Aquaculture

New innovation centre unlocks aquaculture opportunities

Agri-EPI Centre’s latest innovation hub at Loch Fyne on Scotland’s Argyll coast will help to drive sustainable solutions and improve efficiency for the UK aquaculture industry.

In partnership with independent aquaculture company, Otter Ferry Seafish (OFS) - and jointly funded by Innovate UK and Agri-EPI Centre - the new Marine Aquaculture and Innovation Centre (MAIC) offers fully serviced research and development facilities to aquaculture producers and technology providers.

“We’ve been involved in aquaculture innovation and new species development since 1968,” says Alastair Barge, managing director at OFS. “For this initiative, we did market research to see what the sector needed to deliver sustainable solutions – R&D requires facilities, and most businesses can’t afford to run their own research stations 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”

The MAIC comprises a series of replicated small and large land-based tanks, located indoors under programmable lighting. “The tanks have water capacities of two cubic metres and 20m3, respectively. In the 12 smaller tanks we can test four different regimes or diets, in triplicate, as commonly required for scientific evaluation,” Mr Barge explains. “In the six larger tanks, we can rear salmon and other farmed species to nearharvest weight.”

The tanks have a water flowthrough system, incorporating pretreatment using sand filtration and UV sterilisation. They are fitted with particle separators to measure uneaten food and fish waste.

Eduardo Jimenez, OFS’s research and development manager, says: “Land-based tanks offer greater environmental control than cages or other seabased growing systems, improving the reliability of trials data. Interference from environmental factors is minimised because we can control and replicate conditions like lighting, water exchange rate, and oxygen levels.”

And the first trials are already under way. “At the moment we are running a benchmarking feed trial for a commercial client comparing three diets, to assess which is best in terms of fish growth and feed conversion efficiency.”

As well as helping to improve diets and treatments for farmed fish and shellfish, the MAIC is well suited for evaluating different strains of commercial farmed species and for developing rearing methods for up-and-coming species like seaweeds. It also provides a platform for validating new aquaculture technologies for counting and observing livestock and monitoring water quality.

“This is a great new resource supporting UK aquaculture innovation and we’re going to keep improving the facilities, bringing in new species and trials,” says Dr Jimenez.

Improving aquaculture sustainability is at the core of the partnership and the MAIC. “I think this centre can be a model for innovation, all with a background of sustainability,” adds Mr Barge.

Lisa Williams, director of business development at AgriEPI, is excited about the range of R&D projects which the centre can help with. “It’s one of a kind in the UK. The centre will facilitate a range of trial work that will enable us to really look at efficiencies within the sector. It also opens the opportunity to carry out near-market trials, as well as linking into the longterm sustainability of the sector and wider ecosystem within that supply chain. “The partnership is a perfect combination to drive forward change and is a valuable resource to aquaculture businesses that want to initiate and progress R&D projects. If any business is interested in undertaking a project, then we encourage them to get in touch.”

For more information visit: www.agri-epicentre.com/ and www.otterferryseafish.com

Aquaculture Blue Economy Vision launch

Move to make Scotland a global leader in marine management

Scotland’s ambition for a worldleading ‘Blue Economy’ has been set out in a vision document.

The Blue Economy is sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, while preserving the health of marine and coastal ecosystem.

The document recognises that Scotland’s seas and waters have a key role to play in contributing to the nation’s future economic prosperity, especially in remote, rural and island communities – and that a healthy marine environment is essential to supporting this ambition.

The Vision identifies six outcomes acting as focal points to ensure the marine environment supports ecosystem health, improved livelihoods, economic prosperity, social inclusion and wellbeing.

The outcomes also recognise the ambition for Scotland to be a global leader in providing healthy, high-quality and sustainably harvested “blue foods”.

Publication of the Vision marks the start of the work to deliver a collaborative approach for marine related activity in Scotland. The next step is to develop the programmes and policies to deliver the six outcomes in a blue economy action plan.

Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said: “Together, we can achieve an ambitious transformation of the value of Scotland’s seas as we move from blue economy theory into delivery, driving forward innovative solutions to deliver bold and ambitious change, helping to tackle the twin crises of nature and climate change, bringing real benefits to people and communities throughout Scotland and globally.

“Scotland’s seas and coasts support vital jobs across our economy, especially in coastal and island communities providing many goods and services as well as contributing to our overall wellbeing.

“There is potential for an ambitious and inclusive blue recovery for people and nature and the blue economy vision starts us on that journey.”

Background Scotland has 617,000 square kilometres of marine area – seven times greater than the size of the land – and 18,743 kilometres of coast line. The marine economy supports nearly 75,000 jobs – a sector that generated £5 billion in GVA in 2019.

The blue economy approach recognises that “our economies, livelihoods and well-being all depend on our most precious asset: Nature”, where nature provides a flow of benefits to people and the economy, called natural capital.

The paper sets out the Scottish Government’s longterm goal for the blue economy to 2045.

The blue economy approach requires a transition from ‘environment versus economic growth’ (the prevailing status quo in Scotland and globally) to ‘shared stewardship’ of natural capital that is facing common pressures.

The six outcomes: Scotland’s marine ecosystems are healthy and functioning.

Scotland’s blue economy is resilient to climate change, contributing to climate mitigation and adaptation.

Established and emerging marine sectors are innovative, entrepreneurial, productive and internationally competitive.

Scotland is a global leader in healthy, quality, sustainably harvested and farmed Blue Foods.

Thriving, resilient, regenerated, healthy communities have more equal access to the benefits that ocean resources provide.

Scotland is an ocean literate and aware nation.

The Blue Economy Vision can be found here: A Blue Economy Vision for Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov. scot)