Fish Farmer Magazine December 2019

Fish Farmer VOLUME 42

NUMBER 12

DECEMBER 2019

www.fishfarmermagazine.co.uk

Serving worldwide aquaculture since 1977

NET WORTH

INDUSTRY DRIVERS

SOLVING RIDDLES

PHARMAQADEMY

Insight into Indian innovation at Garware Technical Fibres

View from transport and logistics experts

What Fort William firm can offer farmers

SAIC’s Sam Houston reports on latest research

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Contents – Editor’s Welcome Contents – Editor’s Welcome Contents – Editor’s Welcome

Contents Contents Contents

4-15 48-49 4-14 41-43 42-44 38-39 46-47 48-49 4-15 4-14 41-43 42-44 38-39 Brussels News Aqua 2018 Innovation Aquaculture Garware What’s happening in aquaculture Salmon market What’s happening in aquaculture Montpellier preview From shrimp torobust salmon Investor advice On a mission Brussels 48-49 News 4-15 4-14 Aqua 2018 Aquaculture Innovation 41-43 42-44 38-39 in the the UK UK and around around the world world in and the Salmon market robust What’s happening in aquaculture Montpellier preview From shrimp to salmon Investor advice Brussels News Aqua 2018 Aquaculture Innovation in the UK and around the world Salmon market What’s happening in aquaculture Montpellier preview From shrimp torobust salmon Investor advice 50-55 44-46 46-49 40-41 JENNY in the UK and around the world JENNY HJUL HJUL –– EDITOR EDITOR 16-21 16-17 16-22 50-55 44-46 46-49 40-41 Brussels Aqua 2018 Innovation Aquaculture JENNY JENNY HJUL HJUL –– EDITOR EDITOR 16-21 16-17 16-22 Billingsgate New processors’ group Industry pioneer News Extra platform Parliamentary inquiry 50-55 Sti rling course Pictures atmarket the exhibiti on Insurance Brussels Aqua 2018 Aquaculture Innovation 44-46 46-49 40-41 JENNY JENNY HJUL HJUL –– EDITOR EDITOR Wholesale change Steve Bracken SSC’s record results Stewart Graham The fi nal sessions New processors’ groupon Industry pioneer News Extra platform 16-21 16-17 Parliamentary inquiry Brussels 16-22 Sti rling course Pictures at the exhibiti Insurance market Aqua 2018 Innovation Aquaculture Steve Bracken SSC’s record results Stewart Graham The final sessions New processors’ groupon Industry pioneer News Extra platform Parliamentary inquiry Sti rling course Pictures atmarket the exhibiti Insurance salmon farming sector in Scotland, when itthe was to of The he focus this month istopictures on Europe, where the internati onal T HE is that and videos of unhealthy Sno Fish Farmer went press, there was sti lltold no cial urcoincidence Christmas issue this year goes to press onoffi eve Steve Bracken SSC’s record results Stewart Graham fi18-19 nal sessions 22-23 18-19 24-27 the subject ofwent athat parliamentary inquiry, embraced the HE salmon farming sector in Scotland, when told it(European was to still industry will soon be gathering for the joint EAS salmon were sent to news outlets just as the sh news from the Scotti sh parliamentary inquiry into salmon the general election, with the uncertainties of Brexit he focus this month isto on Europe, where the internati onal T be is coincidence pictures and videos of unhealthy Sno Fish Farmer press, there was sti llScotti no offi cial SSPO market 22-23 18-19 24-27 48-50 opportunity this would provide to explain how itinto operated.

Salmon SSPO be the subject of athe parliamentary inquiry, embraced the Aquaculture Society) and WAS (World Aquaculture Society) parliament went back to work at-where the start of this month.

These farming, conducted earlier this year by the Rural Economy hanging over country and the seafood industry. industry will soon be gathering for the (European salmon were sent to news outlets just as the Scotti sh news from the Scotti sh parliamentary inquiry salmon salmon farming sector in Scotland, when told itEAS was to he focus this month is on Europe, the internati onal T HE is coincidence that pictures and videos of unhealthy Sno Fish Farmer went to press, there was sti lljoint no offi cial Hamish Macdonell Current trends In good health Julie Hesketh-Laird The industry had nothing to hide and, if given a fair hearing, could Meet the new chief executi ve opportunity this would provide to explain how it operated.

Salmon market 22-23 18-19 conference, to be staged over fi ve days in the southern French images had litt le to do with the current state of Scotland’s fi sh and Connecti vity (REC) committ ee.

MSPs have now held fi ve SSPO 24-27 Garware This has been a Scotti recurring theme ofthe 2019 in our sector, as inThese Aquaculture and WAS (World Aquaculture Society) parliament went back to work at the start of this month. farming, conducted earlier this year by theinto Rural Economy be the subject of aSociety) parliamentary inquiry, embraced industry will soon be gathering for joint EAS (European salmon were sent to news outlets just as the Scotti shthe news from the sh parliamentary inquiry salmon address much of the criti cism levelled against it.

Current trends In good health Julie Hesketh-Laird The industry had nothing to hide and, if given a fair hearing, could Meet the new chief executi ve Factory focus city of Montpellier.

As well as highlighti ng the latest technological farms where sea lice levels are in decline and, in fact, at a fi vemeeti ngs, in private, to consider their report and we must be other businesses, and we must hope that the New Year brings conference, to be staged over fi(World ve days in southern French images had litt le to do with the current state of Scotland’s fish SSPO and Connecti vity (REC) committ ee.

MSPs have now held five opportunity this would provide explain how it operated.

Salmon market Aquaculture Society) and WAS Aquaculture Society) parliament went back to work atto the start of this month.

These farming, conducted earlier this year by the Rural Economy 20-22 Fish Farmer supported this view, but at ti mes felt that salmon address much of the criti cism levelled against it. advances in our fast moving sector, Aqua 2018 will also feature year low (htt p://scotti shsalmon.co.uk/monthly-sea-lice-reports). pati ent.

However, waiti ng for their recommendati ons has been some resolution.

We talk to those at the forefront of Brexit city of Montpellier.

As well as highlighti ng the latest technological farms where sea lice levels are in decline and, in fact, at a fi vemeeti ngs, in private, to consider their report and we must be Current trends In good Julie Hesketh-Laird The had to hide and, if given fair hearing, Meet thehealth new chief executive conference, to benothing staged over days in theaof southern images had litt le to do with thefive current state Scotland’s ficould sh and industry Connecti vity (REC) committ ee.

MSPs have now heldFrench five 56 48-49 50-58 42-45 farmers were being drowned out by the noisier elements offarming the Fish Farmer supported this view, but atREC tiit. mes felt that salmon Shellfish sessions on emerging markets and look at the role of sh This latest propaganda campaign, which involves all the usual made harder by leaks from within the to anti -salmon preparations, in transport and logistics, and out what advances in our fast moving sector, Aqua 2018 will also year low (htt p://scotti shsalmon.co.uk/monthly-sea-lice-reports). pati ent.

However, waiti ng for their recommendati ons been 52-55 address much of the criti cism levelled against city of As well as highlighti ng the latest technological farms -Montpellier. where sea lice are in decline and, infind fact, at afihas fifeature vemeeti ngs, in private, tolevels consider their report and we must be 56 angling lobby, which had called forby investi gati on.

But as the 48-49 50-58 42-45 Conference report farmers were being drowned out the noisier elements of the Book review 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)farming Training Aqua 2018 Innovation Aquaculture progress has been made. sessions on emerging markets and look atinvolves the role of fibeen sh This latest propaganda campaign, which all the usual made by leaks from within the REC to anti -salmon Fish Farmer supported this view, but atthe ti mes felt that salmon advances inharder our fast moving sector, Aqua 2018 will also feature year low (htt p://scotti shsalmon.co.uk/monthly-sea-lice-reports). pati ent.

However, waiti ng for their recommendati ons has Africa sessions progressed, and eventually farmers’ voices were heard, we Focus on cleaner fiInnovation sh angling lobby, which had called for the investi gati on.

But as the are broadening their scope, tackling subjects such as the social and Connecti vity committ ee returned from the summer recess to makes grim reading for the industry as it suggests that committ ee Martyn Haines Conference round-up Best of the start-ups Book review But fish farmers have had plenty of challenges away from 56 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) Training Aqua Aquaculture 48-49 50-58 42-45 farmers were being drowned out bywhich theREC noisier elements offarming the sessions onpropaganda emerging markets and look atinvolves the role fishusual This campaign, allofthe madelatest harder by leaks from within the to anti -salmon Farm for2018 sale became more opti misti c.

We now believe that MSPs, perhaps with acceptability of aquaculture and the contributi on itasfarming. makes toand global sessions progressed, and eventually farmers’ voices were heard, we consider its draft report into the future of salmon members have been willing to listen to those campaigning to Focus on cleaner fi sh are broadening their scope, tackling subjects such the social Europe, and these will be best addressed by good science and Connecti vity committ ee returned from the summer recess to makes grim reading for the industry as it suggests that committ ee Martyn Haines Conference round-up Best of the start-ups angling lobby, which had called for the investi gati on.

But as the Book review farming inThe alleviati ngofpoverty.

Increasingly, ngs anti -aquaculture suspects, as Economy activists. latest thesecame (see ourHolyrood’s newsindustry storyRural onmeeti page 4) 24-25 Training Aqua 2018 Innovation Aquaculture food security and saving the planet, acontributi move that isitresearch, to be welcomed. the excepti on of one or two Greens in cahoots with anti -farming became more opti misti c.

We now believe that MSPs, perhaps with acceptability of aquaculture and the on makes to global Those who want to shut down the industry have, as expected, shut down this valuable sector, rather than to those who operate innovation.

We hear about the latest fish health consider its draft report into the future of salmon farming. members have been willing to listen to those campaigning to sessions progressed, and eventually farmers’ voices were heard, we Focus cleaner fish are broadening their scope, tackling subjects suchsummer asthat the committ social and Connecti vity committ ee returned the recess to makes grim reading for the industry asfrom it suggests ee Martyn Haines Conference round-up Best57 ofonthe start-ups Comment 53-55 60-63 48-49 Also investi gati ng initi ati ves inregard the developing world, Dr Harrison campaigners, will, on balance, the industry in abe favourable food security and saving the planet, aindustry move that isperhaps toanti welcomed. the excepti on ofvaluable one or two Greens in cahoots with -farming stepped up their acti viti es, which now involve breaching the within it.draft 56-59 presented at the recent Pharmaqademy in Inverness, and Those who want to shut down the as shut down this sector, rather than to those who operate became more opti misti c.

We now believe that MSPs, with acceptability of aquaculture and the contributi on ithave, makes toexpected, global consider its report into the future of salmon farming. members have been willing to listen to those campaigning to 24 20 20-21 28-29 Martin Jaffa Charo Karisa of WorldFish writes about the farming potenti al inthe 57 53-55 60-63 48-49 light.

They will hopefully see that farmers take their environmental Also investi gati ng initi ati ves inbe developing world, Harrison campaigners, will, on balance, regard the industry in-farming a Dr favourable Aquaculture biosecure of farm sites to photographs in Ofwho course, such stories may inaccurate in any case, Nor Fishing Aqua 2018 UK Net cleaning discover exciting new solutions being piloted by Fort William stepped up their acti viti es, which now involve breaching the within it. food security and saving the planet, athe move that isand, to be welcomed. the excepti on ofenvironments one or two Greens in cahoots with anti Pharmaqademy Those want tocatf shut down the industry have, as expected, shut down this valuable sector, than tosnatch those who operate 24 20 20-21 28-29 Nigeria, both in ish and tirather lapia culti vati on.

BTA Shellfi sh Charo Karisa of WorldFish writes about the farming potenti al in responsibiliti es seriously and that businesses will only ever invest in Comment Introducti onons UK light.

They will hopefully see that farmers take their environmental Farming angle Focus on Africa Robot soluti the hope of fi nding incriminati ng evidence against farmers.

One committ ee’s fi ndings are not binding.

Scotland’s fi sh farmers Aquaculture 57 based company Northern Light. biosecure environments of farm sites to snatch in Of course, such stories may be inaccurate and, in any case, the Nor Fishing Aqua 2018 Net cleaning 53-55 60-63 48-49 Also investi gati ng initi aties, veswhich in the developing world, Dr Harrison campaigners, will, on balance, regard the industry inofaphotographs favourable Research round-up stepped up their acti viti now involve breaching theng within Init.Scotland, the summer has been something aofwaiti game in28-29 What’s in a name?

Dr Nick Lake Nigeria, both in catf ish and ti lapia culti vati on.

Phil Thomas growth that is sustainable.

26-29 BTA Shellfi sh 24 20 20-21 responsibiliti es seriously and that businesses will only ever invest Comment Introducti onons campaigner fi lmed himself searching, unsuccessfully, for dead have always been fortunate to have the support their minister, And, insuch aof special report, weabout go the factories of Farming angle Focus on Africa Robot soluti the hope nding incriminati nginside evidence against farmers.

One committ ee’s fistories ndings are not binding.

Scotland’s fish farmers Charo Karisa of WorldFish writes thesnatch farming potenti alIndian inthe light.

They will hopefully see that farmers take their environmental Aquaculture biosecure environments of farm sites to photographs in Of while course, may be inaccurate and, in any case, Nor Fishing Aqua 2018 UK Net cleaning the parliament is in recess andsomething thethose members Holyrood’s Scotland, the summer has been of aofof waiti ngminister, game IfInthe ee members, especially have yet toinof Comment What’s in a name?

Dr Nick Lake Phil Thomas growth that isfibeen sustainable. fi sh at acommitt Marine Harvest site.

Another said he saw ‘hundreds’ Fergus Ewing, to grow net maker Garware Technical Fibres, where afiwho pioneering team Nigeria, both in catf ish and tisustainably. lapia culti vati on. campaigner lmed himself searching, unsuccessfully, for dead have always fortunate to have the support their Northern Light BTA Shellfi sh responsibiliti es seriously and that businesses will only ever invest Introducti onons Farming angle Focus on Africa Robot soluti the hope of fi nding incriminati ng evidence against farmers.

One committ ee’s fi ndings are not binding.

Scotland’s sh farmers Rural and Connecti vity committ ee conti nue tosubject weigh up while parliament ishas in recess and the members of 58-59 60-63 68-69 51 visit a Economy salmon farm, like tosomething learn more about the of Phil IfBut the ee members, especially those who have yet infested salmon in awould pen, but we only have his word against that itthe should not go unchallenged that some MSPs on thetoREC In Scotland, the summer been ofhe aScotland’s waiti ngHolyrood’s game works with farmers and suppliers (including W&J fi sh at acommitt Marine Harvest site.

Another said saw ‘hundreds’ of Fergus Ewing, to grow sustainably.

Building Barcaldine What’s in a name?

Dr Nick Lake Thomas growth that is sustainable. campaigner fi lmed himself searching, unsuccessfully, for dead have always been fortunate to have the support of their minister, the evidence in their inquiry into salmon farming.

We don’t expect 26 22-23 30 Rural Economy and Connecti vity committ ee conti nue tosubject weigh up 58-59 their we have plenty of good stories in our May issue.

Even 60-63 68-69 51 bass UK visit ainquiry, farm, would like to learn more about the ofisof while the parliament isworld in recess and the members of Holyrood’s of professional and biologists who manage the welfare committ ee, with their own agendas against the growth of the Aquaculture Knox) across the to deliver game-changing technology. infested salmon avets pen, but we only have his word against that But itsalmon should not go unchallenged that some MSPs onto the REC Australia Training Sea If the committ ee members, especially those who have yet fi sh at athe Marine Harvest site.

Another said hefarming. saw ‘hundreds’ ofexpect Fergus Ewing, to grow sustainably. their report unti l in the autumn but hope the MSPs are using the tiItme the evidence in their inquiry into salmon We don’t 26 22-23 30 Shellfi sh Comment BTA bett er, they could head to the Highlands later this month, where Rural Economy and Connecti vity committ ee conti nue to weigh up their inquiry, we have plenty of good stories in our May issue.

Even Chris these farms on a daily basis. industry, are in breach of Code of Conduct for MSPs. As they Barramundi boomUK Martyn Haines European leaders reassuring to know that the best brains, at home and abroad, are of the professional vets and biologists who manage the welfare of committ ee, with their own agendas against the growth of the Aquaculture 58-59 Australia Training bass 60-63 68-69 51Sea Mitchell visit a itsalmon farm, like we towith learn more about the of time become fully acquainted the facts about fiare shsubject farming. infested salmon in go awould pen, but only have his word against that Butto should not unchallenged that some MSPs on the REC their report unti l inquiry the autumn but hope the MSPs using the Montpellier report Dr Marti nsh Jaff a Doug McLeod they will meet the aquaculture industry en masse at Scotland’s the evidence in their into salmon farming.

We don’t expect BTA Shellfi Comment 26 22-23 30 bett er, they could head to Highlands later this month, where If the industry is proud of its high standards, as it says it is, it are in a positi on to infl uence the future course of salmon farming, Chris Mitchell focused on aquaculture’s future. these farms on a daily basis. industry, are in breach of the Code of Conduct for MSPs. As they Barramundi Martyn Haines European leaders their inquiry, we have plenty of good stories in our May issue.

Even This month also sees the reti rement of manage Marine Harvest’s of the professional vets and biologists who the welfare of committ ee, with their own agendas against the growth of thelongest Aquaculture UK toreport become acquainted with the facts about fiusing sh farming.

Australia Training Sea bass boom theirbiggest unti l the autumn but hope the MSPs are theaittiright me Montpellier report Dr Marti n Jaff a fi shfully farming show.

Doug McLeod they will meet the aquaculture industry en masse at Scotland’s must mount a much more robust defence of itself, through its and of businesses vital to Scotland’s economy, we have After another action packed year, everyone at Fish Farmer If the industry is proud of its high standards, as it says is, it are in a positi on to infl uence the future course of salmon farming, Shellfi sh Comment BTA bett er, they could head to the Highlands later this month, where serving employee, Steve Bracken.

We had no trouble collecti ng Chris Mitchell these farms on a daily basis. industry, are in breach of Code of Conduct for MSPs. As they This month also sees the reti rement of Marine Harvest’s longest Barramundi boom Martyn Haines European leaders to become fully acquainted with the facts about fish farming.

We will certainly be at Aquaculture UK inindustry, Aviemore and biggest fish farming show. representati body, the SSPO, than it has done tothrough date. to who they are, and we hope the its would like to you -Bracken. our readers, contributors and must mount athank much more robust defence of through its and of businesses vital to Scotland’s economy, we have alook right Montpellier report Dr Marti n Jaff a Doug McLeod warm tributes from his friends and colleagues to mark the 28-31 24-25 they will meet the aquaculture industry en masse at Scotland’s 32-33 serving employee, Steve We had no ng If the industry isve proud of its high standards, as ititself, says itcollecti is, itThe are in aknow positi on to inflthe uence the future course oftrouble salmon farming, This month also sees reti rement of Marine Harvest’s longest forward to seeing many of you there too.

We will certainly be at Aquaculture UK in Aviemore and look campaigners, we now see, will stop at nothing, and farmers representati ves, will pressure the parliament to investi gate before advertisers for your continued support and wish you all a very ve body, the SSPO, than it has done to date.

The to know who they are, and we hope the industry, through its milestone and, along with the rest of the industry, the team at Fish biggest fi sh farming show. warm tributes from his friends and colleagues to mark the 28-31 24-25 32-33 must a much more robustWe defence itself, through its and ofmount businesses vital toBracken.

Scotland’s economy, we have a right SSPO Comment Scottish Shellfi sh Sea Farms serving employee, Steve hadtoo. nooftrouble collecti ng forward to seeing many of you there should be prepared to fiwe ght back. the REC report isall published. happy Christmas. campaigners, we now see, will stop nothing, and representati ves, will pressure the parliament investi gateatbefore Farmer wish him the very best for the future. will certainly be at Aquaculture UK inat Aviemore look milestone and, along with the rest of industry, thefarmers team Fish 28-31 representati ve body, the SSPO, than itthe has done toto date.

The toWe know who they are, and hope industry, through its Rising stars Marti nBrown Jaff Orkney anniversary Janet warm tributes from his friends and colleagues to mark the SSPO Comment Scottish 24-25 Shellfi sha Sea Farms 32-33 60-61 should be prepared toyou fivery ght back. the to REC report ispressure published.

Farmer wish him all the best for the future. forward seeing many of there too. campaigners, we now see, will stop at nothing, representati ves, will the parliament toand investi gateatbefore milestone and, along with the rest of the industry, thefarmers team Fish Rising stars Marti n Jaff a Farms Orkney anniversary Janet Brown SSPO Comment Scottish Sea Shellfi sh STIM should prepared to fivery ght back. the RECbe report published.

Farmer wish himisall the best for the future.

Rising stars Marti n Jaff a Orkney anniversary Janet Brown 32-33 26-27 26-30 34-35 SuperSmolt 30-31 www.fishfarmer-magazine.com Fish Farmer is now on @fishfarmermagazine 69 64-67 70-73 52-54 32-33 26-27 26-30 34-35 www.fishupdate.com Facebook andisTwitter Shellfi shfiSea Cleaner sh Farms Scottish Comment www.fishfarmer-magazine.com Fish Farmer now on Transport @fishfarmermag 69 www.fishfarmermagazine.com 64-67 70-73 52-54 UK Aquaculture Nigeria Networking Research Janet Machrihanish Orkney farm visit Marti nBrown Jaff afiSea www.fishupdate.com Facebook and Twitter Shellfi sh Cleaner sh Scottish Farms 32-33 26-27 26-30 Comment 34-35 Brexit ready 63 Conley www.fishfarmer-magazine.com Fish Farmer is now on Meet the team UK Boosti ng producti on Dave Chris Mitchell Aquaculture 69 Nigeria Networking Research 64-67 70-73 52-54 Contact us Meet the team Janet Machrihanish Orkney farm Marti nBrown Jaff a visit www.fishupdate.com Facebook and Twitter Shellfi sh Cleaner fi sh Scottish Sea Farms Comment Meet the team Boosti ng producti Processing News Dave Conley Chris Mitchell Contact us131 Meet theAdvisory team Board: Aquaculture UK on Editorial Advisory Board: Steve Tel: +44(0) 131 551 551 1000 1000 Editorial Tel: +44(0) Nigeria Networking Research Janet Machrihanish Orkney farm Marti nBrown Jaff a visit 32-26 Seafood sourcing 34-35 28-29 32-33 36-41 Fax:+44(0) +44(0)131 131551 5511000 7901 Fax: +44(0) 131 551 7901 Meet the team on Scott Landsburgh, Hervé Contact Steve Scott Landsburgh, Hervé Migaud, Boosti ng producti Dave Conley Chris81-82 Mitchell Editorial Advisory Board: Steve Tel: us MeetBracken, the Bracken, team 76-77 56-59 Email: jhjul@fishfarmermagazine.com email: Transport Jim Treasurer, Chris Mitchell, Migaud, Patrick Smith and Jim 34-35 28-29 32-33 Hervé Migaud, Patrick Smith, Patrick Smith, Jim Treasurer and 36-41 Fax: +44(0) 131 551 7901 Bracken, Scott Landsburgh, Hervé Steve Bracken, Scott Landsburgh, Hervé Migaud, Comment Cleaner fi sh Orkney Farm visit 81-82 Editorial Advisory Board: Steve Tel: +44(0) 551 1000 76-77 56-59 Aquaculture UK jhjul@fi131 shupdate.com From the Archive Value chains Look player Northwards Jason Cleaversmith and Hamish Treasurer, Wiliam Dowds Jim Treasurer and William Dowds William Dowds 64-65 Patrick Smith and Jim Hervé Migaud, Patrick Smith, Patrick Smith, Jim Treasurer and Fax: email: Marti nofJaff afiera Vaccines New Dawn new Comment Cleaner sh Orkney 34-35 28-29 32-33 Farm visit 36-41 +44(0) 131 551 7901 Bracken, Scott Landsburgh, Hervé SteveMigaud, Bracken, Scott Landsburgh, Hervé Migaud, Awards Head Office: Special Publications, David Litt le reports Growth in China Developing trends Aquaculture UK 81-82 jhjul@fi shupdate.com From the Archive Value chains 76-77 56-59 Macdonell Editor: Jenny Hjul Treasurer, Wiliam Dowds Jim Treasurer andand William William Dowds Marti noffi Jaff a era Vaccines Newvisit player Dawn new AquaLittSource Directory Migaud, Patrick Smith Jim Head ce:496 Special Hervé Migaud, Patrick Smith, Patrick Smith, Jim Treasurer andDowdsemail: FettesOffi Park, FerryPublicati Road, ons, Farm Comment Cleaner sh Orkney Awards David le reports Growth in China Developing trends Designer: Andrew Balahura Editor: Jenny Hjul Editor: Jenny Hjul Aquaculture UK 38-39 jhjul@fi shupdate.com From the Archive Value chains Find all you need for the industry Fett es Park, 496 Ferry Road, Treasurer, Wiliam Jim Treasurer and Dowds William Dowds William Dowds Edinburgh, 2DL Publications, Dawn Head Office:EH5 Special Marti nofJaff a era Vaccines New43-45 player new Adverti sing Manager: Team Leader: 36-39 32-35 34-35 Designer: Andrew Balahura Awards Designer: Andrew Balahura David Litt le reports Growth in China Developing trends Edinburgh, EH5 2DL Editor: Jenny Hjul 91 Transport Fett es Park, 496 Ferry Road, 78-79 63 Dave Edler HeadSubscriptions Office: Special Publications, Adverti sing Manager: Team Leader: 36-39 32-35 34-35 43-45 Commercial Manager: Wild salmon decline Cleaner fi sh Orkney IoA Edinburgh, EH5 2DL Designer: Andrew Balahura Long careers haul 91 66 & Marketing 78-79 63 Retail Fett es Park, 496 Ferry Road, dedler@fi shupdate.com Processing & Retail News Dave Edler Janice Johnston The mackerel hypothesis Transport Leask Marine Sti rling students Adverti sing Manager: Team Leader: Wild salmon decline Cleaner fi sh Orkney 36-39 32-35 34-35 Subscriptions Address: Fish IoA careers 43-45 Edinburgh, EH5 2DL Eat more fi sh Adverti sing Executi ve: Save Pinneys jobs Carlisle jobs Recruitment challenges Retail & Marketing 91 Subscriptions dedler@fi shupdate.com Opinion 78-79 63Processing & Retail News Davejjohnston@fishfarmermagazine.com Edler The mackerel hypothesis Transport Leask Marine Farmer Magazine Subscriptions, IoA Sti rling students Wild salmon decline Cleaner fi sh Orkney Scott Binnie careers Eat more fishchallenges Adverti sing Executi ve:

By Nick Joy Save Carlisle jobs Recruitment Subscriptions Salesshupdate.com Executive: Subscripti ons Address: Wyvex Retail &Pinneys Marketing dedler@fi Processing & jobs Retail News Warners Group Publications plc, Sti The mackerel hypothesis Transport Leask Marine sbinnie@fi shupdate.com rling students Scott Binnie Media, FREEPOST RTEY YUBG TYUB, Callum Docherty Media, FREEPOST RTEY YUBG TYUB, Eat more fishchallenges Advertising Executive: Save Pinneys jobs Carlisle jobs 92-93 Recruitment Subscripti ons West Address: Wyvex Subscriptions The Maltings, Street, Bourne 80-81 64-65 Publisher: Alister Bennett Trinity House, Sculpins Lane, Trinity House, Sculpins Lane, Wetherscdocherty@fishfarmermagazine.com Media, FREEPOST RTEY YUBG TYUB, Media, FREEPOST RTEY YUBGWethersTYUB, Scottsbinnie@fi Binnie shupdate.com Lincolnshire PE10 9PH 92-93 80-81 64-65 Aqua Source Directory Subscripti ons Address: Wyvex Publisher: Alister fi eld, Essex 4AY fi eld, Braintree, Braintree, Essex CM7 CM7 4AY Trinity House, Sculpins Lane, WethersPublisher: Alister Bennett Bennett Trinity House, Sculpins Lane, Wetherssbinnie@fi shupdate.com Tel: +44 (0)1778 392014 Media, FREEPOST RTEY YUBG TYUB, Media, FREEPOST RTEY YUBG TYUB, Find all you need for the industry Aqua Source Directory 92-93 Tel: +44 (0) 1371 851868 80-81 64-65 Cover: Alison Hutchins, Dawnfresh Cover: Steve Bracken explains Lumpsucker Scotti sh Sea Farms regional fifield, Braintree, CM7 eld,Subscriptions: Braintree, Essex Essex£75 CM7a4AY 4AY Publisher: Alister Bennett year Trinity House, TrinityUK House, Sculpins Sculpins Lane, Lane, WethersWethersfarmingVayu director, Loch Etive. salmon farming toon Prince Charles producti on manager for Orkney, Find all you need for the industry UK Subscripti ons: £75 a year Cover: Garware, chairman Tel: +44 (0) 1371 851868 Cover:his Alison Hutchins, Cover: Steve Bracken explains Lumpsucker Scotti sh Sea Farms regional Aqua Source Directory ROW Subscriptions: £95 a year Picture: Scott Binnie during visit to Marine Harvest Essex Richard Darbyshire (left ),Dawnfresh and the fifield, eld, Braintree, Braintree, Essex CM7 CM7 4AY 4AY and managing director of Garware farming director, Loch EtiPier ve. salmon farming toon Prince Charles producti on manager for Orkney, ROW Subscripti ons: £95 a year 94 UK Subscripti ons: £75 a year 82 66 in 2016.

Photo: Iain Ferguson Westerbister team at Scapa Find all you need for the industry including postage - All Air Mail Technical Fibres (0) 1371 851868 Cover: Alison Hutchins, Dawnfresh Cover: Steve Bracken explains Lumpsucker Scotti sh Sea Farms regional Picture: Scott Binnie during his visit to(photo: Marine Harvest Richard Darbyshire (left ),Garware) and the Tel: +44 46-47 including postage - All£95 Air Mail ROW Subscripti ons: 40-45 40 37 36-37 94 farming director, Loch Eti ve. Pier salmon farming toon Prince Charles producti on manager for at Orkney, 82 66 in 2016.

Photo: Iain Ferguson Westerbister team Scapa Opinion UK Subscripti ons: £75 a year a year Picture: Scott during his visit Binnie to Marine Richard Darbyshire (left), Harvest and the 46-47 including postage All Air Mail Brussels 40 37 36-37 By Nick Joy Garwarefishconference ROWMedia Subscripti £95Colour a year Innovation Cleaner Aquaculture Innovation 94 Printed in Great for Ltd Thomson Printers Opinion Printed in team Great Britain for the the proprietors proprietors Wyvex Wyvex Media Ltd by

by JJons: Thomson Colour Printers Ltd, Ltd, 82 66 in 2016.

Photo: IainBritain Ferguson Westerbister at Scapa Pier Introducti on Glasgow ISSN Glasgow ISSN 0262-9615 0262-9615 Brussels 46-47 Indiantechnology innovation including - All AirColour MailPrinters Novel Temperature Introducti onfish

By Nick Joy Innovation conference Cleaner Aquaculture Innovation Opinion 37 36-37 Printed Media Ltd Printed in in Great Great Britain Britain for for the the proprietors proprietors Wyvex Wyvex Mediapostage Ltd by

by JJ Thomson Thomson Colour Printers Ltd, Ltd,40 Introducti on Glasgow Glasgow ISSN ISSN 0262-9615 0262-9615 Novel technology Temperature Introducti on Brussels

By Nick Joy Innovation conference Cleaner fish Aquaculture Innovation Printed in Printed 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, 33 www.fishfarmermagazine.com www.fishfarmer-magazine.com

Fair hearing French connection Farmers must fight back Uphold the code Happy Christmas Fair hearing French connection Farmers must Uphold the codefight back Fair hearing French connection Farmers must fight back Uphold the code TO IA

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

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

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

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

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

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

Glasgow Glasgow ISSN ISSN 0262-9615 0262-9615

www.fishfarmer-magazine.com www.fishfarmer-magazine.com Welcome Aug.indd Welcome -- May.indd Sept.indd Oct.indd 33 Welcome - December.indd 3

Figure 10. Examples of the young mackerel currently growing up ‘all over’ the North Sea, Norwegian Sea and along the Norwegian coast at the moment. These were caught in a ‘washing set’ by 10. theExamples purse seiner ‘Brennholm’ at an arbitrary west of Lofoten Figure of the young mackerel currentlyposition growing100 up nm ‘all over’ thethe North Sea, Isles in January 2018. thisalong stagethe these small mackerels are moment. competitors to the postsmolt Norwegian SeaAtand Norwegian coast at the These were caught insalmon, a ‘washing later they be seiner both competitors potential predators. and abundant availability set’ by thewill purse ‘Brennholm’and at an arbitrary position The 100 new nm west of the Lofoten Isles in Figure 10.ofExamples of the young mackerel currently growingfeeding up ‘all over’ North Sea, explanation to juvenile mackerel the multi winter salmon areasthe may bepostsmolt a good January 2018.

At thisinstage thesesea small mackerels are competitors to the salmon, Norwegian Sea and along the have Norwegian at the moment.

Thesedespite were caught in a ‘washing why fishes such acoast good present their early sea growth. laterthe theyMSW will be both competitors andcondition potential at predators.

The new andpoor abundant availability set’ by the purse ‘Brennholm’ at an arbitrary position 100 nm west of the Lofoten Isles in Photo JCseiner Holst. of juvenile mackerel in the multi sea winter salmon feeding areas may be a good explanation to January 2018. At this stage these small mackerels are competitors to the postsmolt salmon, why the MSW fishes have such a good condition at present despite their poor early sea growth. later they will be both competitors and potential predators. The new and abundant availability Photo JC Holst. of juvenile mackerel in the multi sea winter salmon feeding areas may be a good explanation to why the MSW fishes have such a good condition at present despite their poor early sea growth.

Photo JC Holst.

Introducti on Novel technology Temperature Introducti on

3 3 09/05/2018 08/08/2018 15:36:28 06/09/2018 16:32:15 04/10/2018 18:05:09 09:15:28 11/12/2019 08:33:06

United Kingdom News

NEWS...

Scottish Sea Farms lures two industry leaders

Above: Gideon Pringle is off to Scottish Sea Farms

GIDEON Pringle, who recently announced he was to leave his post as farming operations director at Mowi, is to take up a senior role at Scottish Sea Farms.

He will start in April next year as director of farming, a new post created in a restructuring at the company. Until then, he will work his notice at Mowi. Joining him at SSF is Innes Weir, formerly the UK general manager for Steinsvik,

who became regional manager for Scottish mainland at Scottish Sea Farms this month.

The appointments follow the announcement in September that long-standing production manager John Rea is to leave the business to pursue other interests.

Scottish Sea Farms’ managing director Jim Gallagher said: ‘Our business has evolved hugely during John’s 20-year tenure: from the number of locations and regions we farm in, to the innovative new approaches we’re adopting and the range of skill sets we employ.

‘On learning that John was to leave us, it seemed like the natural time to review how we do things currently and what else we could be doing to better equip us for the future.

‘As part of this review, we decided to divide what was formerly the remit of production director into two distinct roles: regional manager for Scottish mainland with responsibility for all our marine farms in the area; and director of farming with responsibility for overseeing both freshwater and marine production in all three of our farming regions.

‘This will ensure that each region now has its

Photo: BBC

BBC says sorry for salmon sector bias

own manager concentrating on the challenges and opportunities of the specific marine environment, supported at a strategic level by a dedicated resource focused on improving biological performance and growing our business in the most responsible and sustainable way.’

Pringle, who was farming director at trout farmer Dawnfresh for five years before returning to Mowi (then Marine Harvest) in 2016, brings a PhD in salmon genetics and more than 20 years’ practical experience in freshwater and marine farming.

Weir is a former farm manager with Scottish Sea Farms who went on to several international roles before heading up the UK division of Steinsvik (now part of Scale AQ).

Gallagher said: ‘We are all really excited to see what can be achieved when Innes’s and Gideon’s wealth of experience is paired with the skill, knowledge and forward thinking that already exists within Scottish Sea Farms, helping us build on the gains being made and taking us ever closer to our goal of setting a new benchmark for sustainability within Scottish salmon farming.’

Loch Duart boss Alban Denton to retire

LOCH Duart managing COMMENTS made by BBC presenter Nicky Campbell against Scotland’s salmon industry ‘should have director Alban Denton been more accurate’, said the corporation as it apologised for bias. is to retire at the end The head of news at BBC Radio 5 Live, Jonathan Crawford, issued an apology after the Scottish Salmon of the year after five Producers Organisation (SSPO) complained about Campbell’s broadcast last month.. years in the post.

In two programmes,Your Call, which he presented on November 6, and then on 5 Live Breakfast The board was inthe following day, he claimed the Scottish salmon sector was ‘highly polluting and unregulated’. He also formed of his decision claimed farms were ‘terrible for the environment’. several months ago, The SSPO refuted the claims by Campbell as wrong, misleading and factually inaccurate, and argued that said the company, Above: Alban Denton he had breached the BBC’s editorial guidelines, both in terms of accuracy and impartiality. The SSPO also which is celebrating its maintained that the BBC should have included the views of those within the salmon sector to balance the 20th anniversary this thoroughly enjoyed mybias shown by Campbell. year. self and the success we Crawford said:‘We always strive to maintain impartiality in any discussions on this issue. In the heat of Loch Duart, which have had over the past live radio broadcasts, especially during political interviews, farms in Sutherland and five years.As managing it is sometimes hard to find the best form of words but we the Uists, said Denton director of a tremenaccept we fell short in the two programmes you highlighted, had led the company dous company, brand and for that I apologise.We should have been more accurate through the recovery and team, it has been a with our language and included wider views on the subject.’ and strengthening of privilege to be part of Hamish Macdonell, director of strategic engagement at the the business, which has the story that is Loch SSPO, said:‘I am delighted the BBC has acknowledged the delivered a sustained Duart.’ mistakes made in these two broadcasts. period of investment Finance director ‘I’m sure everyone involved in the Scottish salmon sector and growth.

Simon Maguire will act will hope that inaccurate and partial broadcasting of this sort He had committed to as interim managing never happens again on the BBC.’ the role for five years director while the Macdonell added:‘I am delighted that the Radio 5 Live when he joined in 2015. board is recruiting a production team is keen to take up our offer of a visit to a Denton said:‘I have successor.

Above: Nicky Campbell salmon farm.’

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UK news.indd 4

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11/12/2019 08:35:58

All the latest industry news from the UK

SAIC secures £10m to help industry thrive ‘disseminating information in new THE Scottish Aquaculture Innovation ways’. The innovation centre will Centre (SAIC) plans to focus on host Gill Health Initiative 2020 in small and medium sized enterApril next year. prises over the next five years, Heather Jones, CEO of SAIC, after securing its second phase said: ‘The world has an insatiable of funding, worth £10 million. appetite for protein. In salmon It will also use the money to and other seafood, Scotland is develop aquaculture skills and producing globally recognised, talent across Scotland through a sustainably sourced premium mentoring scheme; working with Above: Heather Jones products to match that need. undergraduates and schools to Innovation has been, and will build awareness of aquaculture continue to be, an integral part of how we as a career; and furthering the Women in help the industry enhance fish health and Scottish Aquaculture (WiSA) network. wellbeing, reduce losses, and enable busiThe investment comes from the Scottish nesses of all sizes to grow.

Funding Council, Scottish Enterprise, and ‘Over the next five years, we will build on Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and is Scottish aquaculture’s existing foundations expected to be supplemented by £3.5 million to establish a low carbon, hi-tech, data secured from third parties. rich, and cutting edge sector that is led by During its first five-year phase, SAIC turned pioneering research aligned with genuine its funding of £6.75 million into a portfolio industry need.’ valued at £42.6 million, spread across 47 Richard Lochhead, minister for Further Edinitiatives. Of the total figure invested, £33.8 ucation, Higher Education and Science, said million came from industry and other partSAIC will ‘remain a catalyst for growth in a key ners – leading to the creation of more than national industry which enjoys international 200 jobs, largely in rural areas. success, securing future jobs and sustainable SAIC also funded the studies of 92 MSc and PhD students. In the latest phase, SAIC said it economic growth’.

‘The government is working hard to ensure will share innovation throughout the industry the aquaculture industry continues to thrive.’ by organising workshops, conferences, and

Salmon farms cut antibiotic use by 60% THE use of antibiotics in salmon farming in the UK has fallen 60 per cent, according to report by the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance (RUMA).

The sector used 1,011.3 kg in 2018, a decrease based primarily on a reduction in the treatments required in the seawater phase of production.

This use equated to 6.5 mg/kg of production, slightly higher than the target of 5mg/kg established by RUMA’s Targets Task Force in 2017, but antibiotic treatments are still relatively infrequent in salmon farming.The figure for 2017 was 16.1 mg/kg.

The report noted that as poikilotherms (cold blooded fish), salmon can see their health compromised by

variations in the quality and composition of the water, including the presence of potentially harmful organisms such as algae and plankton.

‘Although antibiotic use decreased in 2018, environmental challenges were still evident and the sector remains mindful that variable environmental conditions (for example due to global climate change) may impact health management in the future.

‘Usage figures to date and in the future will therefore reflect a balance between minimising antibiotic use and ensuring fish health and welfare....but salmon farmers have always been innovative, and will seek to utilise the latest science and technology to help predict and mitigate against these challenges.’

Three pioneers scaling up for future challenges scaleaq.com

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UK news.indd 5

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11/12/2019 08:37:00

United Kingdom News

Charles launches ‘missing salmon’ campaign Scottish Salmon Company in awards hat-trick

Above: Charles addresses delegates by video link

THE Prince of Wales is supporting a campaign to try to halt the decline of wild salmon stocks, which are described as being in ‘crisis’.

Figures for salmon returning to UK spawning grounds have fallen so low that conservationists fear wild Atlantic salmon could be lost from many rivers over the next 50 years.

Organisations across the UK and the Atlantic have been seeking reasons for the decline and undertaking local conservation measures.

Now, angling bodies,

including the Atlantic Salmon Trust, Salmon & Trout Conservation, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, and the Angling Trust with Fish Legal, have joined forces to form the Missing Salmon Alliance.

Prince Charles, patron of the Atlantic Salmon Trust and Salmon & Trout Conservation, said in a video message at the launch last month:‘The very future of a species that has been swimming in our oceans and seas for over six million years will be in jeopardy....We simply

cannot allow this to happen in our lifetime.

‘Having our four leading salmon conservation organisations working together, through the Missing Salmon Alliance with support from both the private and public sectors, is hugely encouraging,’ he told the gathering in Fishmongers’ Hall, London.

The Scottish government’s Salmon Fishery Statistics have shown a general decline in large multi-sea-winter salmon since records began in 1952 and a sharp decline in both multi-sea-winter salmon and one-sea-winter salmon between 2010 and 2014. Catches were at their lowest on record in 2018.

Earlier this year, the Atlantic Salmon Trust launched the Missing Salmon Project in the Moray Firth, the largest salmon acoustic tracking project in Europe.

Stirling’s academic pioneers win top prize It is a timely THE Institute of Aqannouncement, as uaculture at Stirling the IoA prepares University is to reto mark its 40th ceive the UK’s most anniversary next prestigious academic year with a major honour, the Queen’s redevelopment of its Anniversary Prize. facilities.

The accolade – Professor Selina part of the UK honStead, head of the ours system – was Above: Selina Stead IoA, and Professor announced during a Malcolm MacLeod, the Universpecial reception at St James’s sity’s senior deputy principal, Palace in November and will be attended the announcement at officially presented at BuckingSt James’s Palace. ham Palace in February.

Stead said:‘We are absolutely Introduced in 1994, the delighted that the Institute of Queen’s Anniversary Prize recAquaculture is to receive the ognises outstanding work that Queen’s Anniversary Prize. shows quality and innovation, ‘This is important recogniand delivers real benefit to the tion of the collaborative and wider world through education interdisciplinary work our team and training. has taken over the past 40 years The latest recognition cele– with governments, regulatory brates the Institute of Aquaculbodies, industry, fish farmers ture (IoA) and its pioneering and supply chains – to tackle work in the world’s fastest global problems of food securigrowing food production sector ty, hunger and sustainability.’ in a bid to tackle global hunger.

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UK news.indd 6

THE Scottish Salmon Company (SSC) won three categories at the Highlands and Islands Food and Drink Awards last month.

The company picked up top prizes for Business Growth, Export and Marketing at the ceremony in Inverness in recognition of its performance over the past 12 months.

The SSC has posted record results in the past year, grown exports to nearly 70 per cent of turnover and launched Lochlander Salmon into North America.

Craig Anderson, chief executive of the Scottish Salmon Company, said:‘Exports have been fundamental to our business growth so it is fitting that we have been recognised in these categories.

‘The Highlands and islands are integral to our heritage and our brands, and we are proud to be a major employer in the area, creating and, most importantly, retaining value within the rural economy.’

Above: Craig Anderson

Good VIBES for eco conscious salmon farmers TWO Scottish salmon farmers have been recognised in this year’s VIBES Scottish Environment Business Awards, which are given to organisations that contribute to sustainable development.

The Scottish Salmon Company (SSC) won the Partnership Scotland Award, along with its collaborators in the Outer Hebrides Local Energy Hub (OHLEH) project.

Together with Pure

Energy Centre (PEC), Community Energy Scotland and local government body Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (CnES), they created a local circular energy economy initiative.

The OHLEH project involves the transfer of fish waste from SSC’s processing plant on Lewis.

This is integrated with other local household and garden waste in an anaerobic digester and broken down to

produce biogas.

Also nominated for an award was Wester Ross Fisheries, shortlisted in the Innovating Scotland category for its 100 per cent use of cleaner fish to tackle sea lice at its farms.

Wester Ross managing director Gilpin Bradley said:‘The whole team is thrilled to be shortlisted for such a prestigious award; being a finalist against tough competition is an honour.’

Salmon farmer tackles gill health with £1.9m workboat SCOTTISH Sea Farms is improving its response time to gill health issues with a new, purpose built workboat.The £1.9 million Fair Isle will service the salmon farmer’s more northerly regions, delivering veterinary treatment.

The company’s existing workboat, the Sally Ann, will be deployed at Scottish Sea Farms’ mainland operations.

SSF head of welfare Dr Ralph Bickerdike said:‘Recent years have seen significant investment in the surveillance of fish health and the farming environment, with ,

water quality monitored on a daily basis and gill health routinely assessed by our farmers to detect any challenges and highlight where pre-emptive action is needed.

‘Having a second dedicated workboat takes

this ‘prevention over cure’ approach a key step further, enabling us to administer the best veterinary care at the earliest opportunity.’

The Fair Isle is due into service in early 2020 following an 18-month build.

Above: Scottish Sea Farms’ Fair Isle skippers Aaron Anderson and Alastair MacEachen

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11/12/2019 08:38:10

All the latest industry news from the UK

Aqua-Spark puts money into Ace projects DUNDEE firm Ace Aquatec has won the backing of the international aquaculture fund Aqua-Spark.

The Dutch based investor has an ethos of supporting sustainable projects and companies as part of its global goal for a healthier industry.

Co-founders Amy Novogratz and Mike Velings said: ‘Ace Aquatec’s focus on developing technologies for responsible farming is Above: Mike Velings and Amy Novogratz paramount to increasing animal welfare in aquaculNor and Global Aquaculture ture, and an important part Alliance innovation awards). of Aqua-Spark’s mission.

Its products include envi‘We believe in Ace Aquatec’s ronmentally responsible predimpact potential and look ator deterrents, the in-water forward to supporting the humane electric stunner, and company as it develops more its 3D biomass estimation innovative products and consystems. tinues to expand its reach.’

The company has recently Ace Aquatec, an internationdeveloped a new sea lice really recognised innovator of moval system in partnership aquaculture equipment, has with a local salmon farm and won two Queen’s Awards for has new lice detection, fish innovation and a series of industry awards (including Aqua monitoring, and renewable

Mowi Scotland makes radio waves

barge projects underway.

Managing director Nathan Pyne-Carter said: ‘Aqua-Spark has a fantastic model for supporting and growing companies with a long term perspective which aligns well with Ace Aquatec’s own strategic plan.

‘We are excited to work with their team and to grow stronger partnerships with some of the highly innovative companies in their portfolio.’

UK news.indd 7

NOMINATIONS opened in November for the 2020 Aquaculture Awards, which will be held during the biennial Aquaculture UK exhibition in Aviemore in May. The awards are open to entrants from across the world, with a deadline for applications of March 9, 2020.

There are 14 categories, with a few changes since the last awards, which were held in Edinburgh in May this year.

Brand new prizes include ‘unsung hero’, dedicated to industry

Bright future

stalwarts, and ‘collaboration’, open to companies and academic institutions.

Nigel Balmforth, head of publishing at 5m, which runs the awards, said: ‘The 2019 awards generated widespread interest, attracting 78 entries from 16 countries.’

A six-person panel of judges – to be announced shortly – will select a shortlist, with the winners announced at a ceremony in Aviemore on May 20.

To enter or nominate visit www.aquacultureawards.com.

Marine Harvest’s prize night

Meteoric rise

Skye feed mill opens doors for public tour

Mowi Scotland invited local people to visit its feed plant at Kyleakin on Skye last month to provide an insight into how the mill operates.

About 50 visitors attended the open day, held at the Kyleakin Connections centre near the Mowi facility, with a minibus running tours to the factory.

Claes Jonermark, operations director of Mowi Feed, said: ‘We have worked Above: Mowi’s Jayne MacKay at Nevis Radio hard to implement measures to address this year to help fund a SCOTLAND’S biggest concerns that people have experienced dream – to be able to salmon farmer has since we started production. helped fund a live music broadcast, record and ‘It was a good opportunity for us to engineer high quality studio for the west explain exactly what we have done and live music in their studicoast radio station for us to find out if these measures have os and out on location.

Nevis Radio. made a positive difference.

The Live Lounge ProThe MOWI Live ‘There was good discussion and lots of ject took shape over Lounge was launched questions were asked about everything the next few months, with local singer songfrom employment opportunities, exactly with Mowi agreeing to writer Keir Gibson the what we make at Kyleakin and the raw a four-year sponsorship. first act to play on air. ingredients themselves, to broader quesJayne MacKay of Representatives from tions about aquaculture.

Mowi said the company Mowi Scotland and ‘We will continue to inform the comwas delighted to supmembers of the community about activity at the feed mill munity were welcomed port the project. All and we’re happy to answer any questions the work to construct into the Nevis Radio or concerns people have.’ and re-wire the studio studios in Fort William Visitors were also able to experience to celebrate the inaugu- and hang the soundsalmon farming in virtual reality, with proof material was ral live broadcast.

VR goggles that transported them to a conducted in-house by Nevis Radio aphatchery, a salmon site and Mowi’s conthe Nevis Radio team. proached Mowi earlier

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Aquaculture awards 2020 officially open

SCOTTISH Sea Farms’ Lynne Frame is a shining example of how much can be achieved, and contributed back to the business, when those opportunities to train and develop are grabbed with both hands.

Her SSF interview – for a position within the environmental team – was done by Skype from New Zealand, where she was working on a mussel farm after graduating from the University of Edinburgh with a BSc in chemistry.

The interview resulted in a job offer, but for an alternative role within the supply chain team. She has since gone on to spend as much time, if not more, in other producing countries as she has in Scotland, gaining valuable insights.

When SSF committed to building its £40

million plus freshwater hatchery at Barcaldine and was looking to build up the team in this area, Lynne was offered a year’s secondment to one of SSF’s parent companies, Lerøy in Norway, which had already established two similar facilities.

‘I had not long come from experiencing one side of aquaculture in New Zealand, to experiencing another side in Scotland, when I was presented with the opportunity to see how things were done Norwegian style,’ said Lynne. ‘I had to go for it.’

There, Lynne immersed herself in the world of recirculating aquaculture systems, feeding information back to the freshwater team via a dedicated page that she set up on SSF’s internal messaging system.

Just as that transfer was drawing to a close, another opportunity came up – with SSF’s parent company, SalMar, to observe the set-up of its new RAS facility in the Arctic Circle.

‘Mum threatened to hide my passport,’ said Lynne.

Now back home in Scotland (to her mum’s delight), Lynne is using those insights in preparation for the opening, in November, of the company’s own RAS facility, where she is expected to assume a key role.

She is also contributing with other industry and academic partners on a collaborative project to explore the risk factors around Saprolegnia which, if successful, could have a huge bearing on freshwater performance.

Most notable however, is the depth of freshwater understanding that Lynne has built up as a result of her travels.

‘The more bright young things like Lynne that come into salmon farming, the more exciting the future of the sector will be,’ said the company.

AKVA’S Scott Mackay started his career in 2006 as an apprentice electrician working for SSE, eventually winning the ‘apprentice of the year’ award for his outstanding work.

He joined AKVA in 2012 as an electrician and, after just one year, was promoted to senior engineer, a recognition of his commitment and drive to offer the company’s customers ideas and solutions to enhance their businesses.

When an opening arose for an operations manager Above: Lynne Frame and Scott Mackay in 2014, Scott’s outstanding people management skills and ability to lead and inspire staff (who were often an exceptionally high standard twice his age) made him of quality, productivity and calm stand out from other candidates professionalism to the role. and he was an easy choice for the As part of a major restructuring, in position, said AKVA. 2017 Scott was promoted to operaAged only 24, he was already responsible for a staff of more than 18 tions director of AKVA, moving from a hands on management approach and revenue in excess of £2 million.

In the role, he reduced staff turno- to more strategic leadership, ensurver within the operations arm of the ing that those in his team have the tools and are empowered to meet business by 45 per cent, resulting the organisations goals. in a much improved consistency He has been a strong advocate of of service, along with a significant staff training and development and reduction in cost to the business. ensures that HSE is at the top of the He also oversaw the development agenda. of AKVA’s rental business, which Now in charge of 26 staff, he has now accounts for 25 per cent of helped oversee a major transition in total revenue. the business, with new workshops Staff numbers have grown by a in Stornoway and Argyll placing enfurther 20 per cent and at any given gineers closer to customers. Scott’s time engineers in his team can be vision, values and behaviour will found across the west coast, Northern Isles and Western Isles, servicing ensure his future is very promising, said AKVA. customers’ needs and bringing

sumer products division at Rosyth.

At each destination, the user is hosted by a Mowi member of staff who works at that site, providing commentary on what they are seeing – above and below the water’s surface.

The virtual reality technology, launched

by Mowi in the summer at Rosyth, has now been rolled out to sites across Scotland, with headsets at the Farms Office (Fort William), Inchmore hatchery (Glenmoriston), Lochailort hatchery (Lochailort), and Blar Mhor primary processing plant (Fort William).

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04/06/2018 16:52:53

Above: Mowi’s salmon wagon at the open day

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11/12/2019 08:39:18

European News

NEWS...

Mowi may halt Irish investment over licence ‘hassle’ MOWI has warned it may move €22 million investment planned for Ireland to other countries because of delays in the Irish licensing system.

Mowi Ireland boss Jan Feenstra has called on the Irish government to speed up reforms to the ‘outdated’ licensing regime, according to a report in Ireland’s Sunday Independent newspaper.

The world’s largest salmon farmer, which had a global turnover of almost €3.8 billion and employed 14,500 people in 2018, has 13 operations across five counties in Ireland.

It employs nearly 300 people in the country, recording annual sales of €66.1 million.

Feenstra, who met Ireland’s agriculture minister Michael Creed recently, said the department had published an independent review of the licensing regime in 2017 but had failed to implement the proposed changes to the system included within it, resulting in harm to the sector.

It can take up to eight years to get a new licence in Ireland, which produces only organic salmon, and no new permits have been issued for 11 years.

‘There is no certainty; there is no way of planning your business because you don’t know how long it is going to take or whether you’ll get another licence,’ said Feenstra.

‘We are looking for a

Above: Jan Feenstra, Michael Creed

level playing field with the other salmon producing nations of the world.

‘In Scotland, we just built a €120 million feed plant.

There was a feed plant in Westport,

but that closed down because the industry isn’t going anywhere.

‘If this doesn’t improve in a few years’ time, I don’t think the industry will survive here.

‘Some 10,000 tonnes

will probably be produced in Ireland this year; our largest site in Norway is 15,000 tonnes.

‘Why is there so much hassle over so little fish? The view abroad is, why is it so compli-

cated in Ireland?’

According to the newspaper report, Bergen based Mowi’s former CEO, Alf-Helge Aarskog, invited Creed to visit Norway to observe ‘a modern licensing regime’.

Norway’s ‘UFO’ concept grounded by Directorate of Fisheries A FUTURISTIC looking salmon farming project known as OceanTech has been refused development licences by Norway’s Directorate of Fisheries.

The joint venture between Wenberg Fish Farming and marine technology supplier Technip FMC, first submitted in November 2017, was for a large scale production closed cage facility at Salten, in the Nordland region of Norway.

Wenberg had applied for ten permits, to be developed over a sixyear period. The Directorate and the developers have held several Above: OceanTech, a new type of semi-enclosed modular net pen meetings and a number of changes tions Act, and refused all ten permits. were made to the original application.

Nicknamed the ‘UFO’ because of its space ship But in what is seen by many as a surprise design, OceanTech is a new type of semi-endecision, the Directorate has just ruled that the application did not meet the innovation criteria, closed modular net pen or cage.

Described by Wenberg as taking fish farming to as laid down under the Salmon Award Regula-

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new heights, it is a concept designed to control the water that goes in and out of the facility, potentially eliminating sea lice and ensuring the seas around the structure are kept clean.

Wenberg issued a press statement describing the rejection as ‘pure parody’, adding that it intended to lodge an appeal.

The company said there were a number of reasons why the development must be allowed to go ahead.

The location was a good one, well protected, and close to both skilled labour and salmon farming expertise. Important logistic facilities such as energy and road, rail and air transport were also on hand.

‘In fact, the technology is so good that it is now being looked at worldwide for the production of fish other than salmon,’ the statement said.

www.fishfarmermagazine.com

11/12/2019 08:42:58

All the latest industry news from Europe

Iceland poll finds huge support for salmon farming THE inhabitants of the Westfjords region of Iceland have overwhelmingly come out in favour of fish farming following a special telephone poll carried out among its inhabitants.

The poll was conducted by the marketing organisation MMR on behalf of the town of Bolungarvik, a community located on the Westfjords peninsula.

The area is likely to see the large scale expansion of the salmon industry over the next few years.

The result showed that 90 per cent of people polled said they took a positive view of aquaculture, with just five per cent against.

The remaining five per cent offered no opinion one way or the other.

Calls were made to 235 people aged over 18, out of an eligible adult population of 647, a high proportion for such a survey.

Around 60 people refused to answer, leaving 159 responses, representing a quarter of the population.

MMR said 66 per cent of those questioned took a very positive approach towards salmon farming; 20 per cent were ‘rather positive’, and just five per cent held either ‘very’ negative or ‘rather’ negative views.

The pollster said that while there was little marked gender difference, men were gener-

ally more in favour than women, with a ratio of 91 per cent to 84 per cent.

The ‘we support salmon farming’ view was shared across all age bands, but found to be strongest in the 18 to 29 group, where everyone was in favour.

Some older people were slightly more sceptical, with 11 per cent of those in the 68 plus group taking a negative stance.

Interestingly, Bolungarvik is one of Iceland’s oldest fishing outposts, which has seen better days. Such communities see salmon farming as a way of restoring their Above: New partnership (from left to right): Scale economic fortunes.

AQ’s Geir Myklebust and Per Ivar Lund and Moen Marin CEO Terje Andreassen

Morenot to expand net production in Lithuania MORENOT is building an 11,000sq m production factory in Lithuania to create a more efficient value chain for the production of aquaculture nets.

The company has been present in Plungė in the country for seven years, with the production of trawl doors.

An agreement has now been signed to expand the production area to handle the assembly and treatment of nets for the aquaculture industry. Morenot will expand its net assembling capacity with this new factory.

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Big Scale barge deal for Mowi

‘Being a large global producer, we are committed to setting new standards to sustainably harvest food from the sea,’ said Morenot CEO Arne Birkeland.

‘With the new factory in Lithuania, we will increase the efficiency and control of the entire value chain.’

The netting which is used to make the nets is produced in Morenot’s factory at Hildre in Norway.

When the new factory in Lithuania is finished, Morenot’s current net production facility in Spain will provide nets, service and support to the markets in Southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

‘We have good experiences with our existing trawl door production in Lithuania. The location improves our logistics, with reduced delivery times and lower transport emissions.

‘Additionally, the location has the necessary expertise available, which ensures the continued production of high quality products.’

The new factory will be headed by Liudas Velykis, who currently manages Morenot’s trawl door production at the same location.

The soft opening is scheduled for March 2020, with full production running from May. The facility will require 50 new employees for the first half of 2020, increasing to 100 by the end of the year.

A DEAL for five new feed barges has been agreed between Mowi and Scale AQ. The 500-tonne capacity Sea Farm Feeder barges will be delivered next year and distributed between the regions of Northern, Central, and Southern Norway.

Erik Mjøs, Mowi’s purchasing manager, said: ‘The combination of good technical solutions and compliance with our needs meant that the choice fell on Scale AQ.’ Tor Henrik Haavik, sales director at Scale AQ – which was formed earlier this year when three Norwegian suppliers, Steinsvik, Aqualine and AquaOptima, merged – said barges were one of the new company’s main focal points.

‘The fact that Mowi chooses us shows that we are able to fulfil the customer’s requirements regardless of the type, technical solution, HS requirements and the desired load capacity,’ he added.

All the barges are 37m by 11.2m and will come equipped with FeedStation 2.0, described by the company as a ‘ground breaking’ approach, developed in line with Scale AQ’s philosophy of openness and data sharing.

The barges also come equipped with a ‘barge control system’ that allows for the monitoring and control of many other systems from land.

Also last month, Scale AQ announced an addition to its team, with workboat specialist Moen Marin coming on board.

Per Ivar Lund, vice presidnet of Business Development at Scale AQ, said: ‘Moen Marin has for many years proven that they make vessels that fit the market demands well and they are also in the lead when it comes to electrical and hybrid solutions.

‘Scale AQ already has offices in 11 countries.

Our distribution network, and existing customers in all markets, will ensure that vessels from Moen Marin can reach a much larger customer base. We want to make everyday life easier for farmers.’

Terje Andreassen, CEO of Moen Marin, said: ‘We want to be part of what Scale AQ is building.

Barges and boats have many similarities and we believe that we as a single team can offer even better products and a more complete range of services.

‘The local presence, maritime understanding and a serious focus on innovation is why we look forward to working with the rest of Scale AQ.’

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11/12/2019 08:43:36

European News

CageEye sees scope for growth in NorseAqua NORWEGIAN technology company CageEye has acquired farm equipment and cleaner fish firm NorseAqua in a move they say will change the way farmers work.

CageEye is an IoT specialist, known in the aquaculture industry for its behavioural analysis and feeding control systems.

The company uses hydro-acoustics and machine learning to translate fish behaviour into knowledge. This enables fish farmers to determine feeding regimes that maximise growth while reducing feed waste and improving animal health and welfare.

CageEye plans to expand into new geographies and species besides salmon, and recently announced operations in Chile. The acquisition of NorseAqua is another step in accelerating the company’s growth.

NorseAqua, based in Bindal, Norway, develops and produces equipment for fish farming and cleaner fish.

Launched by aquaculture entrepreneur Lars Berg-Hansen in 2014, it became one of the first companies to introduce cleaner fish to

Above: NorseAqua’s Sveinung Kristiansen, CageEye’s Bendik S. Søvegjarto and NorseAqua’s Lars Berg-Hansen

the Norwegian market.

The company has grown substantially over the last years, serving some 3.000 salmon cages in Norway, Iceland, Scotland, the Faroe Islands and Canada, with around 4,500 products in the field.

Berg-Hansen said: ‘I believe

Salmon diseases hit Iceland and Norway FOOD safety and marine health organisations in Norway and Iceland have been battling with suspected salmon related diseases on at least three fronts.

They involve ISA or infectious salmon anaemia at two sites in Norway and a confirmed case of IPA or the viral disease known as infectious pancreatic necrosis in Iceland.

This is thought to be the first time that IPA has been found at a salmon farm in Iceland, although it has affected halibut in the past.

The virus, which can be fatal to fish, was reported at a Laxa freshwater aquaculture site in Reydarfjordur.

It was discovered following a periodic

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sampling at the company, but the salmon in which the virus was detected is said to be healthy by MAST, the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Health Authority.

Meanwhile, ISA has been detected and confirmed by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority at a SalMar operated site in the Harstad municipality in Troms county.

In order to prevent the spread of infection, a number of restrictions have been imposed in the areas.

The state broadcaster, NRK, said that up to 170,000 salmon may have to be slaughtered as a result of the incident.

Earlier, it was reported that ISA had been confirmed at a Mowi site in Rogoland’s Finnøy municipality.

CageEye and NorseAqua are a great fit. Both companies are intrinsically motivated to help farmers fight some of the biggest challenges in current fish production today.’

Bendik S. Søvegjarto, CEO of CageEye, meanwhile, said: ‘By adding NorseAqua to our company,

we increase our development power, broaden our network and extend our support net.

‘I am confident it will help us reaching our goals and ultimately provide our future population with eight billion extra and sustainably produced meals per year in 2025.’

New Mowi chief predicts tax plan will be scrapped THE new chief executive of Mowi has predicted decided what action to take over the committee’s that Norwegian plans for a controversial salmon recommendation, but said it was important to get a tax will eventually be rejected. wide range of views.

Ivan Vindheim, who took over the helm from The industry has reacted angrily, with the trade Alf-Helge Aarskog last month, said the proposal association Seafood Norway saying it could deliver would have a devastating effect on salmon farming a fatal blow to the sector. in Norway and, for this reason, he did not believe Mowi announced last month that CEO Aarskog, politicians would proceed with the main recomwho held the position for 10 years, was standing mendation of a 40 per cent flat tax on profits. down.

He pointed out that salmon farming was no Vindheim, who has been Mowi’s CFO since 2012, longer a local activity and future investment would said it would be ‘business as usual’, and he paid take place where costs were lower. This would only tribute to Aarskog who, he said, had delivered the lead to fewer jobs at home. company to him ‘in excellent shape’.

He warned: ‘Tax is a cost just like any other so fuKristian Ellingsen, group accounting director, has ture capital will be invested where costs are lower.’ been appointed new CFO of Mowi.

However, fish farming companies have been told that the proposals were not dead despite strong opposition from most of the parties in the ruling coalition government.

Finance minister Siv Jensen said she is not rejecting the idea out of hand and has sent a report to a special government committee for further discussion.

The tax was proposed by an independent group, chaired by economics professor Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe. The committee said that as salmon companies used natural marine resources, to which they had been given largely free access, it was only right they should give something back.

Minister Jensen told MPs that she has not yet Above: Ivan Vindheim

www.fishfarmermagazine.com

11/12/2019 08:44:02

All the latest industry news from Europe

New Year launch for salmon RAS pilot Bakkafrost delivers strong Q3 results A PILOT land based farm in Norway will lay the grounds for the RAS production of more than 30,000 tonnes of salmon, said the pioneers behind the project.

Havlandet, in Norway’s westernmost city of Florø, is starting construction work on the site in January, after more than 17 years of experience with land based farming of other species.

‘The first step in the long-term development is to produce two generations within the pilot plant,’ said Geir Johannesen of Havlandet Aquaculture.

‘The philosophy is to begin on a small scale and then take it step by step, based on systematic learning and professional development.’

Norwegian company Scale AQ will supply and install the RAS technology at the plant.

Johannesen added: ‘Currently, we have a licence of 10,000 tonnes of salmon onshore, although plans are to build a larger facility based on the experience of the pilot.

‘With the available area and production facilities, a capacity of more than 30,000 tonnes of salmon can be produced, in addition to a significant production of cod.

‘Looking ahead over the next 30 to 50 years at Fjord Base in Fløro, one shall see a gradual phasing in of land based fish farming, where at the same time oil and gas operations shall see a demise.’

Although there are a number of RAS facilities in operation, few produce fish to harvestable weight, said Børge Søraas, vice president of land based at Scale AQ. ‘This is our first project in Norway where salmon shall live their entire lives on land,’ he said. ‘Previously, this has only been achieved outside of the country’s borders.

‘We look forward to starting this project and expect this to be a great showcase for both us and Havlandet.’

Scale AQ said it wanted to link the plant to its existing technology projects – in automation and the development of onshore facilities.

The company is also developing new technology for data collection, analysis, autonomy and the maintenance of smolt and post smolt plants.

Some ground work at Florø has already started, but building will begin in the New Year. The first smolt will be introduced in Q3 2020 and the first generation of fish harvested in autumn 2021.

FAROESE fish farmer Bakkafrost announced strong third quarter results and some of the lowest mortality rates for many years.

Harvested volumes rose by more than 5,000 tonnes to a total of 12,900 tonnes and the combined farming and VAP (value added products) segment saw its operational profit or EBIT rise from DKK 142.4 million in Q3 2018 to DKK 257.3 million this year – despite a 10 per cent fall in salmon prices between July and September this year.

The company reported a total operational EBIT of 303.4 million Danish kroner (DKK), down from DKK 434 million last year.

Bakkafrost said salmon spot prices fell significantly during the period and while this had a negative effect on the farming segment, it did have a positive impact on the operational EBIT in the VAP segment.

The FOF segment (fishmeal, oil and feed) made an EBITDA of DKK 94.5 million (DKK 41.4 million for Q3 2018) These results are likely to be the last before the inclusion of the Scottish Salmon Company, in which Bakkafrost acquired a 68.8 stake for an estimated £517 million last month.

CEO Regin Jacobsen said Bakkafrost had chosen to increase the company’s share capital for the acquisition of SSC, which meant this was carried out without substantial increase in its external financing.

Turning to the third quarter performance, he said: ‘Despite 10 per cent lower salmon spot prices during the third quarter for 2019, compared to the same quarter last year.’

The company is expected to harvest around 54,500 tonnes of salmon.

But with SSC producing around 50,000 tonnes a year, the new look Bakkafrost group’s total harvest should double in 2020.

Norwegian seafood exports to hit NOK 100 billion NORWEGIAN seafood exports were poised this month to break through the 100 billion kroner milestone (£8.37 billion) for the first time, boosted by exceptionally strong growth in salmon sales.

Figures for November show that overseas sales so far this year were worth NOK 97.7 billion.

Renate Larsen, CEO of the Norwegian Seafood Council, said in early December: ‘We will reach NOK 100 billion this week.

‘It is proof that the world loves seafood from Norway and that the seafood industry is one of the country’s most important future industries.’

With the export total at NOK 50 billion in 2010, this means the country has doubled its seafood export revenues in less than a decade.

Larsen pointed to four main reasons for the achievement. ‘We have been paid better for our seafood and have experienced significant growth in demand.

‘There has been a rise in the price for several species; for example the value of Norwegian salmon exports has increased by 129 per cent since 2010.

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European News.indd 11

‘In addition, the Norwegian krone has been weak, which is advantageous for exports.

‘At the same time, active marketing work by the authorities and the industry, both with market access and marketing of the products, has yielded results.’

Seafood minister Harald T. Nesvik added: ‘This is good news because the industry is generating jobs and economic activity for the country.’

The figures for November show that seafood sales totalled 273,000 tonnes and were worth NOK 10.5 billion (£878 million), down by five per cent in volume and up by six per cent in value.

Despite the prices rollercoaster, salmon performed particularly well last month, reaching 108,000 tonnes (up seven per cent) and netting NOK 6.2 billion in revenue (up 12 per cent).

The revival in trout sales, which began 18 months ago, continues apace, thanks mainly to strong demand from the United State.

Exports last month increased by 30 per cent to 6,700 tonnes and were worth NOK 382 million, a rise of 20 per cent on a year ago.

Above: Renate Larsen

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11/12/2019 08:48:05

World News

NEWS...

Fish farming ‘can feed most of world’ - UN

Above: British Columbia fish farm

INTEGRATED MARINE, RAIL & ROAD LOGISTICS SOLUTIONS THROUGHOUT THE UK Work vessels and Port services available for short term, long term and one-off contracts

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the UN maritime conference in June next year.

The researchers behind the report believe that aquaculture can grow sharply if the industry uses insects and vegetables instead of wild fish as food for farmed fish.

Among other things, the report highlights salmon breeders who have increasingly replaced wild fish with soy in the salmon feed.

The FAO director AQUACULTURE has ‘Looking to the general, Qu Dongyu, the potential to feed ocean as a source said of the findings: almost two thirds of of protein produced ‘We need more pothe world’s populausing low carbon tion, according to a methodologies will be litical will and more resources to make new report from the critical for food sethis happen.

United Nations. curity, nutrition and ‘Let us not leave any The report, from the economic stability, region of the ocean High Level Panel for especially in coastal a Sustainable Ocean countries where hun- behind in our susEconomy, says it is ger and malnutrition tainability quest. If possible to produce are a challenge,’ said we focus our science, at least six times the committee, which our innovation spirit, more seafood than we included 14 heads of our technologies, we are getting today. government - among will secure and protect one of the oldest Because of pressure them, Canadian on global wild fish prime minister Justin and most undervalued food industries. stocks, most of that Trudeau, who wants We need to aim big increase will have to to move all salmon and do concrete come from aquaculfarming in British things.’ ture.

Columbia on to land Norway’s seafood But land based fish within five years. minister, Harald T. farming will put too The UN panel was Nesvik, who was at much pressure on chaired by Erna the report launch, freshwater and land Solberg, prime minsaid it stressed resources, said ‘The ister of Norway, the Future of Food from world’s largest salm- that any growth in aquaculture should the Sea’ report. on farming country. have the least pos‘Unlike land based The findings were sible impact on the food production, presented at a UN environment, so it the suitable area for conference in Rome was important that cultivating food from last month and the future research and the sea is not limited report is the first of development should by scarce land and 16 expert surveys concentrate on that. water resources. submitted before

www.fishfarmermagazine.com

11/12/2019 08:54:30

World News

Skretting wins Atlantic Sapphire feed contract Dutch firm plans $100m RAS site in US

SKRETTING has won the contract to supply based in Stavanger, Norway, has RAS trial the world’s biggest land based salmon farmer, facilities around the world.

Atlantic Sapphire, with the majority of its feed Skretting launched the first global RAS feed supply. in 2009, and holds two proprietary solutions The contract, beginning this month, covers crucial to optimising feed for RAS. most of Atlantic Sapphire’s feed requirements ‘We are committed to providing Atlantic Sapat its facilities in Denmark and in the US, phire with the very best, and this commitment Skretting announced. extends beyond delivering optimised feed,’ Johan Andreassen, CEO of Atlantic Sapphire, said Evy Vikene, Skretting commercial director. said: ‘Skretting has demonstrated a strong ‘Through Skretting’s RecircReady concept, R&D foundation, and that was a key decision Atlantic Sapphire will receive access to making factor for us. unrivalled support and service covering feed ‘We are excited to work in partnership to quality, monitoring, feeding, and technical develop a salmon feed optimised for our Blueexpertise for optimal success and RAS feed house technology.’ efficiency.’

Skretting has implemented Atlantic Sapphire’s innovaglobal RAS quality standtion centre is in Langsand, ards for a new range of Denmark, where it produces feed products – collectively around 2,900 tonnes of called RCX - dedicated for Atlantic salmon a year, sold production in recirculating in several markets. aquaculture systems.

The company is well The range will be utilised to underway with the conminimise the risk to water struction of the first phase quality and filter loading of of its Bluehouse facility in Atlantic Sapphire’s largeHomestead, near Miami, scale grow out units, said Florida, which is projected Skretting. to produce approximately The company’s Aquaculture 10,000 tonnes of salmon a Research Centre (ARC), year from Q3 2020.

Above: Johan Andreassen

THE Dutch aquaculture company KingFish Zeeland has become the latest seafood business to plan a large land based facility in the US state of Maine.

It has chosen the traditional fishing town of Jonesport for the $100 million plus project. But it will not be breeding salmon.

Kingfish Zeeland specialises in the production of yellowtail, a high grade sashimi which it currently sells into European markets.

It operates a RAS facility in the Dutch province of Zeeland which has an annual production of 600 tonnes of yellowtail, also known as kingfish.

The company pin pointed more than 20 sites along the US east

Above: Ohad Maiman

coast before deciding on Maine, which is fast becoming home of the largest US aquaculture cluster. , CEO of Kingfish Zeeland, said the plant plans to produce around 6,000 tonnes of fish a year, increasing over time.

The project is expected to create around 70 jobs and construction could start in early 2021.

The company spent several months in the area obtaining the views of local people.

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11/12/2019 08:54:46

World News

How fish keep their cool in warming oceans

Above: Professor Michael Burrows of SAMS

AN international study of ocean warming suggests that some cold water species will continue to thrive by seeking refuge in cooler, deeper water.

Researchers from the UK, Japan, Australia, the US, Germany, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand analysed three million records of thousands of species from 200 ecological communities across the globe.

Reviewing data from 1985 to 2014, the team, led by Prof Mi-

chael Burrows of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban, showed how subtle changes in the movement of species that prefer cold water or warm water, in response to rising temperatures, made a big impact on the global picture.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, show how warm water species increase and cold water marine species become less successful as the global

temperature rises.

However, the study also shows how some cold water species adapt.

While the global warming trend was widely seen, the North Atlantic showed the largest rise in average temperature during the time period.

But for fish communities in the Labrador Sea, where the temperature at 100m deep can be as much as five degrees Celsius cooler than the surface, moving deeper in the water column allowed the cold water species to remain successful.

The different responses of species to warming make predicting biodiversity redistribution and relative abundance a challenge, the report noted.

‘The composition of fish communities changed less than expected in regions with strong temperature depth gradients,’ it said, adding that in these communities, there is a ‘strong prognosis of resilience to climate change’.

NZ King Salmon plans offshore farm to double production NEW Zealand King Salmon has applied for an open ocean farm permit in the Cook Strait, which if successful could double its production.

The proposal, for a 1,792 hectare site 7km off Cape Lambert, producing 4,000 tonnes of salmon, will be followed by a secondary farm of the same size. The company currently produces 8,000 tonnes per year of salmon.

The application, lodged with Marlborough District Council, had a closing date for submissions in mid-December and the farmer invited the public to support its plans via social media.

‘We expect a hearing will be held in early 2020, with the hope of resource consent granted by mid-2020,’ said NZ King Salmon. ‘If successful, we intend to have the farm commissioned in 2021, with a first harvest in 2022/23.

‘We have already met with a wide range of groups, including iwi (Maoris), fishing companies, Department of Conservation, Forest and Bird, the Environmental Defence Society and local community groups and invite anyone wanting to know more to come and meet with us.’

The company said moving into the open ocean is ‘the future of salmon farming, not only in New Zealand but globally’.

The government launched an aquaculture growth strategy recently, which supports open ocean farming in a bid to increase annual sales from $623 million to $3 billion by 2035.

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All the latest industry news from around the world

Russia beefs up international seafood operation

RUSSIA has unveiled plans to streamline its fish processing and marketing operation in a bid to increase competitiveness and create a higher international presence.

The initiative includes the launch of a national brand, simply called Russian Fish, which will be launched on to the international market.

Both the industry and the Russian government say they are working together on the project, which will include a high profile presence at various global seafood fairs and exhibitions.

The Russian Fish plan was presented during the recent China Fisheries and Seafood Expo 2019, Asia’s largest industry exhibition.

Some 30 Russian fishing, processing, trading and aquaculture enterprises were at the expo as part of the Russian national pavilion.

Ivan Fetisov, CEO of Expo Solutions Group, which is expected to be Russian Fish’s operating body, said there were strong reasons for making the presentation in China.

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This was the market which is expected to be the starting point for implementing the integrated strategy to promote Russian fish, to be followed by the European and US markets.

‘We plan to join the ranks of world famous marketing organisations, such as Norwegian Seafood Council, Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, JETRO and Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers,’ he added.

‘Russia has rich fish resources and is one of the largest suppliers of environmentally friendly wild caught fish, which is bound to be appreciated by the global market and has every right to take a leading position.’

Russian Fish will operate as an autonomous non-profit organisation managed by its board of directors, whose members will include representatives of businesses, including major producers and traders within the Russian fishing industry and government representatives from bodies that are part of the Federal Agency for Fisheries.

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News extra

Billingsgate revisited Old market finds new purpose – but are its days numbered?

BY DR MARTIN JAFFA

I

FIRST visited Billingsgate Fish Market in 1987. The market had moved to its current site in Poplar in east London in 1982 so by the time of my visit it was firmly established in its new home.

As a wholesale market, Billingsgate was very different to the traditional retail fish markets I had previously seen.

Early in the morning, the market was a hive of activity with a variety of traders located across the market floor. It offered a wide variety of fish, including all the traditional marine species such as cod, haddock, sole and plaice, as well as live eels, crabs, scallops and prawns.

Although some fish was on display, the traders’ stalls were filled with boxes upon boxes of fish. A couple of traders were already specialising in buying farmed salmon, both from Scotland and Norway, and there was still a smattering of wild salmon available.

The market operated in a very traditional manner, with boxes of fish moved around the market by licensed porters, a role which was officially recognised by the Corporation of London in 1632. This was even before the market was formally established in 1699.

At the time, the market was located at Billingsgate Wharf, where fishing boats unloaded their catch to serve London residents.

The original market building wasn’t constructed until 1850 but this wasn’t found to be large enough, so it was rebuilt in 1872 and this survived until the market moved to the edge of Docklands.

In 2012, the role of the porters ended as a battle was fought over modernisation of the market-inevitable as the way Billingsgate operated changed.

Over many years, the supply of fish to retail has evolved. The bulk of the supply has been through the large supermarkets, which have been supplied direct.

At the same time, the number of independent fishmongers has declined.

This is both due to the competition for supermarkets but also because fish

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consumption has declined. Simultaneously, many restaurants have fish delivered direct, negating the need for early morning buying visits to the market.

The market risked losing its business. Certainly, the time I last visited there were significant gaps on the market floor where traders had shut up shop because they were unable to compete for a declining share of the business.

When I revisited the market this October for the first time in many years, the amount of activity and the number of people there caught me by surprise.

It was a very different market to the one I used to know, but I think that the beginnings of change were evident back when I used to be a regular visitor.

One or two new stalls began to appear, selling imported exotic species from the Middle East.

These fish were being sold into specialist ethnic markets, reflecting the cosmopolitan nature of a vibrant capital city.

Roll on a number of years and the market has

Above: Some traders still sell salmon. Left: The market was busier than expected Opposite: The fish on offer reflects London’s diverse community

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Billingsgate revisited

The “ amount of

activity and the number of people caught me by surprise

”

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I saw whole salmon being sold at £13 and £15 and big salmon for £35 each. evolved. There are many more traders now on the market floor and what is noticeable is the diversity of One trader was selling salmon on multi-buy with two for £20. both traders and customers- reflected in the species The way that these fish were being sold is very reminiscent of some local fish retail fish markets around the UK. Certainly, salmon is sold like this at both being sold.

Bolton and Bury markets in Greater Manchester.

Traditional white fish may still be consumed by This is the big change that I saw at Billingsgate. Rather than a wholesale UK consumers, but these species are noticeable by their absence. Instead, there is a wide range of fish market, Billingsgate is like a retail market, but one that is closed to the public. on offer, many of which are unfamiliar. The common Instead, the buyers are from ethnic shops and restaurants selling or using a small amount of specialist fish. Rather than boxes of fish being transferred out species are sea bass and sea bream but there is of the market by porters with barrows, the buyers are carrying the fish out everything from grouper to tilapia.

Salmon, which used to dominate the market in re- themselves, in carrier bags. cent years and was available on every stall, is largely There are still one or two of the old trading companies operating out of the market, such as J Bennetts, but even they have changed their offering to of minor interest.

The big deals for salmon now take place elsewhere, include exotic species such as snapper, jacks, barracuda, kingfish and orange away from the market floor, leaving salmon sold in grouper, as well as bass, bream and tuna.

Billingsgate has found a new purpose in supplying a wide range of fish to a the market as a bit player.

That’s not to say that salmon was invisible in Bil- very diverse London population. lingsgate. A couple of traders clearly rely on salmon But despite the new vibrancy, the market’s days are numbered. There is a sales but the big difference between years ago and new plan to put all the wholesale markets under one roof at a new site further down the river in Dagenham. Whether Billingsgate survives the move remains now is that while once the traders sold boxes of to be seen. FF salmon, now they sell them individually.

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Trade Associations – Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation

BY HAMISH MACDONELL

Wild card

Tariff-free salmon trade hinges on North Sea quotas

T

ALK to anyone who has ever been a fisheries minister and then watch them shudder when you mention quota negotiations.

These are the annual bouts of inter-EU brinkmanship which usually take place just before Christmas in an attempt to give the participants a meaningful deadline to work to.

Often, the winners are those who hold out longest while their competitors are either struggling to stay awake or frantically working out how they can still get home for the holidays.

Thankfully, this has never been an issue for salmon farmers. The quota discussions focus on wild stocks in the open sea, mostly in and around the North Sea, and everybody in aquaculture has been delighted to stay out of them.

But that is likely to change. Soon, we may have to pay very close attention to quota discussions. Indeed, we may well find that we can only sell the fish our farmers produce to the EU if the North Sea quota negotiators come to an amicable arrangement.

To go back a stage: before the last Brexit deadline – before it was postponed - the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation worked very closely with Scotland’s white fish producers to try to get the best outcome.

We had common cause over a no deal Brexit: we all wanted to get our produce to Europe as quickly and efficiently as possible.

We have every hope that this relationship will continue if, as expected, there is a deal and the UK leaves the EU at the end of January.

After all, all seafood producers in the UK want to see tariff-free access to Europe, as little paperwork as possible and no delays at the border.

But we are also very aware that the context for seafood is going to change, and change dramatically if there is a deal: and this is where North Sea quotas come in.

That deal will have to cover everything from seafood to security, from financial services to car parts.

But, for the Europeans, one of the most important aspects will be access for European boats to at least some of the UK’s territorial waters.

The threat is clear: the EU will only provide tariff-free access to European markets for UK seafood if European boats get at least some access to UK waters.

So the salmon sector, which has no skin in the game as far as the North Sea is concerned, may find itself facing a whole range of tariffs

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on exports to the EU if the EU and the UK cannot come to an arrangement over North Sea fishing.

The SSPO will be working hard on this issue, persuading the UK’s negotiators of the importance of maintaining tariff-free access to European markets after Brexit.

We will be lobbying alongside our allies in the caught fish sector: they also want to see tariff-free access to the EU. But we are also aware that we may have a different view when it comes to access to UK waters. For many in the white fish sector, controlling access to UK waters is the most important aspect of the whole Brexit debate, and while they are prepared to concede some fishing rights to the Europeans, they want this to be kept to a minimum.

For us, everything is about ensuring there is continuing tariff-free access to the continent, regardless of any deals done on access to UK waters.

Up until now, we have been working together, concentrating on mitigating the worst effects of a no deal Brexit. If we leave the EU at the end of January, our focus will shift to ensuring we get the best outcome for our sector.

That will mean ensuring the UK’s negotiators know how important EU salmon sales are and how crucial it is that there are no tariffs put in their way.

Above: Scottish salmon There has undoubtedly been a mass switchfarm ing off, as far as Brexit is concerned.

The postponement of the Halloween deadline acted like a trigger, giving many people the licence to forget all about it.

But we are on the verge of the second act and although the setting may be different, the

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Wild card

outcome is as uncertain as ever.

However, there is one more factor to put into the mix.

Nobody in a position of authority in the EU thinks the free trade deal can be done in the 11 months allocated by the UK government.

If that is indeed the case, then there will either have to be an extension to the extension (which is already an extension of an extension) or the UK will crash out without a deal at the end of 2020.

Boris Johnson has insisted that his endof-2020 deadline is immoveable and no request for an extension will be made.

If that remains his position, then it won’t

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Our focus will shift to ensuring we get the “best outcome for our sector, regardless of access to UK waters ”

just be the fisheries ministers who are staying up all night in Brussels as the clock counts down towards the deadline.

Ministers from every department and officials covering every sector will be forced into the most frantic and complex set of negotiations anybody in the EU has ever seen, and the future of our salmon sales to the continent will be very much part of the mix.. FF Hamish Macdonell is director of strategic engagement at the SSPO

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Trade Associations – Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers

BY JANET H BROWN

Resilience in action Oban conference goers take industry challenges in their stride

A

FEW people said to me, ‘the ASSG is my favourite shellfish conference’, and when the sun shines down, as it did for the first day of the annual get together on October 31, Oban can be a great place to be. But a few of these positive comments came on day two, when the rain was tipping

down.

But it is not hard to see why it should be a favourite, with such a mix of talks and a mix of audience, which included farmers, scientists, academics, regulators and policy people.

Someone suggested we needed to attract the bankers and the planners to make it perfect, but to be fair to these, the proportion of their work coming from shellfish aquaculture must be vanishingly small.

However, with the very crucial and costly role they play in the shellfish farmers’ lives, and with the important benefits that can accrue from shellfish farming nutritionally and environmentally, there may be a strong argument for their presence.

Dr Nick Lake, CEO of the ASSG, got the theme of the meeting, ‘resilience’, off to a good start with his impersonations of Private James Frazer and Lance Corporal Jones from Dad’s Army.

Getting the right balance between two extremes – reflected in their stock phrases, ranging from ‘we’re doomed’ to ‘don’t panic’- calls for resilience, and

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Below: Judging the Best

Scottish Shellfish Competition were (from left to right) Ben Wright, Nicki Holmyard, Elaine Jamieson and Rob Fletcher, while Tristan Hugh-Jones handed over the oysters. Right: Dr Nick Lake entertains Mairi Gougeon, Scottish minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment

for that we need good planning.

He did bring to our attention the sort of anomaly that the banker or planner could address.

To establish a two-hectare mussel farm needs planning permission. But so does a 20-hectare glasshouse, to grow out of season flowers. One of these attracts a planning fee of £20,000, the other £2,000.

Which is which? Surely the mussel farm with its highly nutritious food production, ecosystem services and low carbon footprint would be the less expensive?

No, the mussel farm will be the expensive one.

Planning permission for oil and gas ventures can even cost less.

The conference, held at the Corran Halls, was opened by Mairi Gougeon, minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment. She should by now be feeling right at home with the shellfish world, having received a very good grounding both at the Native Oyster conference in Edinburgh in June and the even more hands on gathering at the Stranraer Oyster Festival in September.

Her upbeat speech committed further Scottish government support for the shellfish farming industry.

She also announced a commitment of funding

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Resilience in action

Various NGOs had leapt on “ microplastics on the basis of ‘any new topic to stop aquaculture’ ”

worth £20,000 to kickstart the work of WiSA (Women in Scottish Aquaculture), which was launched in March this year to encourage more women to work in the aquaculture sector. In 2018, only 11 per cent of salmon farm workers and 15 per cent of shellfish farming workers were women.

The first speaker in Oban was Sandra Shumway, from the University of Connecticut. She last spoke at the conference in 2004, ‘preaching to the choir’, as she put it then.

This year she was equally in her element talking of resilience. She defined this as a capacity to recover quickly from difficulty. Molluscs, she said, are resilience in action.

She started by highlighting the problem of microplastics, which she clearly felt various NGOs had leapt on, on the basis of ‘any new topic to stop aquaculture’.

Shumway has a lovely laconic style. ‘Tell them the facts and they will go away. Sure!’ She is not sure the critics will go away by knowing the facts, but still she provided the a few. Microplastics, for instance, are something that molluscs can deal with very nicely, without build-up in these valuable food animals.

Climate change, however, is more of a concern but, in fact, molluscs have been remarkably adaptable and there are scientific publications to demonstrate this.

Henrice Jansen of Wageningen Marine Research, in the Netherlands, talked about the benefits of shellfish production in terms of ecosystem services.

This was a handy distillation of the myriad benefits of shellfish, from use as food, to reef building providing habitat and coastal defence, and bioremediation.

These two talks had set the scene that the shellfish were both resilient and valuable in many ways, in addition to simply providing both a nutritional diet and a delicious luxury.

So it was time to get to the nitty gritty of the marketing of the product. Patrick Blow, aquaculture specialist at M&S, posed a question: is shelf space guaranteed?

Well no, space is not guaranteed on the supermarket shelves and shellfish has to fight for its space along with many other types of food.

Blow told us that of the £10 billion of annual sales

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Top: Proud winners of the best oysters, from left John Hamilton of Loch Nell Oysters (native oysters) and Gerard MacDonald of Isle of Barra Oysters.

Above: Carter Newell provides the music.

Below: The conference was enjoyed by a very lively group of students from SAMS seen here with Prof Sandra Shumway and Dr Nick Lake

from M&S, more than half is now food. Of the 60,000 tonnes of seafood sold, two thirds come from wild catch and only nine are farmed species.

All have to comply with the retailer’s sourcing policy. Salmon is far and away the major farmed species at around 13,000 tonnes, while mussels are just 270 tonnes and oysters were only introduced in 2017.

Blow’s advice was that not enough was made of bivalve sustainability credentials- no aquafeed, no marine ingredients, and no soya.

He also felt that not enough was made of the Scottish provenance either, or of the nutritional benefits and value for money of farmed bivalves.

So that was the view from the supermarkets – albeit from someone who is also an oyster farmer.

Ben Wright provided an insight into a fully integrated farming/retail system that was supplying both his own restaurants, Wright Bros, and top end chefs.

His advice was to know what the customer wants – and to keep it simple.

But from his presentation it was clearly far from simple since one issue with supplying chefs is reliability and guaranteed quality. He had extremely valuable but tough advice for the Scottish farmers.

Stephen Cameron of the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group (SSMG) took the floor with a more combative style and the wish that data showing decreasing sales of shellfish would not spook us out.

His definition of resilience was ‘to withstand difficult conditions, and to recover quickly’, and he argued that the Scottish industry was not fully resilient, but could be.

There have been a lot of changes in the market and there is a need to realise that Aldi and Lidl are the new normal, he said.

And all the pressures on supermarkets to streamline their products and to reduce ranges will be passed down to the producers.

As an illustration, he pointed out that 50 per cent of meat or fish counters have been closed by Tesco’s. Waitrose used to be governed by quality but now price is important to them too.

And with three per cent of the population now vegan, there is real competition simply for sales space, with new products serving this developing market.

He outlined the challenges and opportunities and the positives for shellfish, being environmentally benign and sustainable, with no inputs, with space to expand, a big market to feed and with other opportunities outside food. He provided a rousing end to the first day.

Tim Bean of the Roslin Institute started his talk on the second day with a stark reminder of what genetic selection has wrought in familiar food items, such as

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Trade Associations - Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers

There have been a lot of changes in the “market and there is a need to realise that Aldi and Lidl are the new normal ”

corn and chickens. What is the future for oysters in this respect?

He fitted this to the theme of the conference by saying: ‘Well managed breeding programmes deliver resilience through adaptability.’

There is very strong potential for selection with high levels of both genetic diversity and fecundity, but hatchery production can cut variability very quickly.

Carefully managed lines are needed (as developed at the Cawthron Institute in New Zealand).

Bean gave some interesting examples of how genetic selection has been able to control disease in other aquaculture species.

Carter Newell of Pemaquid Mussel Farm, Maine, elucidated on residence time and light penetration as factors affecting chlorophyll levels in water bodies, which will affect growth of bivalves.

But another factor is also dead organic matter (DOM), which also makes up a significant part of their food.

Shell-volution will be working with Carter to map factors such as these for Scotland- to find best aquaculture locations- and hence to build resilience.

Michael Tait and Gregg Arthur also spoke about Shell-volution, which is effectively an umbrella project in its formative stages, aiming to look into industry research needs and working very closely with academia in order to solve some of the problems holding back the industry.

The conference concluded with a presentation from Danielle Bridger and John

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Holmyard on the ‘Mussel longlines and environmental benefits’ of the first open water mussel farm in the UK, which is situated 3-10km offshore in Lyme Bay. This operation provided living proof of ecosystem services coming from suspended culture, with shoals of fish attracted to what are essentially FADs (fish attraction devices), and even getting native oysters setting on lines of mussels.

Bridger started the presentation with some information from her PhD programme, in which she has tracked the developments around the lines and on the seabed as the project has evolved.

This had gone from a virtual desert of a seabed at the start of the project to an altogether different scenario, with far greater abundance of sessile and sedentary species.

One slide nicely summarised the ecosystem services provided; from employment for local people, to food production, nutrient removal from the water and greater water clarity, enhancement of wild fisheries, coastal protection, carbon sequestration and provision of artificial habitat – or should this be simply protected habitat?

Holmyard’s talk dealt with more of the hard work involved in terms of regulators and his problems in getting permission for the project to start with.

He raised the question as to why they have been forced to produce evidence of the impacts of their farm development while other activities, such as trawling, aggregate dredging, yachting, and sewage outfall, do not.

But we can all be grateful for this evidence seeking in that it provides further proof that suspended shellfish aquaculture has so many benefits. FF

Clockwise from top left:

Presentation of the cheque for the RNLI, with (from left to right) Ally Cerexhe, Mike Robertson, Nick Lake and Tom Kennedy; Patrick Blow, lucky winner of one of the prizes of the raffle held in aid of RNLI; Dr Henrice Jansen and Stephen Cameron; Ben Wright gives valuable feedback to the competitors; more conferring among (from left) Gregg Arthur, Åsa Strand and Tim Bean

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Comment

BY DR MARTIN JAFFA

Too big to fail?

The industry has not adequately addressed repeated criticism

A

MERICAN based industry commentator Drew Cherry has asked whether the salmon farming industry is ‘too big to fail?’ Until quite recently, he had thought not, but now he wonders whether he might be wrong.

His change of heart (published on the Intrafish website last month) has been influenced by a series of events in north and south America, some avoidable, some unfortunate and some simply bad luck, that appear to have swayed both public and political opinion against the salmon farming industry.

These events may not result in the failure of the salmon farming industry, but Cherry imagines that it may limit or even halt future growth. It is even possible that the industry might contract in some locations.

I have been concerned about the future of the salmon industry for some years. I believe that the period after the millennium brought significant change.

Certainly, the new century saw major US charitable foundations begin their de-marketing campaign against salmon farming. Their primary intention was to protect wild Pacific salmon fisheries in Alaska by demonising imported farmed Atlantic salmon.

In total, the foundations spent about $33 million funding the environment sector to put out messages in the US, such as ‘Farmed and Dangerous’.

Most of the messaging was of dubious origin and even though the campaigns eventually failed, these messages persist today.

US consumers were not persuaded by the campaigns because they preferred the taste and texture of Atlantic salmon to the wild caught Pacific species. This is why farmed salmon still remains popular in the US market.

Unfortunately, the anti-farmed salmon campaigns persisted in the US for several years. This is largely because there was no indigenous industry to combat the messages, and no unified voice from overseas producers.

In addition, while consumers weren’t impressed by the campaign messages, the environmental movement started to believe them. Salmon

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farming has since been made out to be one of the greatest environmental disasters of all time, despite any real evidence to support this claim.

As the negative environmental messages spread out of the US to other markets, including those with their own salmon farming industries, there has been a general failure to stand up and counter the negativity.

This may be because, as Cherry points out, the industry considered itself too big to fail or at least that it was of such economic importance locally and nationally that its existence would never be in doubt.

Research commissioned in Scotland indicates that the salmon industry is worth more than £2 billion to the Scottish economy. This equates to two billion reasons why the salmon industry should be allowed to continue to operate in Scotland.

Yet there are those in Scotland who think there is too high a price in terms of alleged damage to the environment for the industry to continue as it is.

The salmon industry seems unwilling to stand up and defend itself against the accusations – perhaps because it doesn’t want to draw more attention.

However, without any form of rebuttal, the critics slowly chip away at the integrity of the industry, until even those who have been steadfast supporters begin to ask questions.

This becomes a problem if those people are the politicians and legislators who enable the industry to operate.

Salmon “ farming has

been made out to be one of the greatest environmental disasters of all time, despite any real evidence to support this claim

”

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Too big to fail?

Above: The big producers have to focus on the positives

We have seen what happens elsewhere when salmon farmers are slow to defend themselves with facts.

In Canada, farms are being closed to safeguard the future of wild salmon stocks, even though it is clear that salmon farms are not responsible for declines. The recent election promises by the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, could threaten those farms that remain.

It is feasible that the same could happen on this side of the Atlantic, simply because the salmon farming industry has not adequately addressed the repeated criticism.

Without a robust defence of the industry, it is conceivable that even with a contribution of two billion pounds to the economy, salmon farming is not too big to fail.

One possible reason why the industry has failed to stand up to critics is that after the millennium salmon farming began to be a feature of the stock exchange.

With analysts and shareholders to consider, the big producers have to focus on the positives so maybe don’t want to acknowledge the negative press.

Listed companies have a different strategic approach to others, and this may influence the messages they want to put out. It is just an added issue for companies to deal with.

No industry is ever too big to fail. Salmon farming is such a good news story, but it has been hijacked by critics as a way of deflecting attention away from the sins of others.

Without a willingness to stand up and be counted, there is always the potential to fail. FF

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Take control In modern aquaculture, the quality of fish feed is not only determined by its impact on fish health and on the farm performance. We also consider the effect that the feed has on the Planet.

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Business focus

Hats off to west

coast couple The team behind Barcaldine bring new skills to aquaculture projects

S

ARAH Riddle, an aquaculture veteran of some 16 years, thought that when she joined her husband Greg’s consultancy business, Northern Light, they would see more of each other. It hasn’t gone quite according to plan, but that’s because they have been so busy, which both Riddles agree is a good thing.

Fish Farmer managed to find them together in their Fort William offices one day last month, alongside the rest of the team, project manager Shona MacLeay and business co-ordinator Mairi Sandison, all taking a rare break

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from a hectic schedule.

Greg, whose background is in civil engineering, set up on his own in 2013, while Sarah, with a BSc in science and management, was commercial director on the board of Aquascot.

Over the last six years, Northern Light has worked on the design and construction of various aquaculture projects, including upgrades to, and expansion of, land based freshwater and seawater facilities, including hatcheries, research units, and processing plants.

The main focus, until recently, though has been the building of the new RAS hatchery for Scottish Sea Farms at Barcaldine.

Constructing a large RAS facility required a completely different skill set for the farming company and Northern Light was engaged to manage the project from the start, which has helped establish the young company quickly in the aquaculture market.

Greg was involved from the start, visiting state of the art RAS plants in Norway, at Leroy and SalMar, which co-own Scottish Sea Farms. Choosing the right location in Scotland came next.

‘With the head of freshwater [Pal Tangvik] we travelled the west coast from Ardyne Point right up to almost Durness, looking at every single scrap of land next to the sea with a river or a loch near it,’ said Greg.

‘You can narrow it down quite quickly; you find out that half of them aren’t suitable at all, a quarter of them planning wouldn’t support, about five of the rest haven’t got a power supply anywhere near big enough, and very quickly you only have about four sites on your shortlist.’

Northern Light was also involved in the tendering for the aquaculture process contractor, which went to Billund in Denmark; the lead consultant on the building design, which went to Pick Everard; and for the main contractor, which was Robertson Construction; as well as the demolition and the enabling works contracts.

‘That was five different tender processes and five different contracts to administer, and supervise the work on site, deal with all the contractual administration, cost, programme, change management,

Left: Greg and Sarah Riddle at their Fort William HQ Opposite - top: On-growing tanks at Barcaldine - stocked with fish, November 2019 below: The hatchery’s main entrance

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Hats off to west coast couple

and physically be there most days just to keep an eye on what’s happening,’ said Greg.

Sarah eventually joined her husband at Northern Light in 2015. She had previously been at SSF for many years, responsible for sales to key clients in the UK, including M&S. She had also worked at Mowi (then Marine Harvest) when Graeme Dear was boss, starting on the same day as one Ben Hadfield (there was an article at the time saying they would be the future of aquaculture, she recalls), and brought excellent industry contacts to Northern Light.

She could see, with farmers’ recent big infrastructure investments, that there was a role for a team with Northern Light’s combined expertise in

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Nobody “ appreciated

at the outset how large and complex it was going to be

”

engineering and in the industry.

‘Greg is not just an engineer but has a really good knowledge of aquaculture (because that’s what I’ve been in for so many years) and can embed himself on behalf of the client to help them through the process,’ she said.

The Barcaldine hatchery absorbed Greg between January 2017 and summer of this year, 80 to 90 per cent of the time, he said. Sarah corrects that to 100 per cent.

Greg said: ‘Nobody appreciated at the outset of this project how large and complex it was going to be by the end, not the project team, not the designers, not the contractors, nobody, and it got bigger and bigger.

‘The number on site at the peak of construction might have been 120 to 130 turning up every day. I would try to get around the whole site in its entirety at least once a day so if anyone had something they wanted to raise or had an issue, I was there and they could catch me.

‘It’s been a learning curve for everybody. Fish farmers are not typical construction clients. Someone like Transport Scotland are building roads and motorways every week. But aquaculture companies, by and large, apart from these recent big hatcheries, haven’t done much big work on the land.’

Also on a fast aquaculture learning curve is civil engineer Shona, a fellow Highlander like Greg, who came on board the Northern Light team a year ago but had spent ten years in Orkney so is not completely new to aquaculture.

She has worked on roads, bridges, flood schemes, and in marine environments, but said now ‘every day is a learning day’.

She agrees with Greg that as engineers they can apply to aquaculture developments the disciplines and processes they are used to in construction work.

‘It is a very young industry and the regulations are changing, so what we have in civil engineering is not only the building side but also an appreciation of regulations,’ she said.

Barcaldine is not up to full capacity yet, but it has been becoming operational stage by stage, with the official opening planned for spring 2020. Everybody worked so collaboratively, the Northern Light team agreed, and they achieved the eggs-in date a year ago on time, ‘a major achievement’.

It is undoubtedly an impressive calling card for the Riddles’ business. FF

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11/12/2019 09:36:04

Business focus

Brainwave builders From lice cones to waste capture to floating RAS, change is the name of the game

N

ORTHERN LIGHT is now developing other ideas, beyond the scope of ‘business and project consultancy’, which is what is says on Sarah Riddle’s card. How would they describe what they are?

For the first time during the discussion, there is a moment’s silence.

Sarah concedes that ‘consultant’ doesn’t capture the Northern Light remit.

‘We want to be agile, we don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves, we want to be flexible, light and adaptable and good value. But if there’s an opportunity, let’s go for it.’

Greg said: ‘We do innovation and we create things. We create projects and products, but that forgets all the business strategy stuff that Sarah does for various UK and international clients. We are hard to define.’

Sarah again: ‘Construction, engineering, project management, innovation and commercialisation, business strategy and procurement, sales and marketing, grant funding (£3.5 million in the last three years, mostly aquaculture).’

Greg said they try to work with the client’s team ‘as if we were part of that organisation’.

‘We don’t have a fixed agenda, we do what needs to be done. The big projects are few and far between though. Our bread and butter is the smaller stuff because there are a lot more of them.

‘From a business point of view, I’d rather be doing six smaller projects than one massive one to the exclusion of everything else.’

About 80 per cent of their work is aquaculture related, much of it innovative, or even ‘transformational’, as Sarah put it.

They are advisers to a young Glasgow based connectivity company, R3 loT (see Fish Farmer, October 2019), and are also involved in the commercialisation of a lice capture product.

Called the Lice-O-Lator, it is the brainwave of a joiner and an electrician, both from Argyll, who were challenged by a local farm manager to devise a sea lice solution.

‘But it works!’ said Sarah. ‘They had built it but didn’t know how to take it forward. Now the prototype is in the water and it’s proven, tested by a farmer, with further trials currently in place.

‘The principle of the technology is very simple, basically attracting and capturing the lice. It’s patented. It looks like a large cone, 2m by 1.8m, that floats on the surface of the water.’

She said the farmers in Scotland who have trialled the Lice-O-Lator have been impressed and she believes the impact of this might be equally as impor-

28

Northern Lights.indd 28

tant on gill health because it is taking out plankton and algae as well.

Northern Light is also working with a ‘fantastic designer’ called Rodger Taylor, the man behind C-Cap, the first concrete feed barge in Scotland which, in 1997, won the John Logie Baird Award for Innovation.

He is, it seems, a fount of extraordinary inventions. Based near Inverness, and in the industry for many years, his new venture, of which both Riddles are directors, is called Aqua Innovation.

‘He came up with all these ideas, everything from a waste capture system to a closed containment pen, from aeration curtains to custom built ponAbove: Mairi Sandison, toons,’ said Sarah.

Greg Riddle, Shona ‘Currently, we are focusing on two products and MacLeay and Sarah have made applications to the Seafood Innovation Riddle. Below: The Lice-o- Fund, and we’re working on Disruptive Farming as Lator in the water. well.’

Opposite - top: Aerial These are two new UK wide funds, the latter view of the front of historically targeted more at agriculture, although the hatchery during construction, November seafood companies are eligible too.

‘It’s about how we will farm in the future, what is 2018. Opposite - below: completely game changing,’ said Sarah.

Inside Barcaldine - ongrowing tanks prior to The first of Taylor’s projects is a waste capture commissioning, March system that neatly fits underneath the existing cage 2019 to capture the waste before it hits the seabed. A tarpaulin –although Greg prefers ‘technical fabric’is separate to the net but synched to it.

At last year’s Scottish parliamentary inquiry into salmon farming, some MSPs asked why waste could not be collected from below the pens, and this sounds like their answer.

Marine Scotland, Crown Estate Scotland, the SSPO, SAIC, and SEPA have all been supportive, and there has been interest from the industry, said Sarah.

In collaboration with Rodger, Shona is involved in developing the design, for both freshwater and seawater suitability, and the plan is to have a prototype within the month to deploy in January.

‘The SEPA regulations have evolved and there are biomass consents being challenged and cut that this could save completely,’ said Sarah.

‘Biomass consents are set on what the environment can cope with, but if we’re capturing, the farm can grow on its existing footprint.

‘Shona’s experience here is so crucial because it can’t just be a design, it’s down to parameters of sites, the seabed and how we anchor it, the flow dynamics, the logistics of how you get it out to the site and install it.’

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11/12/2019 10:00:22

Brainwave builders

on is so clearly there “butTheitinnovati is breaking down the ideas, making them workable ”

The second of Taylor’s concepts is contained aquaculture, a floating concrete tank that is ‘basically a simple RAS system in the water’.

It is made of pre-cast blocks that are stacked together, and then floated out with a draught of 4-5m, said Sarah. It would be used as a nursery initially, for fish when they leave a freshwater hatchery, until they grow to around one kilo.

‘There was a big SARF [Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum] report looking at contained aquaculture so our key focus here is 6,000 cubic metres, 30m diameter and 15m depth.

‘We know we can grow fish in contained aquaculture but let’s do it in a staged fashion. A lot of people are looking at big smolt, post smolt, whatever you want to call it – which would be our first priority, with the fish moving to normal grow out at 1 kilo.

‘It’s another option of using leases we’re not farming; there are 111 inactive sites currently not in operation. In the next phase, we’ll build a bigger one so you would have a 24,000 cubic metre [concrete tank] and you’ve almost got a farm with 2,500 tonne consent.

‘But it would be perfect with a small footprint, potentially close to land, catch the waste, no predation, no jellyfish, no lice, as we’re drawing water in from down deep.’

Greg said: ‘People are impressed by large scale freshwater RAS facilities like Barcaldine but post smolt is very different and trying to do something as complex as that would be prohibitively expensive.

Post smolt needs to be simpler and built in a more cost-effective way.

‘If you’re spending £10 million on water treatment equipment and pumps and a clever control system, you shouldn’t then be spending double that on putting a shed round it…an

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Northern Lights.indd 29

alternative is to build in the water.’

The SEA-CAP 6000 (Sea Contained Aquaculture Production), just a concept at this stage, is circular with only a couple of metres above the water level so it would not adversely impact the landscape.

‘The accommodation ‘wheelhouse’ would be visible at the top, it would look like a boat,’ said Sarah.

‘And there is a working central column, the core of the structure, with windows, so you could go right the way down to the bottom and see your fish. It has never been done before.’

They have applied for Seafood Innovation Fund finance for this too, and hope to be in the running for Disruptive Farming as well.

The combination of Taylor’s imagination and Northern Light’s skill set is a ‘match made in heaven’, Sarah suggests.

As for the Riddles’ own match, it may have started inauspiciously, when they were both students doing summer placements at Highland Council Department of Water and Sewage. One of their first dates was a visit to a newly commissioned sewage works.

Their children have their own yellow vests and hard hats and they are all active in their community – Sarah has a broken thumb to show for playing in the Lochaber women’s shinty team – and they are managing the construction of the local Corpach marina community project, at the bottom of the Caledonian Canal.

The future is in aquaculture though and they have several other projects in the pipeline, including possible post smolt plants.

Sarah was in the Faroe Islands recently, and was excited by the scale of the operations and forward investments of Bakkafrost, the country’s biggest salmon farmer and new owner of the Scottish Salmon Company.

‘The post smolt they are doing is phenomenal. In

a 30-mile drive, I saw lots of hatcheries they were upgrading. They are so progressive,’ she said.

Big smolt is the ‘logical way for the industry to grow’, she said.

‘Make the bit that is harder to control less. It was 22 months at sea when I started, now we’re down to 15 to 18 months. We could be down to 10 months if they go in at a kilo.’

Both she and Greg want to see the industry they love grow and Northern Light will do what it can to make that happen.

‘The innovation is so clearly there but it is breaking down the ideas, making them workable,’ said Sarah.

But she let Greg have the last word: ‘Compared to traditional industries like civil engineering, aquaculture seems like the wild west, the last frontier.

‘It is a really exciting place to work. It is growing fast and there is a lot of investment in new facilities.

‘We’re trying to use our skill set to bring some order to how the industry is procuring and delivering projects, but without going to the nth degree and killing off that frontier spirit.’ FF

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11/12/2019 10:00:45

Transport and logistics - Brexit

Prepare for the worst Planning for a no deal has made the seafood industry more Brexit ready

S

EAFOOD businesses will be hoping the election result brings Brexit deliberations to a quick conclusion; nothing is more debilitating for trade than the constant uncertainty that has characterised the past three and a half years.

But despite Boris Johnson’s revised draft withdrawal deal being passed in the Commons in October, the legislation is currently paused, and the industry cannot afford to be complacent yet.

Nearly a year ago, when March 31 still loomed as the date the UK would leave Europe, Seafish, the industry authority, advised seafood leaders to be prepared for the worst case scenario of a no deal.

Ivan Bartolo, Seafish regulatory affairs officer, told the Norwegian Seafood Council’s London summit in January, the future is where facts finish and conjecture begins when it comes to Brexit.

Eleven months down the line, Bartolo said although a lot of work had been done by companies, nothing can be taken for granted.

‘It’s difficult to say whether we’ve moved on or not because we’re in this limbo,’ he said. ‘The government publicly stepped down its no deal planning at the end of October. But the fact is that no deal is still a possibility.

‘The philosophy is that if you prepare for a no deal then that is the worst case scenario and if something other than a no deal comes out, then we will be able to cope with that as well.

‘I think that philosophy will still hold – we do have to be cautious.’

The logistics of moving exports to Europe, and ensuring that the uninterrupted traffic of fresh fish and shellfish continues, has been one of the major preoccupations in the industry.

Bartolo said: ‘The UK has come a really long way over the last few months to make sure it has a lot of things in place to be able to carry on exporting.

‘For example, there’s a bigger capacity to produce export health certificates, that was really important.’

Bartolo said concerns were likely to remain over logjams at the Channel until systems are put to the test, but there had been an improvement in preparations on the European side and new arrangements put in place..

‘For example, Boulogne-sur-Mer and some other places in France [Caen in Normandy and Roscoff in Brittany] have organised their facilities to be able to receive seafood from a third country.

‘You have to have a border control point to be able to receive seafood from a third country. And a lot of these ports weren’t geared up for that, they were just ports because they were just getting seafood from the UK or from Ireland.

‘The French want to keep this trade flowing through their ports and some did not have that particular office, which is the border control point, to allow fish from third countries through.’

Some businesses have also been looking at alternative ferry routes to the Continent and Bartolo said contingency plans, in the event of a no deal, have been formalised, enabling ports such as Zeebrugge to accept seafood.

‘There is this regulation in the European Commission which is ready to go live the moment the UK leaves with no deal. Suddenly, all these places

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Transport - Ivan.indd 30

will be able to accept seafood.

‘Santander is another – it wasn’t approved for food for human consumption but it will be the moment this goes through.’

While customs checks can be done further in land, veterinary checks are what’s important because they have to be done at the border and ‘that’s where the pile-ups can happen’, said Bartolo.

Another possibility to avoid long queues at the UK end was to introduce fast lanes for seafood traffic, but some hauliers have been sceptical these would work.

Bartolo said: ‘There was an idea that was floated that certain loads would be classed as critical and given precedence.

‘I think the hauliers welcomed the fact that seafood would be classed as critical.

‘But whether it can be put into practice is different. If you have a queue of lorries that is a certain number of miles long, how are you going to go back and check the papers five miles up the line to check whether you have a critical load or not?

‘Maybe there is a way of doing it, but it’s the practicalities that hauliers and the trade were a bit worried about.’

With imports, the UK has said it won’t be asking for veterinary certificates on seafood from Europe, and imports from other countries are

Above: Ivan Bartolo Opposite: The smooth

flow of seafood trade is a priority

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11/12/2019 09:41:43

Prepare for the worst

“

We do have to be cautious because no deal is still a possibility

”

used to providing these, so there will be no change there, said Bartolo.

The UK will be asking for catch certificates though (on caught seafood) and there is ‘a little bit of a question mark’ over whether the member states are prepared to produce these.

‘It could be a sticking point, it depends on the member states. There’s not much importers here can do other than make sure their suppliers in the member states get sorted.’

Asked what advice he would give seafood businesses at this stage, Bartolo stressed the importance of preparation.

‘Even as late as late October I was meeting businesses who were still hoping that everything would be okay! And they had done nothing about it.

‘Some of them work to quite narrow margins so they simply can’t divert their resources to do this. Especially the smaller businesses.’

The bigger businesses, including salmon farmers, depend heavily on exports but most will already have experience trading with non-EU countries so will know the procedures.

‘A lot of companies don’t have in house staff to deal with customs, only

one or two people who deal with customs agents.

‘We’re going to need a lot more customs agents and they have been expanding – they find people and train them up. As far as I know, that has been happening.

‘And to a certain extent, businesses have been looking at improving their internal training.

‘There are still grants available – we don’t provide it but we signpost it.

It’s HMRC that organise it.

‘If one or two people in an organisation became customs experts that would really help.

‘If your company has only been dealing with Europe, you’ve not had to deal with customs at all. It’s a brand new subject you have to learn about.’

In January, Bartolo said everyone was hoping the government would reach some deal so it would be able to guarantee zero tariff seafood trade with Europe. How confident is he now that this will happen?

‘The way I see it at the moment, all options are equally possible. We cannot take zero tariff seafood to Europe for granted.’ FF

Big costs for small businesses SMALLER companies may face disproportionate costs because if they export small batches, every one of these will need a veterinary health certificate.

The costs vary, said Ivan Bartolo, but it’s going to be bad, for example, for crab and lobster fishermen who tend to send a few boxes at a time to Europe.

A proposed solution is to create a hub so seafood firms can pool their batches and have a single catch certificate that covers them all.

Bartolo said he had only heard about this being applied to catches., rather than farmed shellfish.

Farmed bivalve molluscs had a separate problem, though, but more in England, where a lot of the mussels that go abroad are farmed in B waters.

These are then exported to Holland, and a few other places, for further depuration to get fit for human consumption level.

‘Europe doesn’t allow the importation of shellfish unless it is ready for

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Transport - Ivan.indd 31

human consumption so the UK, if we do leave with a no deal, would only be able to export mussels if they’re from category A waters, with very stringent microbiological requirements,’ said Bartolo.

‘A lot of the mussels in Scotland are farmed in A waters so that’s fine. In England, practically all of them are in B waters.

‘There’s a well-established trade where the UK sends theses mussels for further depuration in Europe and we recognise we have a hitch with this. It would be impossible for this sort of trade to carry on.

‘Defra has been working very hard to find a way through this and they’re pretty confident they’ve found a way of exporting these mussels by exporting them as aquaculture animals for further growing on, not as food.

‘It’s a way around it and Defra are quite confident it should work – though it’s not really been tested yet.’

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11/12/2019 09:42:33

Transport and logistics – Northwards

Driving growth Haulier’s expansion has aquaculture at its heart

BY SANDY NEIL

E

VERY day on the road, we pass countless lorries keeping the economy running by supplying goods such as fresh salmon around the country. But how does this vital industry work?

This month we profile Northwards, an expanding Scottish logistics company with aquaculture ‘at its heart’, which brings essential retail goods to the Northern Isles and transports salmon south.

Its business has doubled over the last seven years, leading it to invest £2 million in a new 20,000 sq ft depot in Aberdeen in 2019, beside its others in Lerwick, Kirkwall, Scrabster, Inverness and Glasgow. How is its expansion going, and what does the future hold?

To find out, we spoke to Northwards’ commercial director, Neil Leslie, who has helped drive this distribution company forward since its beginning in 2002.

How did you get into logistics?

For me it was straight from school in 1982 into a summer job with P&O Ferries, which on day one became permanent when another full time member of staff decided to leave the company. It was probably not really what I intended to do but seemed like a good idea at the time! I then spent almost 20 years

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with P&O in Shetland in various departments and roles, from dealing with passengers to freight, haulage and maintenance.

How did Northwards begin?

Northwards was formed in 2002 by way of a management buy-out of the freight, groupage and haulage operations undertaken by P&O Scottish Ferries in Aberdeen, Scrabster, Orkney and Shetland. When P&O lost the government contract to provide the lifeline ferry services to Orkney and Shetland, the groupage and haulage services were not included as part of the new contract. The preferred option for P&O was to support a management buy-out, led by myself. Our network then was very much based around Aberdeen, Orkney and Shetland.

How did Northwards get an edge?

In 2011, Sea-Cargo, through their UK subsidiary Sea Cargo (Aberdeen), became majority shareholders in Northwards, bringing with it not only financial security for the company but providing a structured and controlled avenue for growth and development.

Over the past 17 years, we have added to our network by opening depots in Inverness and Glasgow, both of which have been very successful in growing our customer base.

We try and develop innovative solutions rather than just imitating what’s already there. Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn’t always mean that’s the most efficient or cost effective way. It also doesn’t mean it’s the wrong way either and sometimes there is nothing that can be done any better!

Above: One of the old P&O lorries Opposite: Northwards’ fleet

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11/12/2019 09:46:11

Driving growth

What size is Northwards’ network now?

We now have around 95 full time staff operating out of the six depots – Inverness was added in 2003 and Glasgow five years ago. Including vans and HGVs, we currently operate 55 vehicles and 120 trailers. In addition to our own depots, we also link in to the Sea-Cargo network of services and routes into and throughout Scandinavia. In 2008, we joined UPN – a pallet network which gives us coverage throughout the UK and Europe for palletised freight.

We cover deliveries to all the PH, DD, AB, IV, HS, KW and ZE postcodes, which is quite a land mass to service. Basically, draw a line across Scotland at Gleneagles and we do everywhere above that line.

Our customers are mostly Scottish based, mainland located by turnover, and by number mostly in Shetland and Orkney.

What things do you transport?

We transport such a wide range of goods it’s almost impossible to list them all. Everything you

We try “ and develop innovative solutions rather than just imitating what’s already there

”

need to supply two buoyant island economies on a day-to-day basis, and to deal with what both islands produce. It can be full loads, part loads, small parcels, bulk liquids, waste, livestock and so on.

A large part of what we do is for the aquaculture sector, which includes taking fish feed up to the farms in Orkney and Shetland, and also moving the harvested fish down to the mainland distribution centres.

We also move equipment for the offshore oil and gas industry, we do a lot of waste and by-products both in bulk and liquid form. We move pharmaceuticals, building materials, fabricating materials, heating oil, general cargo, mail parcels, foodstuff, animal feed. The list could go on.

What are the most unusual things you have transported?

I think some live snakes are possibly one of the most unusual things we have moved. There have been things of all shapes and sizes over the years and especially when we go back to our days with P&O. I remember the yard in Lerwick being full of trailers loaded with helicopters, which at that time were surplus to requirement and being shipped off to America.

What work do you do for the aquaculture industry?

For the aquaculture industry we transport approximately 70,000 tonnes of salmon feed per annum up to Orkney and Shetland, and are involved in taking harvested salmon from both Orkney and Shetland down to the mainland for onward distribution. We also move all the liquid waste produced during the harvesting and packing process.

What are the challenges of transporting salmon?

The biggest challenge for us is making sure we have the equipment available where and when it’s needed to take the fish to market. To allow for weather delays and capacity constraints, additional trailers need to be on hand and available as back-up.

Ferry links are crucial to the whole supply chain, and at times the schedule is not able to cope with the volume of cargo being presented, so the whole process needs to be planned well in advance. We keep hoping that Transport Scotland will provide the solution the seafood sector, in particular Shetland, has been crying out for, for some time now.

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Transport and logistics – Northwards

can open up the fully insulated curtains and load through the side enabling a vast range of different cargo to be carried on the return trip.

What are the hard and easy parts of running a logistics business?

One of the hardest parts is having the right resource in the right place when it’s required, especially when you have ferry journeys and inclement weather to contend with. Like any business, keeping control of the costs is crucial to whether you make or lose money. It’s just the ‘raw materials’ in our industry and in our geographical area that possibly differ. Ferry costs alone are a major spend for us, and the service they provide is key to what we do.

Fuel is also a big spend and again a bit more expensive in some of the areas we operate from.

How do you transport the salmon?

Dead, gutted and packed in ice in either boxes on pallets or in bulk bins.

These are then loaded into insuliner or standard fridge trailers.

We use the latest technology in our fleet of refrigerated vehicles to ensure that all cargoes arrive at their destination in good condition and at the required temperature. All our trailers are fitted with tracking, which not only allows us to see where they are at but also lets us see that the temperature is being kept within the desired parameters. We also receive text messages alerting us to any faults or incidents along the journey and can access the fridge unit remotely to adjust settings if necessary. The longest journey we normally take, with fresh fish, is from Shetland down to central Scotland.

The use of insuliner trailers rather than standard fridge trailers has helped us maximise efficiency in return loads. Rather than be constrained into taking freight that can only fit through the rear doors of a standard fridge trailer, we

What have been Northwards’ biggest challenges?

Same as others in our area and sector. We need good links to all the areas we operate in and out of.

It needs to be sustainable and affordable. Staffing and getting young people interested in our industry is a challenge as well. There needs to be more support towards training and development.

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11/12/2019 09:46:49

Driving growth

Draw a line across Scotland at “ Gleneagles and we do everywhere above it! �

Left: Northwards handles the transport and logistics for salmon farmers in Shetland and Orkney

Your partner in Aquaculture

--

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11/12/2019 09:47:05

Transport and logistics – Northwards

What was your most recent expansion?

We moved into our new depot in Aberdeen in February 2018. This gave us the office, warehouse and yard space we had been needing, having grown too big for our old premises down at the harbour. The move has allowed us to add warehousing and external storage to the list of services we provide. We have also racked out part of the warehouse which has given us an additional 400 pallet spaces of storage. We now wonder how we managed to survive before! Five previously contracted staff became Northwards employees on completion of the move, and there are additional drivers and office staff.

What are your future expansion plans?

We continue year on year to spend approximately £1 million on fleet replacements and additions. This year has seen us upgrade our fleet of temperature controlled insuliner trailers at a cost of £420,000, with more planned for 2020.

What are your Brexit plans?

Hopefully, we won’t see any issues in the part of the chain we provide. It’s just how the overall market place is affected that could make volumes and forecasting a bit difficult initially, until everything settles down.’

Whatever uncertainty lies ahead, Northwards had reason to celebrate last month, when it won the Scottish and Irish Depot of the Year. FF

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11/12/2019 09:51:07

Transport and logistics – Haulage

‘Amazing’ journey in Scottish market New firm plans ‘big push’ in Brussels to attract salmon farmers

S

INCE launching at the Brussels seafood expo in May this year, JDOT Logistics has picked up plenty of business in Scotland, said director Laurence O’Toole.

‘It was a great summer, we picked up some great work along the way,’ said O’Toole, whose Irish based business, O’Toole Transport, joined with Luxembourg based refrigerated distribution specialist John Driege to form JDOT. The new company is sited in Bellshill, near Glasgow, with a fleet in Scotland of 25 to 30 trucks. These collect Scottish seafood from processors and markets and transport it overnight to its distribution centre in Boulogne-sur-Mer, for onward delivery to export markets.

O’Toole said most of the Scottish business is shellfish and white fish, the latter off the markets in Peterhead, Aberdeen and Fraserburgh.

‘It’s lots of small customers which is kind of what we’re specialising in anyway, which have turned into bigger ones between now and Christmas.’

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He hopes to attract customers from the salmon companies and said in May that he had been in talks with Scottish farmers.

‘I think a lot of people are a little bit apprehensive because of Brexit, they’re kind of saying hold off until they see what the withdrawal agreement is going to bring.

‘That said, what we’ve picked up in the meantime is more than enough for us for today. We’ve people trained now to do customs formalities.

‘We had to get people who were au fait with that and we’ve got the software now to enable us to do the customs transactions.

‘We’ve got all that in place and when the withdrawal agreement actually gets passed [it has only cleared the first satge in the Commons] we’ll be in a good position to do the paperwork.’

O’Toole said they had no problems recruiting drivers and had started four in Scotland recently.

‘They’re great drivers, all between 55 and 65, on the road for years and they never let us down. If we want them to start at seven o-clock on Saturday evening or four o’clock on Monday morning they’re always there, on time.’

He is sceptical about some of the scenarios that have been flagged up to keep traffic moving across the Channel.

‘I think there are a lot of nice ideas out there but put them into practice – we’ve been given information that there may be a priority lane for seafood. I don’t think there’s any likelihood that’s going to happen.

‘From our perspective, the Irish transporters have been told there’s going to be a priority lane for Irish trucks.

‘My brother in law transports pharmaceuticals and he’s been told there’s going to be a priority lane for pharmaceuticals.’

With all the priority lanes it will have be a very big motorway, he said.

‘But I do think that when the withdrawal agreement passes there will be an implementation period of, at worst case, end of 2020, best case maybe another 18 months to allow

Left: Laurence O’Toole in Brussels last year.

Opposite: O’Toole and JDOT partner John Driege

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11/12/2019 10:01:44

Amazing journey in Scottish market

it for the long haul…that will “We’regiveincustomers confidence ” us all to get everything in line for when we’re dealing with a new set of scenarios.

‘Our business will meet the demands and whatever new requirements are put in front of us.’

O’Toole said JDOT Logistics is going to put a ‘big push’ on in Brussels and show potential customers they are there for the long haul.

‘We can say we’ve been here a year now and we’ve transported maybe 5,000-6,000 tonnes of seafood out of Scotland at this stage. By next May we’ll have transported 10-000-12,000 tonnes.

‘That will give confidence to people when they see how the operation is working.

‘It’s okay for me to tell them what we’re doing in Ireland but it’s really not the same thing.

‘They also want to see our team in Scotland and in Bellshill and get to see we’re invested in Scotland, which we are.

‘Once they can see all that’s in place I think that will give them a little bit more confidence to take the plunge.

‘We are speaking to two or three at the same time and every single one – and this goes for small customers who want to move one pallet to big customers who might want to move 10,000 tonnes –they are all just saying, can we hang tight a little bit.’

He said he is ‘absolutely thrilled’ with the way the Scottish venture, amounting to about £1.5 million investment so far, and the Bellshill depot is working out.

‘The location is amazing for our whole operation – we’re doing a lot of internal work within the UK and Bellshill is a great place for a changeover. We’re very happy with it.’ FF

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11/12/2019 10:02:10

Special report - Factory visit

Garware’s global network

Fish Farmer editor Jenny Hjul tours technical textiles giant to see first hand how Indian innovation is improving salmon farming around the world

A

HILL station in the Indian state of Maharashtra may seem a world away from the Atlantic salmon farms of Scotland, Norway, Canada and Chile.

But here, at a factory in Wai, is where the aquaculture industry’s favourite anti-predator nets are made, where novel solutions to sea lice are conceived, and where a potentially game-changing self-cleaning copper infused yarn is evolving.

It is also the place where the netting for one of Norway’s most exciting development concepts is being put together.

Garware Technical Fibres has undergone a transformation in the past decade, driven by the family firm’s third generation dynamic leader, Vayu Garware.

In the past year, the listed company, which is 51 per cent family owned, had a market cap of £265 million with profits up 19 per cent on the previous year, placing it in India’s top 500 league of businesses.

It has applied for 43 patents in the last five years; exports its products to 75 countries; and employs around 1,200 people directly, with many more, mainly women, involved in piecework in the local villages.

Garware is a big name in India and globally in the industries it supplies. The company scores high in Great Place to Work surveys, has won awards for individual products, and was ranked by Fortune India magazine as one of the top five value creators in India.

It all began in 1976 when Vayu Garware’s grandfather, Shri B.D Garware (fondly known as Abasaheb or ‘grandfather’), met the American owner of a company called Wall Industries on a plane to New York.

Described by his grandson as a ‘serial entrepreneur’, Abasaheb, then 72, was already making nylon yarn for fishing nets. But he was looking for one more business and set up a joint venture with his new American friend, primarily supplying polymer ropes to the Indian fishing industry.

He quickly outgrew his US partner and purchased all the shares, but the name, Garware Wall Ropes, survived – until a re-branding last year to Garware Technical Fibres.

Today, ropes are a much smaller part of the Garware portfolio, and are manufactured at the original factory, and company headquarters, located in Pune.

There, Vayu Garware explained to Fish Farmer how he has built on the legacy of his grandfather and father, Shri R.B Garware, to cement and expand his family’s fast growing technical textiles empire.

The current success, he said, can be traced back to a meeting he held with 25 of his key team nine years ago – and the mission statement they devised collectively.

‘We debated what is our purpose in coming to work every day, and what the purpose of this company is,’ he said.

‘Many companies have a mission saying they want to be at ‘x’ value of sales in so many years’ time, but we said, what happens after you do

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that, does the company no longer have a purpose? It has to have a purpose beyond that.

‘We employed an interesting process of silent brainstorming, people weren’t allowed to speak so they couldn’t influence others’ views.

‘They had to put what they thought were the key purposes in words, star them, top, next and third, and this was democratically added up and made into a statement.’

This - ‘Provide innovative, application focused solutions to enhance the value of our customers globally’, followed by four core values - is posted on boards around the company’s facilities and is at the heart of the Garware ethos.

‘We are a business to business company, all our customers are businesses, whether famers or fishermen,’ said Vayu.

‘They don’t buy our products based on look, or taste or smell. They buy it because it works in the application.

Above: Warm welcome for Fish Farmer editor Jenny Hjul at Garware’s Pune HQ Opposite - top: The Garware factory at Wai; below: Garware managers meet regularly

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Garware’s global network

‘At the end of the day, our job, therefore, is to increase their profit, and the value of our customers around the world.

‘How do we do that? This is the big change that has happened in our company. We have always been very strong in manufacturing capabilities.

‘The area where we were weak was that while we could innovate around the manufacturing process, we did not understand well enough the application.’

Garware realised that the only way to deliver this value to customers was ‘by innovating, and innovating continuously’, and that meant getting to know their customers’ needs.

‘We brought on board application expertise – more than the customers, the end users, the people using the products such as the fishing captains [when fishing was the biggest business].

‘From really deep discussions with customers and application experts, we began to understand the true need.

‘This is the core of our DNA now – every strategy discussion we have revolves around how we deliver more value.’

the new approach but he sees a clear correlation between the recent financial trajectory and becoming a ‘solution provider’.

‘Once we started to do that, our complexion changed as a company… we started to be a much more valuable partner to our customers.’

Now it is aquaculture rather than fishing that is the main part of the business, accounting for nearly one third of sales. The staff visit the farm sites themselves and the discussions with farmers are central to Garware’s innovation.

But adopting a new strategy alone would not have accounted for Garware’s growth, and much of the recent success can be attributed to the talents of the R&D department, led by Sanjay Raut.

Today, new products, with ‘new’ defined as no more than three years old, are fuelling the growth of the business with many innovations.

‘R&D is core for us. We are an Indian government recognised R&D centre and have 43 patents filed in the last five years – our R&D team has been reasonably busy,’ said Vayu, with some understatement.

“

From really deep discussions with customers, we began to understand their true need

”

Customer focus The focus on customers, combined with improvements in manufacturing processes and productivity, has enabled the company to react fast to market demand.

Vayu said it took a few years to implement

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Special report - Factory visit

The technology is all in-house, with a 25-strong cohort of scientists and engineers who, along with Sanjay, have become aquaculture experts.

They have devised a range of solutions for grow-out cages, predation, mooring systems, and sea lice control, in partnership with customers including Mowi, Cooke and Scottish Sea Farms.

Garware has made its name in the salmon industry with its Sapphire Sealpro HDPE anti-predator nets, and its Ultracore range (with steel) for Chile and Canada, where both sea lions and seals are a challenge.

Garware developed a better netting material made from polyethylene that is hydrophobic so it rejects water, while retaining its strength. But the problem was matching the tough breaking strength of nylon without increasing weight and size.

‘We were able to bring our polyethylene up to similar strength – a key breakthrough to allow us to give similar weight to cages that could fit on the mooring structures without overloading them in these much

• Fish Cage Nets – Nylon & HDPE • Predator Solutions • Net Service Plant • Treatment Tarpaulins • Lice Skirts • Supplier of LIFT-UP • Wrasse Hides

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stronger materials,’ said Vayu.

‘We have cages in Canada that are eight years’ old, in high intensity sites, and are still not being retired – it may not be the best business model!’ said Vayu (tongue firmly in cheek).

Sapphire Sealpro is the main product used in Scotland against seals and Vayu is proud of news reports earlier this year crediting the netting with a drop in seal culling by Scottish Sea Farms. At the farmer’s Orkney sites, where Sealpro nets were first trialled in 2016, there have been no seals shot in three years.

Scottish Sea Farms said it will roll out the nets at all its farms, and Cooke Aquaculture also plans to install Sealpro at all its Shetland sites.

There is now a newer version, the SUC (Sapphire Ultracore) MBX, which has been on the market for two years.

‘It keeps all of the original properties but it’s just a better product in terms of stiffness and cut resistance,’ said Vayu. ‘That’s what makes the difference in not allowing these predators to get in.

‘The concept used to be to test mesh breaking strength. But we developed a concept – with W&J Knox [see box, page 21] really partnering with us to explain to customers – that the properties they needed to measure were stiffness and cut resistance.’

To understand seal behaviour around nets, Vayu and his colleagues study videos provided by customers and are working with an international expert, Dr Andrew Trites, director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia.

Garware is now the largest supplier of cage

Top left: The Pune site.

Above: Third generation leader, Vayu Garware.

Oposite - top : Vayu and his team visiting a farm in Scotland; right: - top : Garware CEO Shujaul Rehman; below:: Sanjay Raut, who heads the R&D department

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Garware’s global network

netting to the salmon industry globally, said Shujaul Rehman, CEO, with about 90 to 95 per cent of the Canadian market.

‘All new requirements in Canada are with us, and we’re roughly 70 per cent plus in Scotland, and about 30 to 35 per cent of the Norwegian market – our partner there, Selstad, recently got the entire Norwegian Mowi contract for all regions.’

Garware only entered the Chilean market about five years ago and in the last three years the company’s new innovations ‘have really taken off ’, said Rehman, and they now have about 25 per cent of the market.

But Garware’s customers are not just conventional cage farmers. In the net loft at Wai, the first of a big order for Norwegian firm Nordlaks was being prepared when Fish Farmer visited.

At 11 tonnes, the giant net will be one of six for its development concept Havfarm.

This giant vessel will have 66 tonnes of nets in its entire structure – and Garware has secured the order.

Huge saving Nordlaks has ordered all its Havfarm require-

We’ve “ more than

doubled the time between cleaning cycles but we want no cleaning cycles

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ments based on successful trials of another Garware innovation.

This, the V2, is patented technology added to the nets to reduce fouling. It can cut costs of cleaning by up to 50 per cent, prevents copper oxide effluence, and has already won an Economic Times [of India] award.

Garware has received orders for 700 tonnes of V2 in the last couple of months, said Vayu, and two of its important customers have changed all of their 2020 requirements to include V2 technology.

‘The voice of the customer was that they need anti-fouling but don’t want sedimentation and paint chipping off, and we want to be environmentally friendly,’ said Vayu.

‘The ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council) says you can’t use high pressure washing on a coated net because the copper leaches and the paint chips and there is a lot of sedimentation on the seabed.

‘What we were able to do finally, after four years of work, was to, almost at a nano particle level, infuse the melted plastic with copper particles, and yet draw the yarn. The big challenge, for a plastic manufacturer, was drawing the yarn with these, so to speak, external bodies.

‘The net doesn’t require any coating and it literally gives off copper ions almost to create that small charge that then delays the fouling.

‘If you spin an anti-fouled net, you can see the amount of sediment that comes out. Do the same thing with this and the water is totally clear.’

During initial trials in Scotland, over 28 days in summer waters, the V2 net needed no washing compared to a non-V2 net that was cleaned after 12 days.

‘Our intention with the customer is that we should be able to double the time between cleaning cycles, which is a huge saving, but apart from that it has a big positive environmental impact,’ said Vayu.

‘The cleaning is also believed to disturb the fish and may leave particles in the water column so whatever you do to reduce the cleaning is good for the environment and good for the health of the fish.’

The V2 has now been trialled for 11 months in Scotland, with very good data from Garware’s farming partner.

In Chile, meanwhile, one customer tested the V2 in December 2018, during prime Chilean summer, with 64 days between cleaning cycles compared to the normal 15 days.

‘We are very clear it is working, delivering value, and the end result is all these orders that have come in.’

Sea lice skirts In another section of the Wai factory, the Coated Fabrics division is pioneering pop up inflatable tents for the Indian army and fabric enclosures to house radar.

But applications here also include aquaculture, in particular a new

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Special report - Factory visit

generation of sea lice skirt, designed to block lice but not water.

Most of the skirts are for 5-6m depths but research has shown that below 8m the reduction in lice counts is almost complete, Vayu said, so why don’t companies go down deeper?

‘One of the issues is that the dissolved oxygen gets badly impacted because of the water flow. The other issue is that when the currents are high, if the skirt does not let the water through, it tends to balloon out.

Even if you have it at 5m, it ends up being only 3m and all the lice come in.

‘We developed a new, patented product called X12 that has a very high water flow. In a normal lice skirt, one litre of water goes through in seven and a half minutes and in the X12 fabric it goes through in six seconds.’

The water flow is so high that the dissolved oxygen and water exchange is very good, whereas the old lice skirts are more like tarpaulins.

In trials in Chile with square cages, two head cages were treated with X12 lice skirts and the rest were treated only using pharmaceuticals.

Above: The factory at Wai After a full, 13-month cycle, there was a 55 to 60 per cent reduction in employs thousands of sea lice counts in the cages with the X12 skirts. villagers ‘Additionally, the growth rate was better and they needed half the bath treatments,’ said Vayu. ‘This has been a very positive result.’

The yarns of this fabric can also be infused with V2 and that will be the next trial, due to start in Scotland last month, with data collected every month for the next year.

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Future plans In the rope factory in Pune, the R&D department has developed products for mooring systems with very low elongation.

‘A big cost we’ve seen in Chile is that when ropes elongate they have to be re-tensioned and this can be an extremely expensive operation,’ said Vayu.

Garware has come up with the X2 aqua mooring rope which has halved the number of re-tensions – ‘so payback on our product is within weeks’.

Future plans for the company include continuing research on how to provide an even better version of the V2.

‘We’ve reached the ability to more than double the time between cleaning cycles but we want to reach a level of no cleaning cycles.

It’s a challenge – the net that doesn’t need to be cleaned but also doesn’t need a polluting anti-fouling coating– that’s where we want to go,’ said Vayu.

‘We’ll also work more on the sea lice skirt even with the high water flow there are issues

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Garware’s global network of cleaning and lift up that we haven’t resolved totally. We are better than normal but we want to get even better and we already have the next generation on our drawing board.’

The Nordlaks project is the only Norwegian development concept Garware has taken on, so far - ‘we are a step by step company, we want to get the Havfarm done well and make sure it’s working’., said Vayu.

However, they have also been approached by another Norwegian company looking at a submersible cage for salmon, using Garware’s netting with a steel core that is able to form a wall underwater.

And there are opportunities in the sea bass and sea bream market in the Mediterranean, and closer to home as India develops its own offshore aquaculture industry.

‘We’re trying to participate with the Indian government – we’ve learnt a lot from outside India and these learnings should be useful,’ said Vayu.

‘We have plotted each market and where we want to be. Obviously, salmon cages are the upper end technically, industry wise and

step by step company - we “wantWetoaregeta the Havfarm done well and make sure it’s working ”

everything else, and we have to be clear we can add value, or it’s not sustainable. We’re not the low cost provider.’

Vayu’s father was around to witness the company’s diversification into aquaculture and he conceived the Wai plant. But what would his grandfather say if he could see the business today?

‘Hopefully, they would both be proud of the company. A technical director who worked with my grandfather said one of his favourite phrases was, ‘I like to be the only runner and therefore the winner in the race’.

‘He was always looking at new technology. When nylon was introduced here, he brought in a new spinning head, the only person in India to have it.

‘The intensity of competition was less then and there were more opportunities to be first. Now it’s not an opportunity to be first so much but an opportunity to innovate and deliver better value. Times change but we have to be on that track.’ FF

Opportunity Knox AQUACULTURE is now Garware’s largest business and it all began with Scottish net specialist W&J Knox in 2004. That year, the current Knox chairman, Jim Traynor, and his colleague Roger Dehany put together a successful management buyout of their company and decided to outsource net making.

Knox, based in Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, has been in the net business since 1778 and now more than 90 per cent of its work is in aquaculture.

To keep pace with demand and with the latest innovations in materials, the company formed an association with Garware.

Dehany, who retired from Knox three years ago, explained to Fish Farmer: ‘We met the chairman and the managing director at a fishing exhibition in Glasgow in 2004 when we were progressing the management buyout. And as a consequence of that we moved our Raschel knitting machines to Wai, a hell of a big move. They would run them 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They are such a big outfit, the manpower is unbelievable. The volumes have increased so much, we wouldn’t have been able to keep up if we hadn’t gone with Garware.’

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Right: Pravin Gogia, Sanjay Raut, Dave Hutchens, Ravi Chandra, Jim Traynor, Finlay Oman and Dr Nikhil Gunari. Below: Pravin Gogia greets the Knox team on their arrival at Wai

Vayu Garware said: ‘It’s been a wonderful partnership that we’ve had and that has taken us into aquaculture. From there we moved into Norway. The Knox team has helped on so many of the developments with us and they take us to sites, and we work together. The interaction is seamless, that kind of partnership really helps in all this. If you don’t have that it’s very difficult.’

Chairman Jim Traynor, managing director Dave Hutchens and commercial director Finlay Oman make annual visits to the factories in Wai and Pune to discuss customer requirements and work on new product innovations.

‘Garware have a world leading research and development team,’ said Hutchens. ‘Knox are often used as a sounding board to assess the viability of Garware’s development products, providing practical feedback from trials in the field.’

Oman added: ‘Knox are in a privileged position to be marketing Garware’s industry driven products in the UK and Ireland .’

Through the conduit of Garware’s UK based Kanwal Malik, Oman said they work 52 weeks in the year ‘with not only the sales team, but the technical experts to enhance the value to the end users’.

‘From the top of the company down to the people on the shop floor, these guys are determined to provide the salmon farmers with a value proposition that not only increases the security and health of their stock, but also their overall costs of production. The pace of change is relentless, they never rest on their laurels; as their competitors are playing catch up, Garware are already well down the road to the new improved version of their market leading rope, netting and coated fabric products.’

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Special report - Core values

All on board Corporate ethos engages entire workforce in ‘can do’ culture

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T Garware’s Pune factory on a bright November morning, the corporate culture is very much in evidence as a group of men gather to chant the lines of the company mission statement.

Standing in a semi-circle, three employees recite each of the four core values and the rest of the team repeat, from memory, the words now embedded in the Garware community.

The cultural changes in the group have been significant, according to long serving senior managers.

The principles of ‘lean’ management, for instance, that originated in Toyota but are now used by many first class organisations, have been part of the Garware philosophy for nine years.

The concept ensures that everything in the factory flows seamlessly, and it has made a big difference, said Rajendra Shivaraikar, a Garware veteran of 20 years, vice president (Manufacturing Excellence) and head of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).

‘It works by reducing wastage whenever it happens,’ said Shivaraikar. Waste can be materials, time, an idle net machine, and re-work when a job is not done right the first time.

‘We skill people to identify waste and then train people to come together in a functional team and do ‘kaizen’.’

This is the Japanese term for continuous improvement and another major plank of Garware’s management practices.

Everyone has to submit ideas to improve performance – it’s a way of motivating the workers as well as improving the business.

Multiple kaizens happen every day, at all different levels – there are simple ones, to reduce back bending, for example, and major ones, requiring whole teams identifying bottlenecks and applying ‘breakthrough kaizens’, in the course of week-long conflabs with a senior manager in charge.

A recent example was a job changeover on a machine, where the time taken

was reduced by over 70 per cent. The staff worked out what tasks could be done before the machine was stopped and what could be done after it was started again, to minimise the time the machine was shut down.

The success rate of kaizens is very high, said Shivaraikar, and all workers are encouraged to participate in them.

There are rewards and incentives for the best idea, usually given to a team, which can use the money for a celebratory lunch or dinner.

In the factory in Pune, there were more than 5,000 kaizen ideas generated by the workforce last year.

There are boards everywhere, inside the factory sheds at both Pune and Wai and at their entrances, where suggestions are posted, and the number that have been accepted and implemented recorded.

The boards also promote SQDC, the four pillars around which the factories are organised: safety (and cleanliness); quality; delivery; and cost- with measurable indicators of how each department is being run.

‘The boards talk to you, instead of someone telling you what to do,’ said Shivaraikar. ‘They are a visual indication of what is going wrong at any moment and people are trained to look out for waste and identify what is value added and what is not. It Above: Prabodh Kamat Left: Managers discuss performance in the factory Opposite (from top): Garware provides bicycles for female workers; the mission statement is now in the company DNA; Prabodh Kamat leads team building exercises

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All on board

is management by exception, and energy is focused where it needs to be focused.’

Each supervisor is empowered to manage their own area, and meetings are held every day on the factory floor. Sometimes managers (conspicuous in their crisp blue and white striped shirts) will meet for an ‘escalation’ meeting when an issue hasn’t been handled on the factory level.

It all sounds like common sense but Prabodh Kamat, president (Operations), said any cultural change is not easy.

‘We are not inventing anything, we are taking the best practices of the world in manufacturing,’ he said. ‘Everyone has been told that this is nothing new, it has worked in so many places and you are not different from those people. It takes time to change habits but it happens.

‘But unless the top man is committed, no cultural change takes place. The organisation looks at the top man and takes the signal from there. Mr Vayu Garware has supported all these movements wholeheartedly.’

Vayu Garware has also driven the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme.

‘My grandfather spent the first half of his life building wealth and he spent the second half giving it back,’ he said. ‘So he built colleges and schools in Pune, and we continue to support them even today.’

Education is one of the company’s four key CSR areas, and projects in Wai have included providing basics such as drinking water and hand washing facilities, e-learning modules for classrooms, and hundreds of bicycles for girls to get to school.

Other CSR initiatives are in healthcare, where donations include a cardiac ambulance for Wai, a dialysis machine for the hospital, and staff medical check-ups; the environment, with tree plantation schemes; and supporting R&D in institutions such as agricultural colleges.

One of Garware’s core values is to enhance the family bond and this covers everything from running summer schools for employees’ children to

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We are “ not invent-

ing anything, we are taking the best practices of the world in manufacturing team building exercises among the workforce.

There are marathons and biking, but most popular are the Sunday treks, organised by Prabodh Kamat, and involving hundreds of staff. Once a year, they all get together to make a day and a half hike, starting at night, across a score of hill tops.

‘It’s a family company even though we’re listed,’ said Vayu Garware. ‘We are like a family and that bonding is very important, and this includes the family of our employees.’ FF

”

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Special report - Factory visit

Behind the scenes Making a difference, from Sealpro anti-predator netting to the novel Havfarm

W

AI, a rural town with a population of some 50,000, is about 230km from Mumbai and sits at an altitude of 2,300 feet.

Garware built its second plant here in 1995 to expand the labour intensive business in an area where workers were more plentiful than in the city of Pune.

As Pravin Gogia, senior vice president (International Business), explained, the population of Pune has swelled to seven million and the town has grown too big, encircling the industrial estate where the first factory was built in 1976.

Competition for labour there has increased as other sectors- call centres, software units, banks, and the auto industry- ‘hoover’ up people.

It was an astute decision to open up a new location and the Wai operation, set on 70 acres of land, has seen 25 years of growth, making a considerable impact on the local economy.

Garware, the biggest company in the town, provides much needed full-time jobs for the local populace, including many of the women from the villages around Wai. The company lays emphasis on skill development, and all employees receive training in the required technical skills, said Vivek Deshpande, general manager (Production), as he leads a tour of the factory.

Deshpande, a chemical engineer who has worked for Garware for 20 years, is an expert in extrusion, the start of the production process. The customer requirement goes to the net assembly department and they work back to extrusion, he said.

This is where the maximum cost of a net is involved and where most of the quality happens, so it is a critical part of production. There are a large variety of extrusion machines and the process uses a major part of the entire plant’s electricity.

It all begins as plastic granules and added in are the colour granules and various additives, with a large range of options. The raw materials are bought from

reputed chemical manufacturers across the globe and are made especially for Garware, pioneers in HDPE monofilament.

Then they mix them and the first stage of the process melts the plastic at around 200 deg C, producing monofilament from the plastic.

The monofilament is then boiled again to make it soft before it is stretched to give it strength. This is then wound round aluminium pipes (cops) to be made into twine.

There are two types of twine for nets – braided and twisted – and Garware also makes one with stainless steel and HDPE for electric fencing. The company, said Deshpande, is the largest supplier in the world of electric fence wire.

Netting section The netting sheds house hundreds of machines, including knotless machines to make STAR netting and knot machines to make Sapphire netting (such as Sealpro).

The latter machine knots the twine and then hammers the knot to tighten it. The machine can be set to single (as used in Sealpro) or double sided knots.

Once the netting is made, it is stretched after heating with hot steam on a length stretching machine, and then it is bundled.

Sapphire once stretched has no slippage in the

Left: Net technology Opposite: Inside the rope factory at Pune; there are many applications for Garware netting.

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Behind the scenes

diamonds, said Deshpande. Women manually check the quality of the Sapphire Sealpro, which can be made from a twine size of 1.5mm diameter up to 7mm.

We are then driven to the net loft, a large site with a plot for expansion, and greeted by A.S Joshi, associate vice president (Operations).

Here, there is minimum machine use and many people, mostly women, work manually to fulfil custom made orders.

The biggest net they have made is a 64-tonne purse seine net and much of the company’s business is for the fishing, as well as the aquaculture, industry. But there is a growing market for sports nets, too, and they also manufacture safety nets for construction sites; rock fall protection netting; reservoir lining and much more.

Aquaculture nets are generally between one and eight tonnes but Joshi points out the 11-tonne net being prepared for Nordlaks’ gigantic Havfarm project.

This entails intensive work involving many skilled people, he said, and videos of the net taking shape are sent to the Norwegian designer, who was about to visit in person to check on progress.

Once approved, the net will become the template for the other nets in the Havfarm structure.

‘Aquaculture keeps changing so we have to continually associate with the customer,’ said Joshi.

Garware has made aquaculture nets up to 200m circumference and 56m deep and has the capability to make much larger and deeper nets.

In the net loft, the netting is cut into the required shape and panels are joined and ropes attached.

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Any accessories (rings and so on) that have been specified are added here too.

There is a ‘needle’ (shuttle) machine that Joshi and his team developed to wind the twine; it used to take 100 people to make 25,000 of these per day, now just two men operate the machine. Another in-house invention cuts and measures rope.

Along in the Coated Fabric shed, tarpaulins for bath treatments and lice skirts are manufactured, the latter made abrasion resistant with different stages of coating.

Wrasse hides are also made here, in four grade PVC that lasts for more than three years, and sold in Scotland and Norway.

Aquaculture keeps changing so we have to “conti nually associate with the customer ” 49

11/12/2019 10:16:10

Special report - Factory visit

Taking work to village women

Pune The Wai factory operates around the clock, seven days a week, as does the rope factory at Pune, about two hours’ drive back towards Mumbai, and sited beside Garware’ s head offices.

Here, Sandip Gupte is the expert guide, both to the manufacturing procedures and the company’s best practices.

There is bonding among employees with the Garware family, and the core values of the company ‘are in our DNA’, he said.

Motivational signs above the factory entrances – ‘You only lose when you stop trying’ and ‘Run the machine during lunchtime because lunch is for man not machine’ – prove his point.

Many staff, he said, have worked there for 20 to 30 years and there has not been a single day of labour unrest in 43 years.

Are there any flipsides to this exemplary discipline?

Management tries to understand if things aren’t working, he said, and people may need coaching for instance. But it is very rare for someone to be ill disciplined.

He has worked for Garware for 33 years and is clearly a ropes man, devoted to his department. He begins in the Pre-twisting section – complete with its SQDC boards, with their daily records of problems (not reaching a target, for instance) and solutions (usually involving training the operator). Smiley faces denote success.

In the extrusion section, much like in Wai, plastic granules are melted (at 270-280 deg C). This polypropylene becomes yarn in the heating process and is then stretched to make it 13 times stronger. It is then wound on to bobbins, and can be twisted or not.

Each separate department has its own quality control laboratory where each batch is tested against specifications – breaking strength tests and so on.

Gupte points to the Plateena rope, seven times lighter than steel but just as strong. It looks and feels like thickly plaited hair. And it is coated to reduce abrasion (before it is plaited).

This is mostly used for mooring systems for aquaculture, but has other applications, including mooring aircraft carriers for the Indian navy.

In another shed, yarn is made into rope on an old fashioned looking loom.

Guotepresents a perfect specimen of finished rope with a satisfied smile.

A huge braiding machine can make rope of vari0us diameters and he shows coils of the easy to handle X2, the same strength but with less diameter than standard rope and perfect for mooring in aquaculture.

There are recoiling areas and packing stations and another sign above the entrance reads ‘Cleaning with meaning every day’.

Apart from aquaculture, there is a whole operation making ropes for sports and a smaller one making fine hair for dolls, proof again of the versatility and flexibility on display throughout Garware. FF

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ANOTHER Garware initiative is to employ women in the villages on a part time basis, taking the net panels to them to join, so they don’t have to leave their homes to travel to the factory.

Transport is very difficult in remote areas and few people have cars here, said A.S Joshi, associate vice president (Operations).

Thousands are employed under this scheme, known as a Bachat Gat, which is defined as a small group (10 to 15) of individuals, generally women, living in close proximity who undertake income generating activities.

The programme brings housewives, whose main responsibilities are domestic, into the labour force, often when their children have grown up and they have more time.

Garware trains the women and they typically work a few hours a day. The company has created small areas - a village hall, for example - with a handful of women in each group, stitching smaller panels, mainly for aquaculture. These are then made up in the factory, after relevant quality checks.

The scheme has been going for 15 years and grows as the business expands.

India has 640,000 villages, it’s a land of villages, said Joshi. It is acknowledged that women working changes the social structure of the whole area; they are more likely to educate their children and raise the family’s social status.

Above: A.S Joshi checks on progress in the net loft, where most of the work is manual.

Above:Village women at work near their homes

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11/12/2019 10:17:09

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03/12/2019 16:48 11/12/2019 10:18:01

World focus – South Africa

Good buy Warm water hatchery that’s so much more than a fish farm

H

IDDEN in a deep and secluded valley in South Africa’s Eastern Cape is a place called Rivendell. Straight out of a Tolkien tale of elves and dwarves, this charismatic mystical valley is complete with ancient forest, clear water dam, distant view of the sea…and South Africa’s oldest warm water fish farm.

Current owner and original developer Nicholas James discovered the unused property way back in 1988, when it formed part of a larger farm.

No one had ever lived there before, with the only infrastructure a breached 19th century dam, hand built by the early settlers, and fed by a permanent stream rising in an indigenous forest in a steep sided, protea filled valley.

The potential for something innovative was clearly there. Armed with a bottle of wine, an evening visit to the aged and delightfully eccentric farm owner ended with several empty bottles and a partnership.

Over the intervening years, Rivendell was formalised as a subdivided

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property and developed into Rivendell Hatchery.

The dam was rebuilt and enlarged, and provides a reliable gravity feed supply of high quality water to the fish farm. Even in times of drought, for which the Eastern Cape is infamous, the water supply has never failed, much to the envy of neighbours.

Four recirculating tunnel based systems were constructed from 1993 until 2014, each improving on the design of the previous one.

Three hatchery buildings were purpose built for the breeding of ornamental fish from Lake Malawi, as well as tilapia fry incubation, sex reversal and fry rearing.

Hapa based units [net enclosures in ponds] were installed for fingerling preparation prior to despatch, and heat pumps installed for heating in time of cold fronts.

Having built his first RAS (recirculating aquaculture system) in a tunnel as a researcher at the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology (now SAIAB) in nearby Grahamstown in 1987, James’s experience helped early innovation at Rivendell.

During the 26 years of developing the hatchery, the fine line between optimal high-tech systems (usually financed by donor or state funding) and systems that were actually economically viable, became apparent.

A decision was made at an early stage to construct and standardise all water containments of plastered concrete blocks, using self-cleaning rectangular tanks to optimise space usage in the tunnels, and to ensure longevity and robust user friendliness.

Old technology and short lifespan circular plastic tanks were avoided, as were high energy consumptive filtration machines and other equipment that, should failure occur, would negatively compromise the survival of the fish.

However, fully automated electrical backup was an essential introduction for peace of mind.

Fundamental to the design of the fish farm was simplicity and robustness in construction

The “ country has

been slow to authorise Nile tilapia production but this is changing

”

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11/12/2019 10:22:02

Good buy

and operation, low energy usage, and reduced dependence on skills and parts that might not be readily available.

This philosophy paid dividends over the years, as other high tech, high investment competing hatcheries started at frequent intervals, only to fail a short time later.

A visit to Thailand in 2013 was an invaluable learning experience in realising that Asian technology in aquaculture was way ahead in many respects to elsewhere, in its simplicity, cleverness, yet practicality, and examples such as hapas and green water use for fry were incorporated into the hatchery.

Rivendell Hatchery started off as an ornamental fish hatchery specialising in the production of around 80 species of Lake Malawi cichlids, sold both to the trade and to private customers.

Emphasis was put on the higher value and rarer species, such as the Aulonocara ‘peacocks’, to carve a profitable niche in the South African market.

This continues to this day, but the bulk of production has shifted to specialised tilapia fingerling output in more recent years.

As development of improved strains of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in Asia in the 1980s caused a boom in warm water aquaculture worldwide, Rivendell found itself well positioned to capitalise on this.

South Africa was slower to open up aquacul-

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ture to the best performing species than many other African countries further north, with environmental laws initially limiting development.

Rivendell Hatchery developed strains of red O. mossambicus that outperformed other existing inbred strains then available in the first decade of the new century.

Crossing red fish with the best wild strains of O. mossambicus, and then back crossing the progeny with the red strain was done six times, resulting in Rivendell’s well known ‘Red 6’ strain that is widely used in aquaponics systems countrywide. These fish fulfil environmental requirements, yet provide viable opportunities for farmers to use.

The advent of aquaponics in the last decade as a system of producing both fish and plants created a substantial demand for relatively small individual shipments of fingerlings that needed transport country wide

Top: Rivendell Hatchery, comprising four RAS tunnels and three hatcheries Above: Red Thai tilapia are mass bred at Rivendell Opposite: Nicholas James; broodstock rearing tunnel system built in 2013

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World focus – South Africa

over long distances. Situated between the cities of Port Elizabeth and East London, Rivendell Hatchery capitalised on this to perfect the distribution of live fish shipments with minimal mortalities, both by road as well as by air from Port Elizabeth.

With a strict protocol of fish preparation days before despatch, and strict emphasis on never sending out fish that were not in 100 per cent good condition, the hatchery soon gained, and retains, a reputation for professionalism, quality and honesty.

When the first South African permits were finally issued by the authorities in 2014 for Nile tilapia importation and use, Rivendell used its environmental authorisation to import four strains of the best Asian developed fish.

These imports were soon reared and bred, and now form the foundation of a hatchery well positioned to supply commercial scale hatcheries of all scales with fingerling stock.

One of the essentials soon learned was that a combination of fingerling hatchery and grow-out unit does not work well, except in the most high volume and high investment scaled ventures. In the same way as the chicken broiler industry separates day-old chick production from growout in separate facilities, Rivendell therefore concentrated on high quality

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fingerling production.

Two strains of O. mossambicus (red and silver), four strains of Nile tilapia (two red, two silver), Tilapia rendalli for aquaponics systems, and even T. sparmannii for those with cool water outdoor systems where plant production was the priority, comprise the output at present.

South Africa has been slow to authorise Nile tilapia production in commercial scale systems to date, especially in warmer parts of the country, but this is changing.

Neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe and Mozambique have prioritised aquaculture using the best strains over purist environmental legislative concerns and, resulting from this, Nile tilapia have invaded larger rivers in South Africa shared with these countries.

It is only a matter of time for pressure to be permitted to use these high performing strains, already occurring in South African rivers, to be acceded to in certain catchments. Rivendell Hatchery is ready for this.

One of the lessons learned from running a fish hatchery for 26 years, is the immense amount of space required to develop strains, keep the species separate, breed them, house the fingerlings, and hold stocks ready for sale.

The frequently expressed desire by some customers ‘to breed their own fingerlings’ so often results in poor quality, inbred and un-sex reversed fish that simply don’t perform, inevitably leading to eventual economic failure of the grow-out unit.

This is due to the failure by most entry level fish culturalists to realise the complexity and scale of infrastructure required for a professional hatchery to operate efficiently and viably.

Above: Panoramic view of the Rivendell valley and dam; left: Incubator and sex reversal hatchery.

Opposite (top): Rivendell’s large dam overflowing after good spring rains. (Middle): Cop azureus: Lake Malawi cichlid (Below): ‘Red 6’ Mozambique tilapia popular in aquaponics.

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11/12/2019 10:23:37

Good buy

The owner “now wants to hand over further development of the business to younger hands

”

Based on the fundamentals of what has been learned in developing the hatchery, several large scale tilapia farms and hatcheries have been set up in Zambia, Burundi, Mozambique and Botswana since 2013.

A series of 169 popular aquaculture articles by James in South Africa’s Farmers Weekly magazine since 2012 has also enabled many practical and successful ideas to be disseminated to a wider audience.

Rivendell Hatchery has also formed the focus of several training and demonstration activities over the years, with close ties to various institutions.

Rivendell is a charismatic and very special place, and so much more than just a fish hatchery.

With its gabled house perched high on a mountainside above the dam and forest, with its distant sea view, it is a place of swirling mists, spectacular sunrises, waterfalls, abundant

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birdlife and a multitude of flowers.

Despite its unspoiled quietness and peace, it is only a 15-minute drive to Grahamstown with its good schools, university (Rhodes University), institutions such as SAIAB and the Rhodes Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science.

Rivendell is also a safe place, being at the end of a road with no passing traffic.

The owner has now reached the point where he reluctantly wishes to retire, and hand over further development of the business to younger hands.

For enquiries as to details of the property and business, please email him at nickjames@ intekom.co.za or to Nick.James@saiab.ac.za or by cell to +27-825759781. FF

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11/12/2019 10:23:57

Pharmaqademy – Annual conference

Continuum of care

Fish health is the focus, from Smoltvision to vaccines, sea lice resistance to insect nutrition

BY DR SAM HOUSTON

P

HARMAQ’S annual knowledge transfer event, Pharmaqademy, saw a record number of delegates gather at the Kingmills hotel in Inverness at the beginning of November.

The two-day conference, directed by Pharmaq sales manager Chris Mitchell, opened with the company’s Elise Hjelle updating the audience on the progress of Smoltvision in RAS aquaculture.

Smoltvision is an analytical tool which provides an insight into the progression of smoltification, the physiological process by which young salmon in freshwater transform themselves for the marine part of their lifecycle.

This molecular tool uses RT-qPCR (quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) to measure the expression of freshwater and saltwater ATPase, as well as a co-factor in the gills of smolts, prior to transfer.

The low “inclusion

rates of marine material in diets were suggested as a possible risk factor in deformity

”

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Typically, farmers will supply 20 freshwater smolt samples to Pharmaq Analytiq to assess the ‘readiness’ of the population for transfer to seawater.

The co-factor’s expression gives an insight into overall gill health, which can provide an enhanced understanding of the stocks’ status.

The data collected over the years has given the company an excellent view of the physiology of smolting salmon. Fish living in freshwater, especially in RAS aquaculture, can undergo multiple smoltification events, followed by a reversal of the process if the fish are not transferred to saltwater.

A range of environmental cues can trigger an unplanned smoltification, the most common of which is salt exposure, sometimes used to induce the event.

However, Hjelle indicated that transferring fish to a lighter tank can also trigger early smoltification.

Unplanned smoltifications make it more difficult for farmers to synchronise the process across the population.

Julia Tandberg, one of the R&D scientists at Pharmaq, then gave an update on the occurrence of new variants of Moritella viscosa, the causative agent of winter sores in farmed salmon, cod and lumpfish in Norway and Scotland.

Handling or injuries can increase the risk of infection that can lead to the development of ulcers.

The prevalence of this disease in both Norway and Scotland has led to the rapid increase in the uptake of vaccines for Moritella, with 90 per cent of farmed salmon now using them in Norway.

However, surveillance of Moritella has indicated that about 90 per cent of isolates collected are new variants and Tandberg postulated that vaccination may have rapidly selected for them. Phylogenetic trees from Moritella isolates formed three groups and ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) cross-reactivity testing showed that some variants can be controlled by currently available vaccines, while others cannot.

Although the group had not investigated so many Scottish isolates, the presence of new variants has

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11/12/2019 10:27:26

Continuum of care

Above left: Claudia Tschesche and Chris Mitchell Above right: Delegates at this year’s Phamaqademy Opposite: Chloe Phan Van Phi of insect protein pioneer Innova Feed

been confirmed here, but not to the same extent as in Norway. In Scotland, approximately 75 per cent of fish are vaccinated against Moritella.

Tandberg asked Scottish producers at the conference to send samples so she could better characterise the bug in Scotland.

Two speakers, Bernt Martinsen, Zoetis’ group sales director, and Ane Sandtrø, senior manager, Outcomes Research, Zoetis International Operations at Pharmaq, then focused on vaccines and associated risk factors that can lead to deformed vertebrae in salmon.

Pharmaq offers a vaccine against pancreas disease (PD),ALPHA JECT micro 1 PD, which can be delivered to pre-smolts alongside other vaccines.

But as with other commercial PD vaccines, the vaccine may be a risk factor for some newly described vertebral deformities, which appear to be significantly more common in Norway than in Scotland.

Use of functional feeds has been proposed as a risk factor associated with vertebral deformity and results from clinical field studies indicate a connection here. However, other studies have been inconclusive.

Following the presentations, discussions turned to potential nutritional aspects associated with deformity.The low inclusion rates of marine material in diets were suggested as a possible risk factor, which might explain the current difference in observed deformity levels between Norway and Scotland.

The final talk on the first day was given by Claudia Tschesche, Pharmaq’s sponsored PhD student at the University of Stirling. She presented an update on her work on resistance in sea lice to deltamethrin, a synthetic pyrethroid which Pharmaq markets as AMX, a bath treatment for this parasite.

In insects, knock-down resistance (kdr) to deltamethrin has been described as a mutation which disrupts the molecules’ ability to bind to the target site in voltage gated sodium channels.

In the salmon louse, however, the target site is unknown, although emerging evidence suggests that mutations in the mitochondrial genome may play a role.

Tschesche is currently examining possible markers in the mitochondrial genome which predict for resistance and, in doing so, gain a better understanding of the mechanism. Last year, she presented evidence showing that deltamethrin resistance is

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maternally inherited in sea lice and closely linked to four mitochondrial single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are protein modifying.

Furthermore, a Norwegian study has shown that two of these mutations are located on the surface of these proteins, providing the possibility that deltamethrin may bind at these sites to exert a toxic effect.

Her experiments lend further weight to this hyphothesis. By exposing deltamethrin resistant lice to the insecticide etofenprox, she found that these lice were fully susceptible to this compound. Had their resistance to deltamethrin been mediated through kdr mutations, then this should also have protected them against etofenprox – no such protection was observed and by extension kdr is not the mechanism of protection in lice that are resistant to deltamethrin.

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Pharmaqademy – Annual conference

The second day of presentations was opened by Jamie Brannan, vice president of Zoetis UK, Pharmaq’s parent company. He gave a high-level perspective of Zoetis’ innovation offering in the rapidly changing animal health market place. Zoetis operates globally, with annual revenues of $5.8 billion; of its 10,000 staff, 1,100 are involved in research and development.

The company has identified three key global drivers of growth: rising population, a growing middle class, and a rise in pet ‘medicalisation’ and protein consumption (12 per cent meat and 30 per cent fish) by 2026.

He explained that Zoetis’ mission statement is to provide a ‘continuum of care’ to farm and companion animals.The tools and services provided aim to predict and forecast animal health, prevent any disturbances to health, as well as offer a range of treatment options if it is compromised.

Lucy Williamson, an independent human nutritionist, said the aim of her nutrition services is to provide simple evidence based advice. Her talk focused on fish consumption from the omega-3 perspective, but also as a source of iodine, vitamin D and selenium.

One aspect of human nutrition which is of concern, she said, is the current trend towards vegetarianism and veganism, particularly in children who are still growing rapidly.

Williamson said that surveys of the population indicated that most people do not consume the two recommended portions of oily fish each week, and that consumption of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids was too low.A lack of awareness about cooking fish was often cited as a cause of this.

Although vegetable oils do contain omega-3, it is in the form of ALA which must then be converted into EPA and DHA, the same beneficial oils found in oily fish.This process requires enzymes which share the omega-6 metabolic pathway; because there tends to be far more omega-6 in our diet naturally, the omega-3 pathway is disadvantaged.

Eating fish allows us to benefit from a direct source of EPA and DHA, crucial to our long-term health.The omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in the UK diet is estimated to be about 10:1, a long way from the 2:1 recommended by WHO or even the 6:1 which has often been used as a realistic target!

Continuing the theme of nutrition, but from the perspective of the fish, Chloe Phan Van Phi from Innova Feed, a French company leading the way in the manufacture of insect derived products, outlined the company’s use of agricultural by-products to produce an insect protein meal, an insect oil and a rich organic fertiliser as by-product from the ‘frass’ (what’s

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left after a production cycle).

Innova Feed is working closely with Cargill to investigate the use of these materials in salmon diets.

The company will open the world’s largest insect rearing plant in 2020, capable of producing 15,000 tonnes of insects each year.The factory will be co-located with a Tereos operated starch and sweeteners mill and Kogeban, a biomass turbine.

This will allow Innova Feed to exploit excess heat and by-products from the mill, as well as capture so-called ‘fatal’ energy from the turbine normally dissipated into the atmosphere, leading to a reduction in carbon emissions of 35,000 tonnes each year.

Other initiatives to develop the market include working with chefs and fish mongers to spread the concept of rearing fish using insects and observing how this is received by the consumer.As part of this process a new label has been developed, ‘Poisson nourri à l’insecte’,‘fish fed with insects’, to support the new sector’s laudable ambitions to contribute to a more circular economy.

Arno Schut from Axentive changed focus with a presentation on the use of Halamid (Chloramin T), as a general purpose disinfectant. In aquaculture, the compound is typically used as an in-water disinfectant rather than for the sterilisation of plant and equipment, as is the case in other types of animal production. Data were presented showing how the compound could be used successfully without any hindrance to biofilter function.

Sterilisation of fish stock rather than fish farms was the theme of Debbie Plouffe’s presentation.

She had travelled from the Centre for Aquaculture and Technologies in Canada to talk about gene editing technologies currently under development.

Importantly, she explained that gene editing was

Above: Zoetis UK vice president Jamie Brannan and Chris Mitchell

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Continuum of care not the introduction of new genetic material into an organism but rather the editing of incumbent genes using the CRISPRR/cas9 system on developing fish embryos.

One exciting aspect of these technologies is that breeding programmes can be rapidly accelerated if the desired alterations to genes are understood.

However, Plouffe was keen to emphasise that gene editing is complementary to traditional breeding programmes and not a substitute.

Working with tilapia as a model, the company has deployed the technology to generate sterile fish.

These individuals are biologically similar to their parents in all aspects except gonad development and therefore do not encounter the problems sometimes associated with the more traditional method of sterilisation, triploidy.

For now, however, these technologies will remain largely in the Americas, unless accommodating regulatory reform is forthcoming in Europe.

The final topic of Pharmaqademy’s agenda was plastic pollution, with Chris Walkinshaw, a PhD student from Plymouth Marine Laboratory, outlining the scale and impacts of the problem.

He was followed by Catherine Morrison, of Ireland’s Seafood Development Agency (BIM), who introduced the Clean Oceans Initiative’s proposals aimed at managing it.

Walkinshaw’s work examines the impact of plastic pollution within the context of food security.

A broad overview showed how microplastics can now be found everywhere in the aquatic environment.

Areas of concern within aquaculture include

The current trend towards vegetarianism and “ veganism is of concern, particularly in children who are still growing rapidly ”

the adsorption of PCBs, PAHs, dioxins and heavy metals on to microplastics. Harmful species of algae can even be transported across the ocean on plastic particles.

Going forward, he will focus his studies on mussels to analyse the presence and characteristics of microplastics inside these animals, generating data to support the shellfish sector with their risk analyses.

He will also examine fishmeals to quantify the level of plastic pollution in them. He said that the smaller the particle size being searched for, the greater the amount of plastic that would be found.

Morrison informed the audience that simple actions could be deployed to ‘turn off the tap’, to stem the constant flow of plastics into the aquatic environment.

She also explained, the myriad forms that plastic can take, and the complexities associated with recycling the material, especially the separation required due to the varieties of type and density.

She went on to explain how BIM had worked with fisherman in the ‘Fishing for Litter’ scheme.

The project provides sacks on the decks of fishing vessels to collect plastic items that are hauled in with the catch.

Approximately 80 per cent of Irish trawlers have

signed up to the scheme and are bringing litter ashore. Fish farmers also contribute by organising shore and pier clean-ups in their local areas.

However, the work has not stopped there; recycling the materials is complex and involves sorting and cleaning (salt contamination makes them largely unattractive to recyclers).

Nevertheless, the project cleans and sorts as much as possible and a large mobile shredder has been deployed to help compress and manage the large quantities that are recovered from the sea.

Morrison said that although these types of schemes have additional benefits, specifically to do with satisfying social conscience, more needed to be done to stop the huge quantities of waste being produced in the first place.

Such measures would require a coordinated global effort and involve regulation and extensive modification of supply chains.

The conference, held on November 4-5, finished with lunch and further networking.The author would like to thank Pharmaq for organising such an informative and interesting event, for their hospitality and the chance to try curling!

Sam Houston is knowledge exchange officer at SAIC (the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre). FF

pharmaq-analytiq.com

Expertese delivered by professionals - to professionals PHARMAQ Analytiq provides analysis and advisory services to veterinarians and fish health managers. In addition to histology and bacteriology, we use molecular techniques to provide managers with quantitative health and physiological assessments of their stocks relating to both a wide range of pathogens as well as, for salmonids, readiness for transfer to seawater. Our services are fully accredited. For further information please visit www.pharmaq-analytiq.com.

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STIM – Advertorial

SuperSmolt success

with feed only solution Transfer delays to seawater are no longer a problem for robust, synchronised smolt

F

ISH welfare after sea transfer is one of the biggest challenges in salmon farming - but it doesn’t have to be. The delicate process of smoltification – turning freshwater salmon parr into sea-ready smolt – is no easy thing to facilitate in a production setting. That is evident when examining production results during the first month after transfer. Reduced growth performance and increased mortality has historically been the norm rather than the exception.

The reason is that some of the fish group have not reached a robust smolt status before transfer and/or are already on the way to desmoltification.

Opposite: SuperSmolt Feed Only allows the fish to grow optimally under full light throughout the hatchery smoltification process.

Above: The chart describes a largescale benchmarking project using 800,000 smolts. In two separate Norwegian hatcheries the fish groups were divided and smoltified using SuperSmolt Feed Only and light control, respectively. The smolt was transferred to the same site during the same week. In both cases the SuperSmolt groups performed significantly better post transfer.

Left: The mortality and growth performance during the first months after transfer to marine sites will inevitably reveal how well prepared the fish was for its new surroundings.

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In fact, most traditionally produced smolt groups will probably contain both parr, smolt and desmoltified fish at the time of transfer, because there is no reliable way to fully synchronise the smoltification process using photo period smoltification.

Stress is a killer This is, of course, a massive welfare problem.

Placing fish in seawater that have not built up a tolerance to that environment means one of two things. The fish will either die of osmoregulation problems, or they will survive, but at great discomfort, eating poorly and with stress levels that turn them into magnets for parasites and disease.

Recent research (Sveen, Nofima, 2018) shows that the main gene class affected by stress is immune system genes. Stressed fish lose their protective mucus coating, their wounds heal slower and they become more susceptible to disease. So, not only does sub-par smoltification mean poor welfare and suffering for failed smolts and large pseudo smolts, it also increases the risk of serious biological problems for the entire fish group.

A better way SuperSmolt Feed Only has increasingly taken over from traditional photo period smoltification in all major salmon producing countries,

www.fishfarmermagazine.com

11/12/2019 14:22:19

SuperSmolt success

at the same time significantly reducing the welfare and mortality issues related to smoltification. The experience gathered builds on more than 400 million ‘supersmolts’ produced in Scotland, Norway, Chile, Canada and Tasmania.

The simple, feed based smoltification method solves several problems. Firstly, there is no need for a growth inhibiting winter photo period as the entire process is achieved under full light, allowing the fish to grow normally. Smoltification is fast and predictable (smoltification achieved in three to four weeks) and allows for more reliable production planning.

SuperSmolt Feed Only allows the smolt to be transferred one to two weeks earlier to sea, or the fish farmer may choose to transfer larger smolt at the usual transfer time.

And crucially – for fish welfare – fish receiving SuperSmolt Feed Only will not desmoltify.

This allows every fish in the group to achieve a robust smolt status before transfer.

Having the flexibility to extend the smolt window in this way means that the smolt are happy and comfortable to remain in freshwater until every fish is ready, and transfer delays - caused by, for example, bad weather, well boat supply or other reasons - are no longer a problem.

A fully synchronised smolt group will thrive at sea from day one, with no fish experiencing discomfort relating to osmoregulation. The fish will eat well and grow normally.

www.fishfarmermagazine.com

STIM.indd 61

The fish “ will eat well and grow normally

”

The science behind it On the cell walls of every organ included in the smoltification process (pineal body, the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, kidneys, intestines, gills and skin) there are a type of receptor called Calcium Sensing Receptors (CaSR). Natural additives in the SuperSmolt feed stimulate these receptors, providing a smoltification response. The feed also includes free amino acids (tryptophan) that stimulate the brain to commence smoltification.

Tryptophan is a precursor of the neurotransmitter serotonin, the melatonin hormone, and vitamin B3. When using traditional light control, the pineal body in the epiphysis is stimulated to produce melatonin as part of darkness stimuli, which via the hypothalamus affects the hypophysis. SuperSmolt stimulates the hypophysis directly by using free L-tryptophane in feed, which via the hypophysis releases endocrine signals. These signals contribute to the smoltification as well as changes in metabolism, morphology and behaviour. It is shown that free L-tryptophane in feed has a lasting impact on the brain and provides the fish with an improved stress response.

Patented technology STIM (previously Europharma) recently received the patent for SuperSmolt Feed Only from the European Patent Office (EPO), recognising it as a significant industry innovation after four years of rigorous scientific scrutiny.

SuperSmolt Feed Only is built on the original SuperSmolt formula, which included salts added to the production water as well as feed.

‘Developing a feed only formulation that achieved the same results as the original SuperSmolt programme was a significant challenge. When STIM finally succeeded, the market responded immediately. SuperSmolt Feed Only is so much easier and more practical to use. The number of fish produced with SuperSmolt technology has increased every year since the launch in 2014, said Campbell Morrison, key accounts manager at STIM Scotland’. FF

61

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01/05/2018 10:16:14 11/12/2019 10:29:46

Processing News

Young’s restructures senior management team

Grimsby salmon firm to disclose its sources Transparency is vital as people become increasingly interested in the provenance of their food

Above: JCS Fish products - information shared

GRIMSBY based salmon specialist JCS Fish has joined the Ocean Disclosure Project (ODP), becoming the first seafood supplier to voluntarily disclose its farmed seafood sourcing through the initiative.

The family owned company will share information about the

origins of its farmed salmon and trout products.

Its ODP profile contains a list of its farmed seafood sources, alongside information on the country of origin, certification, and environmental impact of farmed production.

Jack Coulbeck, com-

mercial manager for JCS Fish, said: ‘We are delighted to share our sourcing data through the ODP. People are increasingly interested in the provenance of their food and we believe transparency is vital to ensure our customers rely on us for responsibly sourced fish.

‘We have already committed to use only GlobalG.A.P. (GGN) certified salmon in our Big Fish brand, and across the business 91 per cent of our salmon is from certified farms. We expect to reach 100 per cent certified within the next six months.’

Tania Woodcock, project manager for the ODP, said: ‘We are pleased to welcome

Big Fish award winner THE team at JCS Fish picked up top prize in the Best Smoked Fish category at the Quality Food & Drink Awards last month.

The firm won the honour, presented at the Brewery in London, for its BigFish Signature Smoked Sea Trout.

Co-founder of JCS Fish Louise Coulbeck was there with financial controller (and future daughter in law!) Rosie Knight, to pick up the award.

‘This is a particularly big win for us as a small family firm as it proves that our products can compete on the national stage,’ said Coulbeck.

‘Our whole Grimsby team has put so much work into our new smokehouse and we think Signature is the best smoked fish we’ve ever produced… so it’s really brilliant that the national Q Award judges thought the same!’

The runners-up in the Best Smoked Fish category were Alfred Enderby’s Traditional Smoked Haddock (also made in Grimsby) and Asda Smoked Salmon.

The BigFish Signature Smoked range is available from independent retailers and farm shops around the UK as well as direct through the BigFish.

Above: Louise Coulbeck and Rosie Knight (centre left and centre right) pick up the award from guest host Sally Phillips and awards judge, Steve Lee.

www.fishfarmermagazine.co.uk

Processing News.indd 63

JCS Fish to the Ocean Disclosure Project as the first seafood supplier to disclose its farmed sources.

‘The company’s commitment to responsibly farmed seafood is clear from its profile, which highlights the high proportion of farmed seafood sourced from farms certified to a recognised standard.’

JCS Fish has a turnover of £8.5 million and employs 50 people at its headquarters at Grimsby’s fish dock. It recorded sales growth of 63 per cent by volume in the year to August 2019.

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership started the ODP in 2015 to provide an information resource for

Recognised standards The company’s “commitment to

responsibly farmed seafood is clear

”

investors, seafood consumers, and others interested in sustainable seafood.

To date, 22 other companies, including retailers, suppliers, and aquaculture feed manufacturers from Europe, North America and Australia, have participated.

Saucy heads Down Under THE Grimsby based Saucy Fish Co is launching its frozen fishcake products into more than 900 Woolworth’s stores in Australia.

The move into international markets follows a highly successful UK frozen launch in 2017.

‘We’ve seen Saucy’s frozen range go down a storm in the UK and we believe it will be equally welcome in Australia,’ said Amanda Webb, sales and marketing director at the Saucy Fish Co. ‘We know people love convenient cooking and great tasting fish, so we are very pleased that our products provide both - offering inspirational flavour with our fish minus the fuss -options that are perfect for midweek meals and can go from freezer to fork in 25 minutes.’

James Bigg, seafood category manager at Woolworths, said: ‘The Saucy Fish Co offers time saving convenience whilst still delivering great flavours, which we know customers at Woolworths will love.’

Above: Simon Smith

YOUNG’S Seafood has announced a major restructuring of its senior management team following the arrival of new chief executive Simon Smith.

Smith recently moved across from Grimsby rival seafood business Seachill.

Young’s was brought back by former private equity owner Capvest last summer to become part of a new £1.2 billion operation with the Karro Food Group, since renamed the Eight Fifty Group.

Managing director Frank Green will take charge of a new chilled business unit and will also take executive accountability for seafood procurement.

Meanwhile, Yvonne Adam, best known as marketing director in recent years, will head up a new frozen business unit. She will also take executive accountability for leading the food service and international sectors.

Simon Smith said: ‘Having recently joined Young’s Seafood, I have been impressed with the immense passion and talent amongst our people.

‘This is clearly a team looking for success and ready to build the next chapter of our story.’

63

11/12/2019 10:32:19

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11/12/2019 10:35:09

Opinion – Inside track

Elections, referendums and things that drive you mad

BY NICK JOY

B

Y the time this hits your desk we will know what has come about.

We may be facing a coalition of Labour and the SNP, involving another referendum, or another Conservative government, with or without a majority.

It would appear the Liberal Party does not have the weight to cancel Brexit so this will either happen or we will have many more months of negotiation, possibly followed by another referendum.

If there is a Labour led coalition, there may also be another independence referendum, as Jeremy Corbyn has suggested this is something he would countenance.

Even if the Conservatives get in, the likelihood of further disruption is possible, though less likely. They will have to negotiate a speedy trade deal with the EU in order to keep goods flowing. All in all, it is an election that nightmares are made of.

I am going to steer very clear of any political view, but someone has to start getting politicians to understand what all this uncertainty is doing to business.

While I have little doubt the Corbyn and his party will attempt to renegotiate the leaving deal, they will be heavily hampered by having stated openly that they will campaign against the very deal that they are negotiating. In such a situation, with no deal off the table, it is hardly credible that the EU will move much.

On the other hand, if the Conservatives get a majority, are we to believe that they will stick by their deal when they have a much stronger hand to play?

There is little doubt, though, that if any party gets a decent majority there will be a greater level of clarity in the UK over the next two years or so.

However, and I guess you know what I am going to say next, another referendum on independence in 2021, which is the earliest that Corbyn said he would consider approving one, makes me shudder. So we get another two years of uncertainty, followed by god knows what!

Again, I am going to avoid being party political but either a Yes or No result gives me the night terrors. Independence would mean a minimum of five years of chaos as a 300-year-old legal relationship is unpicked. Look at how long it is taking to unravel the much younger EU. If the result is No and the SNP stays in power, as is likely (the Scots are the most conservative nation I know), then we will face further uncertainty as they head for the third referendum.

Of course, if the Conservatives win, they have said no to a referendum in the term of the next parliament but can they really resist if the SNP hold such a significant number of the Scottish seats?

Maybe the Conservatives would take longer before caving in to the SNP but this will only mean an even longer period of uncertainty and pressure on business.

I am sorry if this all sounds bleak, but although I am no longer an active salmon farmer, I am still a beef and sheep farmer. The problems are the same at best, and really worse because agriculture has become a subsidy junkie, dependent on hand-outs to survive.

The uncertainty around agricultural support, allied to the idiotic anti-meat agenda, is forcing farmers not to invest but also to sell off their

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that “theI hope sinking feeling in my stomach is wrong

”

herds. This may offer opportunity in the long term but there will have to be somebody there to take up the advantage.

People have said that this election is a choice between least worst (as one well known salmon farming critic once judged Loch Duart) and it is hard to argue against that view.

It is especially significant for our industries because lead times are long and customer memories and needs are short. We need to think a long way ahead and our customers have to have product now. All of this make our companies vulnerable.

The greatest strength of farming something is that everybody always needs food. The greatest weakness is that if they can’t get yours, they will have to buy someone else’s.

This means that investment decisions are critical in order to keep supply up. How does a board decide to do that when there is so little solid ground?

I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. I hope that the sinking feeling in my stomach is wrong! FF

www.fishfarmermagazine.co.uk

11/12/2019 10:36:31

Photo: Loozrboy, Flickr

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