to the temperature difference. the Voe Viking, a workboat operated by Delta The underlying condition of the salmon may influence the temperature Marine for the salmon farmer, that will usually to be used for the treatment plan, based on information from the health treat three pens per day, possibly more if dayand welfare assessment. light and weather allow.

The Thermolicer has been a big success at Mowi and Scottish Sea Scottish Sea Farms’ head of fish health, Ralph Farms. Ralph Bickerdike said: ‘This new technology, with its high efficacy Bickerdike, explained some of the procedures and ability to remove sea lice from the farming environment, is a major involved during a cage-side treatment. advance and another example of how Scotland’s salmon farmers are He emphasised that the first step is to conduct focused on finding innovative and sustainable solutions to the challenges a health and welfare assessment of the stock. we can face.’

is another example “ofThis how Scotland’s salmon farmers are focused on finding innovative and sustainable solutions to the challenges we can face

”

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Sea lice – Thermolicer

History Before deployment in Scotland, Thermolicer technology was developed in Norway and Chile, by Steinsvik, a supplier of feed management systems and cameras to the aquaculture sector. After initial trials and further testing, the Thermolicer project received support from the Norwegian Seafood Research Fund (FHF).

Tore Laastad, marketing manager at Steinsvik, said: ‘The introduction of the Thermolicer came at the exact right moment for the fish farming industry in Norway, and in just a few years, de-licing with lukewarm seawater has become the most frequently used method to combat sea lice.’

Further tests were carried out in collaboration with several Norwegian producers and operators including: Blom Fiskeoppdrett, Kobbevik og Furuholmen oppdrett, Bolaks and Bremnes Seashore.

Mowi Scotland and Scottish Sea Farms are Scotland’s largest salmon producers and have led the way deploying this technology in the country.

Recent salmon lice data released by the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation show the lowest levels of lice recorded in September 2018 since records started.

Sam Houston is knowledge exchange officer at the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC). SAIC is pleased to support the industry with investments, alongside Marine Scotland,

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Top: The warm water in containers (marked Steinsvik) mounted on board.

Above: The other equipment is for transferring fish, separating them from the water, filtering water, and providing power to the Thermolicer Left: The ‘treatment circuit’ pictured here is the Thermolicer part.

by directing the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) funds.

With special thanks to all the staff at Mowi, Scottish Sea Farms, the crew of the Orcadia 2, the Voe Viking, Simon Delvaux, John Sutherland and Ralph Bickerdike. FF

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05/02/2019 14:06:08

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05/02/2019 10:16:31

Sea lice – Technology

Making waves Nordlaks strategy will ‘revolutionise fish farming’

BY VINCE MCDONAGH

T

HE battle against sea lice is being fought on several fronts, but perhaps the most interesting and potentially the most effective may be in the pioneering work now being carried out by the Norwegian salmon farming company Nordlaks.

It is investing hundreds of millions of kroner in two new wellboats powered by liquid natural gas (LGN) and in the construction of two new ship-like offshore platforms known as Havfarm 1 and 2.

Nordlaks believes that the new wellboats, with a capacity to transport 600 tonnes of salmon each, will result in huge reductions in emissions, while the Havfarm venture will help to revolutionise fish farming.

But equally important is the part these projects are expected to play in radically reducing the sea lice problem.

Erik Welde, CEO of Nordlaks, told Fish Farmer that the new wellboats will be equipped to treat lice in a closed containment system.

He said: ‘We see developing a situation where all future treatments of salmon lice will be carried out

in closed systems within boats. It is important for us both to have access to the necessary capacity and to be able to control these operations ourselves.’

Norway has recently passed legislation prohibiting the use of anti-lice vetinerary medicines close (at least 500m) to prawn fishing grounds and general fish spawning areas, stating that mixed water and medicine residues must be transported away from fish farms before emptying the wellboat.

Nordlaks said its new wellboats, which are able to operate in more exposed waters, will be equipped for the on-board production of freshwater and additional (as yet unspecified) systems for removing lice without the use of vetinerary medicines.

However, the company stressed: ‘It’s safe to say the new wellboats will not be our main strategy in combating salmon lice. We are primarily focusing on preventive measures, but view the wellboats and the capacity they represent as important back-up.’

The first boat is already under construction and an order for a second vessel, costing more than 50 million kroner, has just been placed with NSK Ship Design.

Nordlaks is one of Norway’s largest aquaculture companies, employing 420 people in 12 different locations. Completion of the first boat is expected in 2020, with the second following a year later.

CEO Welde said: ‘Technology development means that, as a company in an increasing number of areas, we can choose solutions that are good for the environment and for the company at the same time.

Left: The NSK designed Nordlaks wellboat Opposite: The Nordlaks Havfarm 1

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Making waves

We are primarily focusing on “ preventive measures, but view the wellboats as important back-up ”

‘Another example is the use of shore power at our farm sites. We have already turned off the diesel generators at 29 of our 39 sites, and later this year another six new sites will be connected to the electricity grid. With the transition to LNG and to shore power we believe things are starting to bounce in the right direction.’

Nordlaks is co-operating closely with NSK Ship Design, Norway’s NOx Fund and the state owned technology Enova group to develop the LNG technology required in the wellboats, which will also be supported by large battery pack and shore power connections. The company estimates this will save the environment more than 1,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year.

But it is the Havfarm projects, being built in the Chinese shipyard CIMC Raffles and with Rolls Royce providing much of the engine thruster technology, which are attracting the most attention.

Havfarm 1, which can hold up to 10,000 tonnes of salmon, will be a stationary platform moored approximately 5km south-west of Hadseløya, an island in Norway’s Vesterålen region.

The steel structure, featuring a catamaran like hull, will extend more than 30m below sea level and act as a framework for six separate mesh pens, capable of withstanding waves of up to 10m.

At 430m long, Havfarm 1 will be the longest ship in the world – longer than an ocean liner or an aircraft carrier, with six separate mesh pens of 50m square.

Havfarm project manager Bjarne Johansen said it was a major departure from traditional fish farm designs: ‘In order to move aquaculture out of the fjords to more exposed locations, we need new technology both able to withstand even tougher weather conditions, and at the same time able to keep the fish and people safe.’

Havfarm 1, a product of the Norwegian government’s development licence programme, is expected to become operational in 2020. It will be equipped with propellers, allowing it to rotate around a mooring point in its bow – a process known as weathervaning- and to increase the deposit area for waste nutrients.

Havfarm 2 will be more advanced, equipped with a ship-like system, enabling it to adapt to different weather conditions. It will also be able to move itself to shelter in the event of seriously bad weather.

Nordlaks said the Havfarms will also be more resistant to sea lice infestation than conventional installations, featuring innovative steel louse skirts that extend 10m underwater.

The company remains confident that its considerable investment will be a major game changer when it comes to reducing the environmental impact of

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salmon farming and in the fight against sea lice.

Nordlaks told Fish Farmer: ‘The new Havfarms will enable a more holistic approach, focusing our efforts on preventive measures instead of acting on hindsight (removing the lice).

‘Sea lice is a challenge which we are aiming to reduce through multiple efforts and investments along our value chain. We call the new production strategy the ‘Nordlaks model’, and our aim is to produce salmon without the need for traditional de-lousing.

‘Starting with larger smolts, then bringing them into traditional farms in the fjords for a short period of time until the fish are big enough to handle tougher conditions, and then moving them further away from other farms to the Havfarms, we believe we can succeed.

‘This approach enables us to further separate the salmon both in time and space, which is a basic principle for biosecurity. Shorter time in the sea (larger smolt), more frequent fallowing of the farms, in combination with increased distance and preventive measures such as anti lice skirts, are the tools we need to combine and make better use of. The Havfarms are the missing tool we need to enable this approach.’ FF

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05/02/2019 14:03:22

Sea lice – Technology

Blue is the colour Norwegian innovator trial results ‘promising’

T

HE Norwegian aquaculture company Blue Lice said the latest trials on the effectiveness of its innovative sea lice trap have brought ‘promising’ results.

The idea is based on taking natural factors which sea lice find attractive, such as certain aspects of smell and light, and incorporating them into a system of traps which the sea lice will hopefully find irresistible, as Blue Lice CEO Karoline Sjodal Olsen told Fish Farmer last summer (Fish Farmer, August 2018).

Early trials had been encouraging enough to secure investment, as well as industry involvement in the further tests.

The company, based in Stavanger, is now analysing the most recent of these, completed in December, said COO Lars-Kristian Opstad.

‘We have an incredible amount of data, and right now we are running through these to make a report.We are very happy with the results so far,’ he said.

‘Compared to cleaner fish, which have the problem of regularly having to be replaced, our trap is much more environmentally friendly and a cost effective solution.

‘In addition to catching the larvae, we will also be able to predict when the larvae will appear, whether it’s day or night. Using data like, for instance, the water temperature and the weather conditions, looking for patterns which make the appearance of the larvae more likely.

‘That means the fish farmer is much more in control of the problem of sea lice, and when the farmer sees a pattern developing, he can be much better prepared.

‘Our trap takes the larvae and the sea lice out of the water. It attracts the larvae before the larvae can be attracted to the salmon.

‘It works by using several known attractors for the larvae. But although to catch grown sea lice is not our aim, we have done that anyway. Our traps seem irresistible!’

Opstad continued:‘The best way to explain how it works is that it is like a fly trap, with easy access but no exit for the lice. It is very low maintenance, easy to set up, clean and change.A simple but very effective system.And we have a patent pending.’

He said the technology is ‘always in development’ and Blue Lice will hopeful-

“theIt attracts larvae

before the larvae can be attracted to the salmon

”

Top: Blue Lice CEO Karoline Sjodal Olsen and COO Lars-Kristian Opstad.

Above and left: The trap was tested at Norwegian farms.

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ly be in a position to take the product to market later this year.

‘At the sea lice conference in Trondheim, Norway, in January our trap was a subject people kept asking about.The demand in the market is high.

‘We have been very happy with the cooperation and collaboration with the fish farms where we’ve been testing, including live pen tests at sea at Bremnes.

‘Our equipment is in production and we now have over 100 traps built.We see the first market to concentrate on as Norway but the trap works for any Atlantic salmon and there are markets in Chile, Iceland and Scotland we can go to.

‘We would even be interested in local companies in those countries manufacturing the trap for us.’

Opstad said for everyone at Blue Lice, the project is more a ‘way of life’ than just a job.

‘Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about where we are going with our trap and solving the problem of salmon with sea lice.

‘And when I tell a colleague about it the next day they often say,‘Yes, me too - I couldn’t sleep either’.’

With all that is ahead for Blue Lice, there could well be a few more sleepless nights in Stavanger. FF

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05/02/2019 14:00:33

Sea lice – Underwater Contracting Advertorial

Foovering up New technology making waves in fish farming welfare

BY DAVE EDLER

A

N Aberdeen based innovator, Underwater Contracting, has created a unique mort recovery system which it claims has the potential to revolutionise the salmon sector.

The Foover, a custom designed remotely operated vehicle (ROV) mort recovery system, has demonstrated its potential to transform Scotland’s salmon farming sector with industry leading results after its first year of operations.

Designed by Underwater Contracting (UCO), the first Foover, which combines ROV technology with a unique recovery system, went into the water in December 2017. In its operations since then, the system has proven that it can achieve total mort recovery more reliably and cost effectively than anything else on the market while improving the environment and habitat of the stock, said the company.

Now working across Scotland, the Foover has been successfully operating in all conditions, from the strong tidal currents off Shetland to farms in some of the remotest areas of the Western Isles. Planned growth will see the Foover fleet expand to 10 this year, with continuing ongoing expansion.

Propelled by its small ROV, the Foover system is lowered into cages via a workboat crane and travels around the cage collecting morts in a recovery basket, before returning to the workboat, where the morts are offloaded.

The system is designed to recover the entire size spectrum of farmed salmon, from smolts up to 9kg fish. Wrasse and lumpfish friendly, its sophisticated technology ensures no inadvertent collection of live cleaner fish.

An inbuilt camera video records all in-cage operations to provide verification of full mort recovery, supporting third-party accreditation requirements.

The ability to achieve daily total mort recovery brings significant benefits for fish farmers by assisting the prevention of pathogens and disease and countermanding the problem of depredation by seals through reduction of potential feedstock levels.

Mort recovery times are impressive, with the average cycle from deployment into the water, mort recovery and return to deck taking around seven minutes. A fish farm with 10 cages installed in 25m of water with average mort levels can be made mort free in 2.5 hours.

A single cycle can recover up to 700kg of fish in operating conditions of up to two knots of current and strong tidal conditions. The system regularly demorts 30-plus cages per day and can operate 23 hours a day with only a one-hour maintenance period required.

The physical footprint of the Foover is small enough for it to be installed on workboats and it can be easily moved from boat to boat, with power generation achievable from the workboat or a small mobile generator.

Extremely cost effective, running costs in the first year of operation are less than three per cent of annual rental value.

The capabilities of the Foover go far beyond mort recovery and it can be fitted with additional tools enabling it to carry out other subsea tasks including water quality sampling, underwater inspection and maintenance, environmental sample collection and seaweed recovery.

One of the most exciting developments currently being deployed is a marine plastics recovery system. This will be used to recover and collect

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“

The Foover system is lowered into cages via a crane and travels around collecting morts

ocean and waterborne plastics which will then be reprocessed at UCO’s Aberdeen facility into products to benefit local communities.

Learn more about the Foover at www.underwatercontracting.com FF

”

Top: Mass Mort Removal Above: Collection Cage

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05/02/2019 14:01:36

Sea lice – Research

Select GROUP Harnessing genomic tools to improve genetic resistance to sea lice

BY ROSS HOUSTON AND DIEGO ROBLEDO

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ESULTS from a collaborative study between UK and Chilean researchers have furthered our understanding of genetic variation in resistance to sea lice in farmed Atlantic salmon, which is informing genomic selection strategies to develop more resistant strains.

Two different lice species are the main culprits, with Lepeophtheirus salmonis affecting salmon producing countries in Europe (Norway, UK, Ireland and Faroes), and Caligus rogercresseyi causing problems in Chile.

The lice attach to the skin and feed on the mucus and blood of several species of salmonid fish, which display reduced growth rate and increased occurrence of secondary infections. A multitude of prevention and control

Above: Professor Ross Houston Left: Improving genomic selection Opposite: Selective

breeding can contribute to sea lice control

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strategies are currently used, but none are fully effective.

These strategies include feed supplements, cleaner fish, tailored cage designs, physical removal mechanisms, and even ‘lice-zapping’ lasers.Yet, the use of potentially environmentally damaging chemical treatments is still common, but lice are becoming resistant to many of the commonly used delousing drugs.

Selective breeding can contribute to sea lice prevention via harnessing naturally occurring genetic variation within commercial salmon stocks to identify the most resistant individuals.The identification of selection candidates can be enabled either by pedigree or genomic based approaches, the latter via genomic selection.

Previous studies have shown that moderate genetic variation in resistance to sea lice exists in Atlantic salmon populations, and salmon breeding companies are already using genomic selection approaches to improve resistance within their lines.

However, comparatively little is known about the specific genes that cause variation in resistance.

This information can make genomic selection more effective, and potentially lead to target genes and pathways for development of treatments.

Professor Ross Houston (the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh), Dr Jose Manuel Yañez (University of Chile), and Dr Diego Robledo (also Roslin) led a collaborative study that used various new genomic approaches to identify genes that contribute to genetic variation in resistance.This research was in collaboration with Benchmark Genetics Chile, which performs routine lice challenge experiments as part of its salmon breeding programme in order to include resistance to lice in its breeding goal.

Based on a large sample of post-smolt salmon challenged with caligus sea lice, the scientists correlated measures of lice counts (as a proxy of resistance) with tens of thousands of genetic markers dispersed throughout the genome. In addition, they performed a large scale sequencing experiment of the RNA and DNA of key fish that differ substantially in their level of resistance to lice.

The team detected three genomic regions containing quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting

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Select group resistance to lice, explaining between seven and 13 per cent of the genetic variation in lice counts. By bringing together the aforementioned sequencing data, they were able to identify likely candidate genes and mutations within these regions.

This was achieved by looking at key sets of genes that differ in their response to sea lice attachment between resistant and susceptible animals. Differentially expressed genes that are found within the genomic regions associated with resistance become high priority candidates as causative genes.

Further, the DNA sequencing results were used to identify all the genetic variants in these regions, and the likelihood of them having a functional effect was estimated.

Several candidate sea lice resistance genes and mutations were identified for further study. For example, the researchers detected a variant of a gene on salmon chromosome 3 that may cause a truncation of a protein called TOB1 (which is involved in immune response by regulating T cells).

The scientists, including the collaborating breeding company Benchmark Genetics Chile, are planning to incorporate this functional genomic information to improve genomic selection.

Specifically, it is possible to put a greater weighting on functional genetic variants in statistical models used to calculate resistance to sea lice of individual salmon broodstock, and this has the potential to increase selection accuracy.This would lead to faster improvement of genetic resistance in the salmon breeding programme.

The project was funded by the UK’s Newton Fund together with the Biotechnology and Biolog-

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“

They were able to identify likely candidate genes and mutations

”

ical Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).The paper describing the results has been accepted for publication in the journal Frontiers in Genetics and can be found at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2019.00056/abstract

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05/02/2019 13:59:26

Sea lice – Research

BY DR ARMIN STURM

Cryptic CLUE Does camouflage in sea lice affect cleaner fish efficacy?

S

EA lice are parasitic copepods that live on the body surface of marine fish and graze on the mucus and skin of their hosts.

As sea lice infections can cause serious health problems in fish, their control is essential in salmon farming.

Traditionally, sea life infections have been managed using a limited range of licensed veterinary medicines. While in the North Atlantic, sea lice have developed resistance against most available pharmaceutical products, a number of innovative non-medicinal control methodologies are now widely implemented at industrial scale, including delousing by water jets (Hydrolicers), warm water (Thermolicers), and modified cage designs reducing infection pressure (snorkel cages and lice skirts, for example).

In addition, co-culture of salmon with cleaner fish, originally proposed in the 1990s, has recently experienced a remarkable renaissance. A number of wrasse species, as well as lumpfish, have proven to be efficient in removing sea lice from infected salmon.

The application of cleaner fish in salmon farming has increased dramatically over the last decade, with a total of 37.4 million cleaner fish having been deployed in Norway and two million in Scotland in 2016, compared to less than two million in Norway and none in Scotland in 2008.

The wide range of non-medicinal sea louse control strategies used commercially today is a positive development, as this vastly diversifies the arsenal of tools available for the management of these parasitic copepods. At the same time, the speed at which resistance has developed in the past underlines the considerable ability of these parasites to adapt, and provides a reminder that the development of novel control strategies needs due consideration of the need to prevent resistance formation.

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A range of factors may have contributed to the rapidity of past resistance formation in sea lice. First, populations of the main sea louse species affecting salmon production in the North Atlantic, the salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis, show a high degree of genetic exchange, meaning that resistance can spread rapidly once it develops locally.

Second, sea lice have a short generation time and high reproductive output, which again favours the fast spread of resistance.

Finally, similar drug selection pressures have been brought to bear at many salmon production sites spanning the North Atlantic. In consequence, genetic variants allowing lice to survive treatments in one region may have provided similar benefits elsewhere.

The increasing use of cleaner fish in the major salmon producing countries of the North Atlantic could potentially constitute a selection pressure favouring genetic variants that make lice less prone to be removed by cleaner fish.

These fish are visual feeders and show a preference for larger as com-

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05/02/2019 13:56:57

Cryptic clue

pared to smaller stages of the parasite. Selection by cleaner fish could thus provide a driver towards smaller louse size at sexual maturity.

Moreover, sea lice are known to exhibit a range of body colour variants, which seem to be determined both by genetic make-up and by environmental variables. Body colouration variants that camouflage the parasite by better matching it to the background of the host’s skin or by rendering it transparent may be hypothesised to be at decreased risk of being removed by cleaner fish.

In line with these speculations, there have been recent anecdotal reports of an increased occurrence of ‘cryptic’ sea lice in regions where co-culture of salmon with wrasse or lumpfish is common, and it has been suggested that such lice have a greater chance to evade predation by cleaner fish.

However, currently such links are hypothetical and require further investigation. At the University of Stirling, an interesting colour variant has recently been isolated from a sea louse strain taken into culture in 2014.

This colour variant has a translucent, glass-like appearance and, at least to the human eye, is hard to spot when attached to the body surface of a salmon. This phenomenon seems to be the consequence of a lack of certain pigments in pigmentary cells called chromatophores.

While fish health professionals have confirmed the occasional occurrence of similar transparent lice at salmon farms, other types of ‘cryptic’ sea lice may exist in which changed body colour is not based on obvious pigmentation deficits.

Further research is needed to assess potential links between the inten-

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sity of cleaner fish use at salmon farm sites and the regional occurrence of ‘cryptic’ lice. First, the selective advantage of such colour variants with regards to avoiding cleaner fish predation are at present hypothetical and require investigation in controlled experiments.

Second, there is a need to develop standardised methods for the assessment of body colouration in sea lice. This would allow systematic monitoring of the occurrence of ‘cryptic’ lice at farm sites, and would reveal whether there is a need to adjust management measures in order to preserve the efficacy of cleaner fish for the biological control of sea lice. FF

Above: Spot the sea louse (Picture: Claudia Tschesche) Opposite: Inspecting for sea lice

An interesting colour variant has “been isolated…that is hard to spot

when attached to the body surface of a salmon

”

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05/02/2019 13:57:16

Sea lice – Green Sealice Solutions Advertorial

Green for go Norwegian lice management control plan comes to Scotland

A

‘GRSS and Moment formed a team of highly NEW service company for the aquaculture industry, focusing on «Through experience and innovative We strive skilled people in thinking. different areas and developed a efficiency,dedication, fish welfare and the coastal environment, has entered the sound business plan. From there on, hard work Scottish market. made our idea a reality.’

Green Sealice Solutions (GRSS) was founded in 2018 in Krisunbeatable @sealicehunter” GRSS took a trip around Scotland to introduce tiansand, Norway, by Frode Ramvik and Ole H. Limann, after assessing the challenges facing Scottish fish farmers and confirming that these were bigger than expected.

‘Starting a company from scratch in this highly competitive aquaculture industry was a huge challenge for us, but also very exciting,’ said CEO Frode Ramvik.

Ramvik, a former wellboat captain, has been fighting sea lice for eight years in Scotland, Norway and Iceland using a variety of methods, and has solid experience using SkaMik`s mechanical de-louser.

He and Limann, who has a background in both shipping and oil, teamed up with the Norwegian accelerator company, Moment.

‘Partnering with Moment proved to be a key factor in succeeding as they changed our perspective on approaching the challenges,’ said Limann.

Above: Frode Ramvik, Ole H. Limann Left: SkaMik V1.5 Opposite: Lumpfish sorter

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the company and the services it can provide to the Scottish market. GRSS knew that SkaMik was not represented in Scotland and made establishing the brand here its main goal, before expanding into other markets.

On returning to Norway, GRSS met with SkaMik and visited its production facilities at Rørvik, after which it was asked to be a partner.As Ramvik points out:‘This will be beneficial to both parties and will continually improve the system.’

The crew assembled by GRSS to operate its workboat, the 40m Sealicehunter, have working experience in Scottish waters, and are highly experienced in operating the SkaMik loading and lice-counting system.

‘The sea lice is a very adaptive little creature and an adversary that seems unbeatable. It might possibly be, but it is fully possible to maintain control over the situation and grow quality salmon to the desired average weight,’ said Ramvik.

‘It felt natural for us to choose the SkaMik V 1.5 de-louser as it is very reliable, and handles such a broad range of fish sizes from 600g to 10kg.

‘The results on lice and fish welfare are very good and I have yet to see an unacceptable mortality.The last 360 tonnes were treated in six hours with one SkaMik. ‘The GRSS set-up will treat 80-160 tonnes per hour, 24/7, and the boat does 15 knots, so we will maximise cost efficiency.

‘The average mortalities rose from 12- 15 fish per day to 25-30 per day for two to three days before returning to normal mortality levels. In regard to feeding, the fish were back to normal on day two.

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05/02/2019 13:00:40

Green for go

‘The salmon in question had both pancreas disease (PD) and cardiopathy syndrome (CMS) issues, thus proving the gentle and efficient product SkaMik has become,’ said Ramvik.

SkaMik and Green Sealice Solutions are satisfied with the results so far, but as a team their common goal is to produce a mechanical de-louser that is unmatched in efficiency and fish welfare.

GRSS has an idea on how to achieve this goal, and has the support of Innovation Norway and Nofima, which is preparing its world class lab now to test out the hypothesis.

“

Lice management control plan ‘Our goal is to have a prototype ready this year,’ said Ramvik.‘If this works as intended, and initial

Starting a company from scratch was a huge challenge but also very exciting

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

Green SeaLice PED.indd 59

”

tests have indicated it does, SkaMik and Green Sealice Solutions’ de-lousing solution, including our lice management control plan, will be very hard to compete with.’

The priority is to make a whole treatment plan in co-operation with the client that eliminates the need for any type of medicine treatments throughout the salmon’s lifecycle, and maintaning fish welfare both for salmon and cleaner fish.

Two fish farm companies have tested the whole treatment plan, combining proactive and reactive measures, and their experience has laid the foundations of the strategy.

Proactive measures include cleaner fish and lice skirts to reduce the number of mechanical treatments per fish stock lifecycle, resulting in more feed time and better welfare.

This approach will enable farmers to optimise growth of their fish and ensure a high percentage of superior quality salmon for harvesting.

When the sea lice pressure is high, cleaner fish and skirts are not sufficient to stem the infection and a reactive plan is needed.

A key element in the GRSS strategy will be to start the mechanical de-lousing as early as 0.3-1 average sexually mature females, to reduce the louse pressure enough so that the proactive measures can be established again rapidly.

SkaMik`s lumpfish sorter ensures the welfare of cleaner fish and will save on the expense of replacements.

In addition to de-lousing, Green Sealice Solutions is able to perform a number of other tasks on site, with a 50-tonne crane mounted on the boat.

Moving cages, anchoring operations, cage cleaning services, inspections, and delivery of both fuel and water to feed barges are all part of its duties.

For further details on GRSS, enquiries and booking services contact: +47 45 60 70 19. www.sealicesolutions.com mail@greensealicesolutions.com or fr@greensealicesolutions.com FF

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05/02/2019 13:01:19

good for you, and great for your fish and shrimp.

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Supplementation at 0.2% during 56 days in carnivorous rainbow trout feed containing 15% fish meal and 30% soybean meal protein improved final weight by 5% as well as specific growth rate (SGR %/day) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) by 4%.

In carnivorous European sea bass, supplementation at 0.1% in feed containing only 16% marine protein during 75 days resulted in 5% improvement in SGR and 4% reduction in FCR. Improved performance following AQUALYSO supHE current trends in aquafeed formulationperformance force the nutritionist toparameters not Figure 1. Improvements in growth in carnivorous and plementation was also corroborated in herbivorous only optimise nutritional inputs and ingredient selection as affordably herbivorous species following AQUALYSO supplementation.

Nile tilapia, in which 0.1% inclusion during 75 days as possible but also pay attention to the optimal functioning of the in juvenile commercial feed devoid of marine ingredigestive system of fish. Digestibility enhancers that maximise efficiency dients resulted in 7% improvement in final weight of digestive and metabolic processes give the formulator flexibility in the use of and 2% improvement in SGR and FCR. alternative ingredients and formulation of least cost and high quality feeds.

These positive effects could be explained by the Although a wide variety of concepts and products aiming to improve nutrient more efficient action digestion and likely metabolic absorption and utilisation have been investigated in livestock species, the use of dietary lipids which in turn results in protein feeding behaviour, digestive physiology and nutritional requirements of aqua- Above: Improvements in sparing and more effective utilisation of protein for culture organisms differ from those of livestock species. It is therefore difficult growth performance parameters in muscle growth. to predict the functionality of many of these products for a wide range of fish carnivorous and LIPOGEST is a bile salt based emulsifier. Bile salts species. Two key considerations for the formulator are the heat stability reherbivorous species promote formation of small size micelles that are quired under extrusion conditions if post-extrusion application is not possible, following AQUALYSO more quickly transported to the enterocyte surface and the target nutrient or group of nutrients with potential margin for optimisupplementation. and thus they are considered stronger emulsifiers sation. Oils and fats are important sources of essential lipids and energy to the Opposite: Improvements in relation to phospholipids (Cabral and Small, animal and contribute to the absorption of lipo-soluble micronutrients. It is in growth performance 1989). well known that the increasing inclusion of plant ingredients compromises the parameters in Besides lipid emulsifiers, bile salts are the major supply of essential lipids (van Halteren and Coutteau, 2017) and may induce carnivorous and end metabolites of cholesterol, and participate in gut health issues in carnivorous fish, ultimately affecting lipid absorption and herbivorous species cholesterol homeostasis and in the activation of following bile salt utilisation (Krogdahl et al., 2003; Romarheim et al., 2006). supplementati on from the pancreatic lipase that enables fat hydrolysis into Digestibility enhancers aiming at maximising lipid absorption and utilisation different sources to monoglycerides (Buchinger et al., 2014; Gu et al. are categorised as emulsifiers. The general mode of action of emulsifiers is by 2017). Recent data in fish also associate bile salts lowering the tension between water and lipids, causing the lipids to be broken plant-based feeds.

Modified from with intestinal physiology regulation by altering iondown into smaller droplets and allowing more efficient digestion of triglycerYakamoto et al. 2007; ic transport and enhancing the absorptive pathway ides by lipases. After lipase action, emulsifiers associate with the monoglycerGu et al, 2017; and (Fuentes et al. 2018). ides and free fatty acids to form micelles that transport them to the enterocyte Jiang et al. 2017.

The inclusion of vegetable proteins, particularly surface for absorption. It is important to highlight that although phospholipids soybean meal, in carnivorous fish species has (also referred to as lecithin) are considered as emulsifiers, their activity is weak Figure 2.

Improvements in growth performance parameters in carnivorous and with reduced levels or activity been associated in a water rich environment such as that of the digestive gut, and thus their of bile salts and, herbivorous species following supplementation from different sources toconsequently, plant- with reduced lipid use in animal feed should be driven as abile sourcesalt to meet requirements rather

T

based feeds. Modified from Yakamoto et al. 2007; Gu et al, 2017; and Jiang et al. 2017.

60

Nutriad - PED.indd 60

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05/02/2019 12:58:11

Figure 1. Improvements in growth performance parameters in carnivorous an herbivorous species following AQUALYSO supplementation.

Lipid essentials

digestibility (Yamamoto et al., 2007; Romarheim et al., 2008). This has been attributed firstly to impaired bile salt re-absorption due to intestinal inflammation (Kortner et al., 2013), and secondly to a high loss due to binding to plant fibers (Refstie et al., 2006). Furthermore, dietary components such as taurine or cholesterol, that are critical for the synthesis of bile salts, may be low or missing in plant ingredients (NRC 2011).

The above mentioned functions and the consequent benefits of supplementing bile salts to plant based feeds fed to carnivorous species have been validated by positive effects on performance observed in feeding trials with rainbow trout (Yamamoto et al., 2007; Iwashita et al., 2008) and turbot (Gu et al. 2017). Positive effects have also been confirmed in herbivorous tilapia and associated with improved lipase activities and reduced demand for endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis (Jiang et al, 2017).

In conclusion, least cost formulation supports the application of digestibility enhancing additives such as lyso-phospholipids and bile salts which improve Figure 2. Improvements in growth performance parameters in carnivorous an the absorption efficiency of major nutrients, particularly lipids, and the increasingly limited levels of herbivorous species following bile salt supplementation from different sources essential nutrients. This implies the possibility of exbased feeds. Modified from Yakamoto et al. 2007; Gu et al, 2017; and Jiang et al. 2 tracting more nutritional value from each kilogram of feed, and is particularly important when aiming to compensate the depressed fat utilisation derived from high plant formulations.

References can be requested from the authors (alexander.vanhalteren@adisseo.com; waldo.nuezortin@adisseo.com). FF

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61

05/02/2019 12:58:38

From the archive – November 1978

SCOTTISH SALMON HARVEST Salmon farming is expanding fast on Scotland’s west coast – and Unilever company, Marine Harvest, who started their operation in the late 1960s, are pushing on faster than most. DENIS CHAMBERLAIN recently visited the company and reports on the progress of Britain’s biggest salmon farmer

New approach to a luxury market

D

Right: Mr Des Brady: ‘The product is earning a genuine premium in both the UK and Continental centres.’

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Archive - Feb.indd 62

ES BRADY spends little times on Marine Harvest’s West Coast salmon unit but he is still the key figure in the company’s expansion plans.

It is Mr Brady’s job to sell the salmon that is produced on the four coastal sea farms that Marine Harvest have set up in the past five years.

Next year they plan to produce more than 250 tonnes of fish from two sites at Loch Ailort and one each in Loch Leven and Loch Aynort on the Isle of Skye.

‘We have been busily developing a market for quality, farmed Scottish Atlantic salmon over the past couple of years,’ said Mr Brady. ‘And now we are finding that our product is earning a genuine premium in both UK and continental centres.

‘The encouraging fact is that out buyers are beginning to look in to the advantages of the farmed product. They recognise that we are able to produce fish of good respectable quality throughout the year. Both wholesale markets and catering outlets have been quick to realise that farmed fish hold real advantages over the somewhat sporadic supplies of wild salmon.’

Exports are proving a vital outlet for Marine Harvest as for other farmers along Scotland’s West Coast. Mr Brady said that France was currently the most important European market but others are also figuring prominently in sales.

The major growth has been in wholesale and catering sales. But Marine Harvest is also selling strongly through credit cards. Initially the company linked with American Express for the direct mailing of smoked salmon in the UK and in parts of Europe.

‘The only restriction on such sales is the quality of the postal service in the respective countries. If we can’t guarantee that the parcel will arrive within 10 days then we do not risk making the sale,’ said Mr Brady.

Following the success of the American Express link-up, Marine Harvest are now planning to invest heavily in further direct mail projects. Plans are advanced to take advertising space in the Sunday colour supplements during the late autumn and winter months. In these, smoked salmon will be offered for direct sale using a range of credit cards.

‘We have looked at farmed salmon as a new product which requires a new marketing approach. It will always be a luxury fish but I am certain we can reach a much wider market with it than some may have thought in the past. And, after all, the amount being produced from farms at present is a relatively small percentage of total European supplies,’ said Mr Brady.

‘At present, some 35,000 to 40,000 tonnes of salmon is consumed in Europe. Something over 25,000 of this is frozen Pacific salmon imported from the US and Canada. The rest is Atlantic salmon of European origin and no more than 1,000 tonnes of that is being farm produced. That shows the room that is there to expand the market over the next ten years.’

Marine Harvest believe that co-operation in the market is going to be important for future development. ‘As production expands in Scotland, we will find ourselves increasingly talking to other producers here and in Europe to ensure that we continue to operate in a stable market. Wider availability may well bring tighter margins but future prospects still look encouraging for the producers of Atlantic salmon,’ said Mr Brady. FF

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

05/02/2019 12:50:47

From the archive – November 1978

Sea pen culture is key to success T THE DEVELOPMENT of a reliable and manageable system of sea pen culture has been at the heart of Marine Harvest’s salmon farming success.

The first production pens went into the sea at the Loch Ailort site in 1971. And although they were very different to those now widely used by the company, some of those pens are still operating.

‘When designing sea pens suitable for rearing salmon the engineer must pay attention to seven key factors,’ Unilever’s Dr Robert Young told a recent Atlantic Salmon Conference. ‘A good pen must minimise the risk of fish loss; permit good water exchange; be of manageable size; give good access to the fish; be easily cleaned of fouling; be of minimum cost; and be capable of a long productive life.’

Dr Young said that in the experience of both Unilever Research and Marine Harvest there was always a difficult compromise to make between the desire to have a strong escape-proof and weather-proof pen and the necessity to minimise the capital cost.

‘Our approach to pen deign has been evolutionary. We originally adopted a very cautious approach and built pens made of wire mesh panels which were strong and safe.

‘These proved effective and durable and some are still in use today. But over the next few years we produced a series of pens of different designs culminating in the net pen we use today,’ said Dr Young.

Those in use at the original Loch Ailort site, the new Ephesus site in the same sea loch and sites in Loch Leven and the Isle of Skye, are mostly 8 metres square and 4 metres deep. Frequently stocking densities reach 30kg of fish a cubic metre.

The small ‘island’ clusters of pens in the lochs are grouped to take maximum advantage of water exchange, as well as giving each other support against the elements.

‘We reckon that a group of six pens on each mooring is about optimum in most sites,’ explained Dr Bruce Hillcoat. ‘But this also depends on the exposure of the site. All locations are a compromise between maximum protection – to reduce the chance of the pen groups breaking up – and maximum water flow through the units.’

Pen shape has also evolved during Marine Harvest’s development period.

The company now favours square pens with all-round walkways. Each group has a small feed store on the floating unit.

Grilse harvest Smolt transfer to the sea units starts in May each year and ends in late June.

First grilse are harvest exactly a year later and salmon are harvested any time after that depending on market demand. Most grilse are marketed at 1.5kg to 2kg (about the 4lb mark).

‘There has been a good, steady trade for grilse this year. This certainly helps the profitability of any salmon enterprise,’ said farms manager Dr Hillcoat.

Salmon at all but one of the Marine Harvest sea sites are hand fed. The exception is the Ephesus site in Loch Ailort.

‘We feel that hand feeding is best as it gives the unit staff a regular opportunity to check on the health and condition of the fish.

‘However, we like to give unit managers the opportunity to adopt systems they consider most suitable and at Ephesus the manager prefers auto feeders – so he has them on his site. There is no noticeable difference in fish performance,’ said Mr Angus McPhie, sea farm manager.

When smolts are first transferred to sea pens they are fed 2.4mm pellets and as fish weight increases, pellet size goes up to 9.6mm. All units aim for an average food conversion rate of 1.5.

Factors which influence site selection include both suitability of the water

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Archive - Feb.indd 63

Clockwise from top left: Lochinvar salmon are dispatched from the Loch Ailort packing station; the harvest starts as grilse tumble from the net at Loch Ailort; fouling is a major problem in sea pens and net cleaning calls for plenty of labour.

Below: Dr Ian Anderson: ‘Fish farming is a business ideally suited to this part of the world.’

and land facilities. It is no good having ideal water conditions on a site that is a half-hour boat trip from the nearest land base!

‘The islands and West Coast of Scotland have virtually all the suitable sites in the UK,’ said Dr Hillcoat. ‘And since we have been operating, the improvement in roads, telephone service and other community facilities have made management of the business easier.

‘But communications are still the vital factor. You need to be able to get smolts and feed in and the harvested salmon out with a minimum of difficulty.’

Marine Harvest operates with the original Loch Ailort sites as the working headquarters. A central feed store is situated on the unit and all ice-packed harvested fish come back to Ailort for final grading and packing into market boxes. The site has facilities for ice making, chill storage and blast freezing as well as a packing line.

Also at Loch Ailort is the office of the Marine Harvest farms health manager. This is new group appointment and is designed to give one man a roving brief to monitor health on all the company’s farms.

In all, the Marine Harvest salmon operation has represented a major investment by Unilever in fish farming.. But the development of individual sites still retains a ‘small company’ image and involvement. Overall, the company employs 35 people on the fish farming sites.

‘There has also been considerable involvement in our expanding programme by the Highlands and Islands Development Board,’ said Marine Harvest chairman Dr Ian Anderson. ‘Fish farming is a business ideally suited to this part of the world and has proved to be one of the genuine job creating industries for eh isolated West Coast areas.

‘We will continue to expand both on our existing sites and on other sites that we are investigating in the North West. There is still plenty of room for major increases in the output of farmed Atlantic salmon.’ FF

63

05/02/2019 12:51:06

Processing and Retail News

Tesco confirms cost cutting at fish counters TESCO, Britain’s largest grocery retailer, which has more than 200,000 employees, announced that around 90 of its stores will lose their fresh food sections, and the counter opening hours at many of the remaining outlets could be cut back.

The move is part of a cost cutting exercise, bringing a threat to up to 9,000 jobs. However, the company said it hoped to save 4,500 posts through redeployment.

Earlier, it was feared that the company would close fresh food counters at most of its 730 plus Tesco Extra stores, which would hit Grimsby suppliers. Grimsby is a major provider of seafood to Tesco, with Seachill leading the way.

Seachill recently won a significant contract to supply Tesco with shellfish.

But a number of smaller, third party fish suppliers could also be affected. Tesco said that changing customer habits meant meat, fish or deli service areas were not being used

as frequently, and the remainingstores could also see a reduced counter service.

However, the retailer will continue to sell seafood through its chilled shelves and frozen cabinets.

Jason Tarry, Tesco’s chief executive in the UK and Ireland, said: ‘The market is challenging and we need to continually adapt to remain competitive and respond to how customers want to shop.

‘We’re making changes to our UK stores and head office to simplify what we do and how we do it, so we’re better able to meet the needs of our customers.’

Some analysts believe this could signal the beginning of the end of the in-store butcher and fishmonger, which tend to patronised by older customers.

Rival chain Morrisons has a fish processing factory in Grimsby, dedicated to supplying fish counters at its stores, and it may well pick up business following the Tesco move.

Remain competitive

“

The market is challenging and we need to continually adapt

”

Grimsby gathering for tomorrow’s leaders THE Young Seafood Leaders’ Network will host its first meeting in Grimsby at the Future of Foods careers event this month.

Since its launch at the UK Seafood Summit in 2018, the network has attracted some 40 young seafood professionals from around the UK. Seafish is behind the initiative, aimed at nurturing and developing young talent within the seafood industry.

Marcus Coleman, CEO of Seafish said: ‘I’ve been amazed at the response we had from people to join the network, which goes to show it was much needed.’

The guest speaker at the inaugural meeting – at the Grimsby Institute on February 14 - is Simon Smith, managing director of Seachill and the Saucy Fish Co, rated as one of the coolest brands.

Smith said: ‘This is one of the most exciting industries in grocery and it is vital we attract good, young talent to develop the future of the industry.’

The Young Seafood Leaders’ Network will be a platform for knowledge sharing and identification and appreciation of best practice. The goals are to: provide opportunities for the exploration of business ideas; provide networking opportunities; facilitate partnerships and mentoring between young professionals and experienced industry practitioners; develop leadership skills; and identify professional development opportunities.

The network is open to aspiring seafood leaders between the ages of 25 and 40. For further information email youngseafoodleaders@seafish. co.uk

Above: Simon Smith

Bid to find top young seafood chef

Above: Sagar Massey and Jamie Cracknell

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THE search to find Britain’s best young seafood chef for 2019 has begun. The annual competition, now in its 17th year, encourages chefs to cook with seafood.

The competition is sponsored by Seafish, the public body that supports the £10 billion UK seafood industry, and run by the Grimsby Institute.

The young chefs, all under the age of 25, will be competing in one of three regional heats, to be held at

City College, Norwich (May 10), Sunderland College (May 17), and Coleg Llandrillo Cymru, North Wales (May 24).

They will work in teams of two to produce a three-course menu using sustainably sourced seafood.

The 2018 competition winners, Jamie Cracknell and Sagar Massey from West College Scotland, said they were ‘overwhelmed’ by their win.

‘We weren’t expect-

ing it at all. We had a really good insight from lecturers over the year, who really helped us on to the right path.

‘The competition is a great way to progress your career, and opens your eyes to innovative ways of cooking seafood.’

Each team will be judged by a panel of professionals, including a regional chef. The judging will be headed by Ben Bartlett, Master Craft Guild of Chefs, BBQ

champ and Seafish chef ambassador.

Nine teams will go through to the grand final at the Grimsby Institute on Friday, June 7.

Paul Robinson, hospitality curriculum manager at the Grimsby Institute, said: ‘The experience of this competition will give the young chefs a chance to develop new skills.

It’s invaluable and will help with their future careers in the catering industry.’

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

05/02/2019 12:44:31

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05/02/2019 10:23:57

Processing and Retail News

Young’s Seafood reports impressive growth SOLID sales growth and the capture of important new contracts helped give Young’s Seafood an impressive increase in turnover and gross profits last year.

The company reported turnover of Above: Bill Showalter £545.9 million for the financial year ended September 30, 2018, a rise of 4.3 per cent, and an EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of £23 million.

Earnings have now grown by 13.3 per cent year on year, along with a strong operational cash management.

CEO Bill Showalter said: ‘Sales growth, contract wins and cost saving initiatives have resulted in significant EBITDA growth for our business this year.

‘Young’s Seafood has a strong track record of operational success and remains the UK’s clear market leader in both chilled and frozen fish and seafood.

‘Our fourth quarter saw continued turnover growth, with solid EBITDA, building on the traction through the year. Frozen sales have returned to the long-term trend of year on year growth, while cost reduction programmes have underpinned our sales performance.’

He added: ‘During the year, we also achieved net leverage improvements and finished the year with £19.4 million cash in the bank.

‘Our exports programme has maintained year on year growth, up 180 per cent on quarter four last year, demonstrating the popularity, demand and potential for further growth of our brand in other markets.’

There was, however, no mention of the current position over progress or otherwise on the sale of the company.

Three months ago, the private equity firm CapVest appeared to be closing in on a deal which would have reunited it with the UK’s largest seafood business. It bought Young’s for £137 million in 2002 before selling it on six years later.

The current private equity owners, led by Lion Capital, said last April they were putting Young’s up for sale, with the hope that a deal could be completed by autumn last year.

It emerged during the summer that three main bidders were in the frame. Apart from CapVest, they included the Japanese corporate giant Mitsubishi, which has a separate food division and owns the Norwegian salmon company Cermaq, and a UK fishing quota consortium. But now it has been suggested that CapVest’s interest has cooled and that Young’s is looking at other alternatives.

Young’s has so far declined to comment.

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Processing News.indd 66

Fifty jobs to go at Edinburgh site YOUNG’S Seafood looks set to cut more jobs in Scotland.

The company has confirmed that it is looking to reduce the number of staff at its Macrae plant at Livingston, near Edinburgh, by up to 50 people.

The announcement comes less than a year after it closed its Pinneys salmon site at Annan with the loss of 450 jobs, switching production to its Grimsby base.

Chief executive Bill Showalter said:‘Over the past two years, Macrae has made significant investment in automation and process improvement at its Livingston facility to drive productivity and create capacity.

‘This investment has underpinned our competitiveness and, ultimately, contributes to the long-term

security of the site.

‘The delivery of these improvements in productivity now require the company to review its present manpower needs and the company is now proposing to restructure its shift patterns and reduce its headcount at the site by approximately 50 roles.’

He added: ‘We are proposing a move from the current

Above: Angela Constance

two-shift structure to one shift and will now begin a consultation process with our employees.

‘We remain committed to the long-term success of our Livingston site and this announcement does not in any way reflect on the hard work of our skilled teams who consistently deliver excellent service for our customers.’

Almond Valley SNP MSP Angela Constance said the news was deeply disappointing and urged the Scottish government to provide as much assistance as possible.

She said: ‘The news that 50 jobs are at risk at the Macrae factory in Livingston, part of Young’s Seafood, is deeply disappointing.’

Young’s opened the site around ten years ago.

Staff shortages force move to Vietnam A DEVON seafood firm is to send shellfish more than 8,000 miles to Vietnam for processing because it cannot find enough staff to do the job locally.

The Blue Seafood Company, based in Paignton, near Torquay, and which proudly describes itself as the ‘home of Devon crab’, has said that if the experiment works out, then up to 20 per cent of future production could be carried out in Vietnam.

The business employs about 150 staff, with 60 per cent from the EU, and is currently advertising for ‘production operatives’. The company told BBC Inside Out South West that it expects demand for its crabs to increase by almost a third this year, driven by demand from China.

The company is sending frozen crab claws to be processed in Vietnam before returning them to the UK for the European market.

‘In the next 12 months, we should be landing a further thousand tonnes of crab – that means that we need more staff in the factory,’ said Spence.

‘To mitigate that risk of not being able to get those staff, we’ve had to outsource some production to Vietnam.’

Devon chippy crowned Britain’s best Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, while LOVERS of fish and chips will have Low’s Fish & Chips at the Westhill to travel to Devon if they want to Shopping Centre in Aberdeen sample the best Britain has to offer. came in third.

Krispies Fish & Chips, from the Krispies was also successful in coastal resort of Exmouth, has the Staff Training and Developbeen crowned the UK’s best fish ment Award category. and chip outlet after winning the Tim Barnes said: ‘What a journey National Fish & Chip Awards 2019. this has been and what an inOwned and operated by husband Above: Tim and Kelly Barnes credible way to top it off by being and wife team Tim and Kelly crowned UK’s Fish & Chip Shop of the Year!

Barnes, Krispies beat off competition from hun‘We love the awards and we’d recommend dreds of prospective winners to clinch the title, anyone in the industry to enter. It teaches you which has led to previous champions doubling so much about your business, not just showing their turnover in the 12 months following the you areas where you could improve but also announcement. highlighting how good you already are.’

Second place went to Captain’s Fish and Chip in

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05/02/2019 11:11:50

Opinion – Inside track

Angling for money

BY NICK JOY

A

LITTLE birdie has told me that the issue of payment by salmon farmers to the wild salmon and sea trout lobby is being discussed again. In fact, a sum of £0.5 million per year has been suggested and is apparently being seriously considered.

As I understand it, this would be an annual payment from the salmon farming industry to Fisheries Management Scotland.

I am also aware that the major driver is a company that wishes to produce under the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s standard. It is interesting that this company does not wish to pay FMS themselves.

One would have to be curious why not. If they believe that paying this money would be so much of an advantage for the industry, then surely that advantage would attach much more strongly to them and their brand if they were the only ones to do it.

Or maybe they are pushing this issue out of altruism for the industry. If so, then I would like to persuade them that this will not work out well.

My guess is that they know, as I do, that such a move imputes liability.

No one ever paid compensation for something they did not do. If they are being duped by FMS that this is not the case then I would beg to differ.

The history of relations between the salmon farming and angling industries has long been mired in government initiatives to try and broker peace, or even simply to improve the debate.

All have been doomed to failure, usually for the same reason. Once an agreement has been made, the angling lobby wait a short while and then send in the attack dogs again.

There will be the usual hand wringing by the anglers, while pontificating about how these organisations are not under their control.

They will infer that they have nothing to do with these attack dogs (the anti-salmon farming lobby groups), even when they have had a meeting with them the week before.

I am sure they will insist that this sort of practice will not happen this time. I also believe that they will say anything at all to ensure the salmon farmers’ money gets paid.

However, once it is paid, the salmon farming industry will never stop paying, and if you think that the negative press will stop, think again.

Before you can blink, the attack dogs will use the argument of liability.

Remember, Fish Legal (which represents anglers) is sitting out there just waiting to use a chance like this.

There is a fundamental principle here. The industry is being levered into this position by two forces, one within the industry and one without. Once that lever is in place, it can never ever be undone. Why? Because once the industry suggests that it is going to pay to support the angling industry, what is its argument for stopping? Just see if you can come up with a choice of words that would look good in a newspaper.

‘Salmon farming stops supporting angling because it’s skint?’

‘Salmon farming stops paying anglers because it’s not to blame?’

‘Salmon farming will not pay because all the salmon and sea trout have returned?’

Come on guys, we can all see that this never stops and while I have no issue with a company wishing to join the ASC, I cannot ever support them dragging the industry into a position that it can’t get out of.

I can see why the government might support the move. How nice of the industry to pick up a tab that previously the state had funded!

70

Nick Joy.indd 70

one “everNopaid

compensation for something they did not do

”

There is an even more compelling reason not to do this. The angling lobby is getting old and there are fewer and fewer young anglers.

The endless negative press, even when catches are good, has impacted their industry. Getting salmon red listed and complete catch and return has reduced the amount of old fishermen willing to fish this way.

They have opened themselves up to welfare discussions by just catching fish to play them and put them back. This becomes even more ridiculous when discussing a threatened species.

The angling industry is losing its ‘greenwashing’ defence because the arguments about conservation simply do not add up.

I have been in this industry for the best part of 40 years and have always wished for the two sectors to work together.

When you see what Bob Kindness has done on the Carron, it shows what we could achieve if we use our combined knowledge.

If we wait, both government and the anglers will see the logic. But if we give in now, they will never stop blaming us for the decline in stocks. Would you? FF

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05/02/2019 12:39:24

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