Fish Farmer February 2024

Fish Farmer

FEBRUARY 2024

SEA LICE

T he latest solutions

LAND-BASED FARMING

Seaweed

Proximar and Kingfish Zeeland

Flex B io’ s f ermenter

Aqua Agenda Fish health and welfare webinar

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12/02/2024 12:42:13

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12/02/2024 10:08:12

WELCOME

Editor’s welcome

F

ish health and welfare is a topic that is always high up on the agenda in aquaculture. That has been more than ever the case over the last couple of years for the salmon farming industry in Scotland.

In the first of our Aqua Agenda series of webinars, an expert panel – featuring Scottish Salmon’s Iain Berrill, Fish Health Inspectorate Charles Allan and Ronnie Soutar of Scottish Sea Farms – addressed the issues of mortalities, emerging biological threats and the impact of warming seas.

You can read a summary of the discussion in this issue, starting on page 46, and you can view the whole webinar online at bit.ly/AquaAgenda-health Also in the February magazine, we highlight an example of how artificial intelligence is being used to help fish farmers manage their stock with precision. We also profile two land-based fish farm projects, Proximar in Japan and the Kingfish Company’s expansion of its Zeeland site in the Netherlands.

As an election year gets underway for the UK, Sandy Neil reports on what the aquaculture sector is looking for, from whoever gets to form the next government at Westminster.

Nicki Holmyard examines a report commissioned for the Shellfish Association of Great Britain, which paints a fairly grim picture of the problems facing the shellfish industry – from Brexit-related export challenges to water quality.

We look at the findings of a report from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization on prospects for European eels in the Mediterranean, in terms of both fisheries and farming.

You can also find out more about the FlexBio facility at Heriot-Watt University, which has been set up to offer a bioprocessing service to companies looking to develop new applications for seaweed.

Meanwhile, we are keen to hear from you, the readers. What do you think of Fish Farmer and is it meeting your information needs? You can help us by completing our short online survey, which you can access at www.surveymonkey.com/r/FishFarmer2024.

Alternatively, turn to page nine and scan the QR code on your phone.

Best wishes Robert Outram

Robert Outram Serving worldwide aquaculture since 1977 Meet the team Editorial advisory board: S tev e B rack en, H erv é M igau d, J im T reasu rer, C hris M itchell and J ason C leav ersmith Editor: Robert O u tram Designer: A ndrew B alahu ra Commercial Manager: J anice J ohnston ohnston fishfarmerma a ine com Office Administrator: F iona Robertson fro ertson fishfarmerma a ine com Publisher: lister Benne Cover: Fish farm in the snow P hoto: Adobe Stock

@fishfarmermagazine @fishfarmermag www.fishfarmermagazine.com

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12/02/2024 12:47:06

CONTENTS

In the February issue...

News

6-21 THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS

56

Processing news

22-23 PROCESSING UPDATE

Comment

24-25 MISLEADING MODELS Martin Jaffa

Salmon Scotland 26-27 BLURRING LINES Tavish Scott

Shellfish

28-30 INDUSTRY UNDER STRESS Nicki Holmyard

Policy

32-34 ELECTION YEAR ISSUES Sandy Neil

Comment

35 SAIC’S HEATHER JONES

Norway

36-37 CONSUMER HEALTH

Sea farming

38-39 AI AND SALMON Vince McDonagh

Land-based farming and hatcheries

40-41 PROXIMAR SEAFOOD 42-43 THE KINGFISH COMPANY

Species

32

Aqua Agenda

36

44-45 EELS

42

46-49 WEBINAR

Sea lice

50-53 THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY

Seaweed farming

54-55 FLEXBIO’S FERMENTER

Waste management & the circular economy

44

38

56-59 SLUDGE SOLUTIONS From problem to profit

What’s new

60-61 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Industry diary 65 WHAT’S ON

Opinion

66 FARMERS HAVE HAD ENOUGH Nick Joy 4

46

CLIENT CONTENT VESO Aqualab 53 SEA LICE RESEARCH Aqua Source directory 62-63 FIND EVERYTHING YOU NEED

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R.S. Aqua Ltd.indd 5

12/02/2024 10:10:53

Photo: Scottish Sea Farms 6-11_UK news.indd 6

12/02/2024 14:08:35

Aqua Agenda webinar tackles fish health issues he we inar co ere to ics ranging from fish stress to c imate change an the increase ris of re ation now that sea s are rotecte aw. o can rea a re ort of the we inar starting on age of this iss e. he who e e ent is a ai a e to iew on ine at it. a gen a hea th eanwhi e if there are an other s jects o o e to see s co er in the a gen a series ease et s now at e itor@fishfarmermagazine.com FISH ea th an e fare was the theme for the first we inar in ish armer s a gen a series which too ace on an ar . ith the high e e of morta ities e erience in the sa mon farming sector o er the ast two ears the isc ssion foc se on the cha enges an the factors ri ing them an the actions the in str is ta ing to a ress them. e ro ght together a ane of e erts to isc ss fish hea th the iggest ris s c rrent eing face the sa mon farmers an what the in str has earnt. he were • r ain erri ea of echnica a mon cot an • har es an ea of the cottish ish ea th ns ectorate an • onnie o tar ea of eterinar er ices cottish ea arms.

Above: Salmon

Mowi Scotland to establish native woodland on Skye MOWI Scotland has been granted funding by Scottish Forestry, the Scottish Government agency responsible for forestry policy, support and regulation, following a successful application to establish 102 hectares of native broadleaved woodland on the Isle of Skye.

Mowi operates a number of fish farms on Skye, including at Caol Mòr where its three local farms have recently been upgraded through the installation of fewer, but larger, 160m pens.

Mowi also owns the adjacent land, which comprises an open hillside/low ridge on the north side of Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye, lying within the Cuillins Special Protection Area (SPA). By planting native broadleaves, primarily consisting of native upland birch, it is hoped the woodland will strengthen soil and water as well as protect and enhance habitat quality and biodiversity, with resulting overall benefits to the designated site features of the SPA. Stephen MacIntyre, Head of Environment at Mowi Scotland, explained: “This is an exciting and different project for Mowi that will produce real outcomes to support our strategic sustainability programmes and policies on the topics of protecting nature and biodiversity, and delivering actions that contribute to tackling climate change.

“The project is also aligned to Scotland’s Forestry Strategy, published by the Scottish Government, which seeks to increase woodland cover and contribute to climate change mitigation by reducing greenhouse gas emissions through carbon sequestration.”

It is estimated that the woodland will have the potential to sequestrate 38,616 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next 100 years.

Ben Hadfield, COO of Mowi Scotland, said: “While the salmon sector and Mowi in particular produce salmon with a relatively low carbon footprint, we are always looking for ways to improve our sustainability profile. We are pleased that the Scottish Government’s commitment to plant more trees has enabled our company to participate in this initiative and at a neutral cost.

I want to thank our environmental team for their hard work over the past five years to turn the opportunity into reality.”

Following the approval of funding, Mowi is now working with its woodland delivery partner, Galbraith, on a land preparation programme and species planting schedule for commencement of works this year.

Above: Plan for the woodland

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12/02/2024 14:05:39

UNITED KINGDOM NEWS

NEWS IN BRIEF

Crown Estate Scotland seeks aquaculture chief CROWN Estate Scotland, the government body that oversees Scotland’s marine resources, is recruiting to fill the ne ly created

post of Director of Aquaculture & Ecosystem Services.The Crown Estate is effectively the landlord for all marine aquaculture in Scotland, as well as for sectors such as offshore wind energy.The post-holder will have responsibility for capital expenditure up to £1m, revenue expenditure up to £1m and income generation of between £10m-£20m annually.The Head of Aquaculture, an existing post, will report to the new Director.The organisation has engaged executive search firm W ark ro n to help find suita le candidates and is offering a starting salary of £94,616.

Mowi launches Communiti webpage T on the various community initiatives from o i Scotland can now be accessed on one dedicated page: o i Communiti.

It includes information about the company’s support for shinty, the traditional Highlands and Islands sport; helping learners build

Above: The

confidence ith The ut ard Bound Trust; building homes; and attending local beach cleans and the o i almon Wagon.

Users can visit mowi.com/uk/ communiti to find out more about Communiti infrastructure, donations, the Salmon Wagon schedule and more.

o i almon Wagon

CEO for new Agri-Tech Centres announced THE three UK “Agri-Tech Centres” set to merge this April have announced the appointment of Phil Bicknell as CEO of the combined organisation.

The Agri-Tech Centres are government-supported bodies set up with the aim of fostering innovation in agriculture and, since 2022, aquaculture.The three are Agri-EPI (Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation Centre), CHAP (Crop Health & Protection) and CIEL (the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock). Aquaculture comes under CIEL’s remit.

8

Phil Bicknell takes up his new post on 1 April. He joined CIEL in 2021 and was made Director in June 2023, at which time he joined the Transition Board for the merger.

Above: Phil Bicknell

Wild Fisheries Fund in call for grant applications

Above: Jon Gibb with salmon

THE latest phase of a conservation fund set up by Scotland’s salmon industry has started with a call for funding proposals for this year.

The Salmon Scotland Wild Fisheries Fund was created to help save Scotland’s wild salmon by restoring habitats, providing protection from predators and encouraging river restocking schemes.

The fund will see £140,000 invested by Scotland's salmon farmers over the course of the coming year to help address the decline in fish n m ers. his comes as art of a wi er fi e ear investment of £1.5 million from salmon farmers.

The fund is open to all river catchment organisations throughout the whole of Scotland in 2024, but organisers have suggested that there is a particular interest in projects in the shared zone of aquaculture an wi sa mon fisheries.

The fund opened for applications on 1 February and the closing date will be 31 March, with decisions on grants taken by Salmon Scotland in April.

The 2024 fund will again be coordinated by Jon Gibb ict re a o e a fisheries manager based in Fort William in the heart of the aquaculture sector.

Gibb championed a constructive relationship etween the farm raise sa mon sector an fisheries and angling groups.

He said: “As a salmon fisher manager with o er 25 years of experience on the west coast of Scotland, I am again delighted to coordinate this fund on behalf of Salmon Scotland.

“In 2023, wild Atlantic salmon in Scotland were officia c asse as an endangered species.

“This keystone species is under serious threat from a wide range of impacts, both in the river and at sea.

Any projects to further understand those impacts and mitigate against them are urgently required.

“I am also delighted that the fund is now available to all Scottish river management organisations, including on the east coast of Scotland, which has seen a more marked decline in recent years in wild salmon populations than the west coast.”

Initially conceived in 2021 as the Wild Salmonid Fund before being rebranded last year, the initiative moves into its fourth year having already invested more than £335,000 in relevant projects.

To date, grants have been used to save and restore a historic dam in the Western Isles that assists wild salmon to progress to their spawning grounds, as well as restoration projects to reduce riverbank erosion and measures to provide tree cano an in stream co er for young salmon.

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12/02/2024 14:04:16

Scottish Government sets out blueprint for the future of marine science THE Scottish Government has published its Marine Science and Innovation Strategy highlighting the crucial role of science and innovation in realising the full potential of the marine environment.

The strategy – part of the Blue Economy Vision to 2045 – is intended as a blueprint for the Scottish Government to utilise the best available science, evidence and data for ma ing informe ecisions that enefit the economy, environment and society, including coastal and island communities.

It also includes a commitment for innovation using the latest technology, s ch as artificia inte igence ho ogra hic cameras, drones and submersibles, and non-destructive environmental DNA (eDNA) to model and understand Scotland’s marine environment.

The strategy was presented to science, data, analysis and engineering stakeholders at the formal opening of the Helen Ogilvie Hub at the Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen.The hub is named after one of the a orator s first fema e scientists, who was appointed in 1911 and studied plankton in Scottish waters and their role in the marine food chain.

Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs,

Islands and Land Reform Mairi Gougeon said: “Over a century of science, data and evidence has already shaped our understanding of Scotland’s seas and rivers. Our commitment to science and innovation is not just for exploration but to make a tangible and positive impact for the marine environment, our economy

Above: Mairi Gougeon

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and our cultural heritage.

“This ambitious new strategy will give us further evidence to respond to biodiversity loss and the impact of climate change, and to make the most of the opportunities our marine and freshwater environments have for our communities.”

The paper sets out the mission for the strateg as to ro i e the scientific evidence and data for policies, regulatory and statutory duties that contribute to the e i er of ong term enefits to nature and the people of Scotland.

“We will provide science leadership across Scotland by entering into dynamic partnerships with collaborators from across Scotland and internationally. By effecti e an efficient e i ering this mission our aspiration is that our science, impactful research and data ensures that the marine and freshwater environment is healthy, vibrant and in balance with thriving business and communities.”

The opening event also featured a speech from Professor Selina Stead, the o ernment s hief cientific isor for the Marine Management Organisation and Executive Dean of Environment at the University of Leeds.

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12/02/2024 14:05:03

UNITED KINGDOM NEWS

Aquaculture UK promises to be bigger than ever THE UK’s leading aquaculture show is gearing up for a bigger than ever exhibition expected to attract record crowds from around the world.

Aquaculture UK, to be held on 14 and 15 May in Aviemore, Scotland, has expanded to accommodate overwhelming demand for exhibition space at what has become the highlight in the aquaculture sector’s calendar.

The biennial show provides a platform for all the latest developments in the industry over the past two years. It brings together the entire aquaculture community for two days of business and networking in the Scottish Highlands.

Among this year’s first-time exhibitors are marine engineering innovators AAE Technologies; ocean robotics experts RAD Propulsion; the recently integrated Agri-Tech Centres; and the University of Cambridge.

Also new this year are several national and regional delegations, including the Chile Aqua & Food Tech Cluster, the Canada Pavilion and Killybegs Marine Cluster, while the Danish Pavilion returns with an exciting display of technical expertise.

For the first time, Aquaculture UK will host an innovation theatre, designed to showcase the fast-changing technology driving the sector.

In a tent just outside the main exhibition hall, the theatre will feature 30-minute presentations, which are open to anyone with an innovative idea or invention to promote.

There will also be breakfast briefings across the two days from 8.30am to 9.30am and a full conference programme to be announced soon.

Cheri Arvonio, Event Director at show organiser Diversified Communications, said Aquaculture UK offered unrivalled access to the people and products shaping the future of aquaculture.

“We have increased the size of the show this year, with 30 additional exhibitors, to reflect the growth of the sector as new technology and services enter the space.

“As the countdown to May begins, excitement is building already for what promises to be a truly bumper show.

“We can’t wait to open the doors to Aquaculture UK 2024 and welcome the aquaculture community to our biggest exhibition yet.”

Aquaculture UK is free to attend. To find out more, visit www.aquacultureuk.com.

Above:

uaculture

10

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6-11_UK news.indd 10

Subsea UK awards finalists announced

Above: u sea

po

ards

THE finalists for the u sea po ards have een announced ahead of the ceremony taking place in erdeen ne t month. rganised y lo al nder ater u , the leading trade and industry development ody for the ’s under ater industry, the prestigious annual event ill take place on Wednesday e ruary at ive.

The Company of the Year Under 50 Employees category, sponsored y cean nstaller, features nominations for u sea and u sea, hich have een shortlisted alongside Crondall nergy. inalists in the Company of the Year Over 50 Employees category are under ater ca le and um ilical designer and manufacturer i ron , integrated energy services company ent and electrical monitoring and asset integrity solutions provider iper nnovations. ecognising e cellence in international trade, the Global Exports category sponsored y raken o otics sees iper nnovations shortlisted alongside artlepool ased su sea technologies and services provider Ca le ystems. p and coming talent in the under ater industry ill e recognised ith the Rising Star Award. The nominations in this category are v n lonso of asingstoke ased uatec roup, Ciaran eid of Crondall nergy and airvee Tyagi of u sea. hortlisted in the Technology Development category, sponsored y C ore ystems,

are almoral roup, T ystems and oint entrants onomatic and eo ceans. n the Safety Innovation category, sponsored y u sea, the finalists are specialised su sea pro ect management and engineering firm ffshore and technology provider to the energy industries Technip C. n individual ho has made a significant contri ution to the under ater and su sea industries throughout their career ill e recognised ith the Outstanding Contribution Award. roviding entertainment ill e cottish impressionist, comedian and presenter ory remner. eil ordon, Chief ecutive of lo al nder ater u , said: “The annual u sea po ards cele rate the individuals and companies that are making their mark on the ’s n under ater industry. The shortlisted finalists demonstrate the depth of talent, technology and innovation that e ists in the sector and ho the kno ledge, skills and products developed in the continue to e shared ith the orld.

The a ards are a highlight of the three day u sea po e hi ition and conference, hich runs from to e ruary at ive and is free to attend. round , visitors are e pected to visit over the course of the event, hich this year has the theme of avigating the lue rontier.

Tickets for the Subsea Expo Awards can be bought online at www. subseaexpo.com, with individual places or tables of 10 available.

12/02/2024 14:06:09

Fish farm trainees shortlisted for Lantra Scotland awards TRAINEES from three aquaculture companies have been shortlisted for Lantra Scotland’s Awards for Land-based and Aquaculture Skills, known as the ALBAS. Scottish Sea Farms, Cooke Aquaculture and Bakkafrost will all be represented at the awards event, which will take place at Crieff Hydro on Thursday 7 March 2024.

Hamish MacLean from Tobermory on the Isle of Mull has completed his SCQF Level 9 in Aquaculture Management at UHI Shetland while working as an Area Manager for Bakkafrost.

He said: “I enjoyed working on boats and on water in previous jobs. Scottish Salmon Company (now Bakkafrost Scotland) had just installed a new farm right in front of my house. I met with the manager and the rest is history!”

Craig Grounds from Oban in Argyll and Bute has completed his Modern Apprenticeship Level 3 in Aquaculture at UHI Shetland while working as an Assistant Site Manager at Scottish Sea Farms.

He said: “Coming from the north-east of England, I had never seen or heard of salmon farming. When I relocated here and spoke to people about it, I knew it would be the job for me. Being out in nature, weather and the physicality of the work really appeals to me. I have loved every minute so far.”

Stuart Lavender from Mossbank in Shetland has completed his MA Level 2 in Aquaculture at UHI Shetland while

working as a Site Assistant at Cooke Aquaculture.

He said: “Getting into aquaculture has opened my eyes to how many different sectors and opportunities there are.

Doing my SVQ level 2 and 3 has given me the knowledge and understanding, improving and pushing forward my career in aquaculture.”

The ALBAS were created to promote careers within the rural sector, celebrate the achievements of learners and highlight the importance to employers of investing in skills.

Host for the evening will be the Red Shepherdess, otherwise known as Hannah Jackson, a farmer, public speaker, writer, adventurer and photographer.

Industry categories at this year’s ALBAS cover agriculture, animal care, aquaculture, equine, game and wildlife, horticulture, land-based engineering and trees and timber.

As well as prizes for Overall Winner, Runner-up and Modern Apprentice of the Year, there are also awards for Higher Education, School Pupil and Secondary Schools, Council for Awards of Agricultural Societies, a Mentor award for inspirational tutor, the Tam Tod Trophy and the Anna Murray Award for Partnership Working.

Finalists for ALBAS 2024 were selected by an independent judging panel made of in entia fig res from across the land-based and aquaculture sectors, chaired by Keith Paterson of Forestry and Land Scotland.

Bringing his horticultural expertise to the ane for the first time this year is David Knott, Curator of Living

Collections,The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Dr Liz Barron-Majerik MBE MICFor, Director of Lantra Scotland commented: “Our ALBAS have an important role to play in highlighting the achievements of new entrants and career changers in our sector, and in showing people the enefits of s i s e e o ment an partnership working.

“I would like to say a heartfelt congratulations to every one of this ear s fina ists an wish them goo c at the ALBAS ceremony in March. I’d also like to say a big ‘well done’ to all of our nominees. We had a record number of nominations, which were of a high standard indeed.

“We are also grateful to the in e en ent in str fig res who are our judges, to training providers and employers who submit the nominations, to all our generous supporters who make our event possible.”

Tickets for the awards ceremony are available from Lantra Scotland.

For tickets, phone 01738 310164 or email scotland@lantra.co.uk

Top: Stuart Lavender Above: Craig Grounds Left: Hamish MacLean

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12/02/2024 14:06:35

EUROPEAN NEWS

12

rut hoto: tale

European news

Salmon’s ‘big six’ producers to challenge EU price fixing claims

THE six Norwegian salmon companies accused by the European Commission of price fi ing e ports to the uropean nion could collectively face fines totalling NOK 13bn (almost £1bn).

The commission says they broke competition rules by sharing information on prices and other matters. otentially, the fines could total 10% of their global annual turnover at the time, which is thought to be around NOK 13bn.

However, industry observers point out that the EU has seldom imposed cartel fines as high as . uch ill depend on how seriously they view any offences, should the companies be found guilty.

They have all strongly denied the accusations and said they will contest the allegations. The companies named are o i, al ar, rieg eafood, remnes eashore, er y and Cerma .

The commission has advised the producers concerned that this is its preliminary view. etting out its position on 25 January, the commission said that it has concerns that, between 2011 and 2019, the six salmon producers exchanged commercially sensitive information relating to sales prices, available volumes, sales volumes, production volumes and production capacities, as well as other price-setting factors.

The suspected aim of this alleged conduct was to reduce

normal uncertainty in the market for spot sales of Norwegian-farmed Atlantic salmon into the EU. The alleged anticompetitive conduct concerns sales on the spot market for export to the EU, as opposed to sales based on long-term contracts. pot sales are those for hich prices, volumes and other sales conditions are agreed per sale, based on the market conditions on the day of the sale. ro cers re t rice fi ing acc sation er y said it as dedicated to ensuring compliance with relevant competition law and always competes vigorously to offer customers the best products and terms. t pointed out that the tatement of ections is not a final decision and has been issued in accordance with the commission’s ordinary procedures. o i said the as not a final decision, but rather the commission’s preliminary view that the companies under investigation may have breached EU competition rules. “ o i contests the commission’s preliminary view and the characteristics of the alleged behaviour in the market for farmed Norwegian Atlantic salmon, and strongly believes there has been no infringement of the competition rules,” it added. rieg eafood said it ill e amine the carefully and continue to cooperate fully with the investigation. “ rieg eafood denies any anti trust infringements or anticompetitive behaviour by it or any of its subsidiaries,” it said. al ar said it had cooperated throughout. The company strongly disagrees with its preliminary assessment and will account for its view in a thorough reply to the Commission.

imilar statements and denials have een issued y Cerma and remnes. ast year, five of the companies o i, er y, Cerma , al ar and rieg settled roadly similar price fi ing accusations in the nited tates and Canada at a cost of several million dollars, while continuing to strongly maintain they were not guilty. Five years ago, when the UK was a member of the EU, the uropean Commission officials raided the cottish offices of a num er of Norwegian-owned producers. cotland as the focus of the raid at the time because Norway is not in the EU and the commission’s powers there are limited. hat ha ens ne t The alleged conduct concerns sales of fresh, whole and gutted Atlantic salmon farmed in Norway, which accounts for nearly 80% of all farmed Atlantic salmon exported from Norway. It does not concern frozen farmed Atlantic salmon or processed products such as salmon fillets, loins or smoked salmon.

If the commission’s preliminary view is confirmed, this conduct ould infringe Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits cartels and other restrictive business practices.

The sending of a does not prejudge the outcome of an investigation, says the commission. a professor rling elmeng told the Norwegian national broadcaster NRK that it is more common to have a fine levied at or of turnover in such cases.

The EU Competition Commissioner argrethe estager said competition was vital if consumers were to buy food at reasonable prices. he added: “We are concerned that six salmon producers exchanged commercially sensitive information with the aim of limiting competition on the market, to the detriment of European customers.

“The companies concerned now have the opportunity to respond to our concerns.

From the top: argrethe estager; uropean Commission; salmon

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12/02/2024 14:15:26

Norway moves ahead on offshore farming development THE Norwegian government says it will be assessing the potential environmental impact of fish farming on the three pilot areas it has identified as suitable for offshore aquaculture.

Last year, the government named three possible locations, but now it wants to see if they are suitable for salmon farming.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries says it wants to find out more about the possible environmental impact of such a development on the locations known as Norskerenna sør, Frøyabanken nord and Trænabanken.

Developing offshore is also seen as a way of reducing the impact on coastal locations.

A number of Norwegian fish farming companies,

including SalMar Aker Ocean, already have longterm plans for developing offshore fish farming.

Fisheries and Oceans Minister Cecilie Myrseth (pictured) said a thorough analysis was important, particularly regarding the environment, fish welfare and the relationship between aquaculture and other marine industries.

She added: “This is a new milestone in the government’s work to establish aquaculture at sea, which we think will be of great importance for future value creation for the Norwegian industry.”

The government says it wants to get an overview of the possible consequences of salmon, trout and rainbow trout aquaculture

being established within these defined areas. The assessment is due to be completed by October.

The results of the assessment will be decisive for the authorities’ decisions about whether all or parts of an area are suitable for offshore aquaculture, and which parts of the area should be advertised first.

Above: Cecilie Myrseth

Måsøval to challenge compensation award

THE Norwegian salmon farmer Måsøval has decided to appeal for more compensation after the company was awarded almost £1m against the Norwegian government over an incorrect pancreatic disease diagnosis.

Måsøval had originally claimed NOK 29.8m (£2.3m) over the incident, which took place in August 2019.The company was forced to slaughter tens of tho san s of fish at its site in Kattholmen, western Norway, which had been diagnosed with the viral pancreatic disease PD SAV3.This led to the company slaughtering at the site.

Fish at a neighbouring location were also slaughtered.

The diagnosis turned out to be incorrect and Måsøval sued the Ministry

Norwegian salmon mortality rate up again A record 62 million farmed salmon died in the sea phase in or ay last year, an official survey has shown.

The figure is si million higher than in , according to the or egian eterinary nstitute, corresponding to almost of the total number of released in Norway that year. dgar run, irector of ish ealth Welfare at the institute, said: “The figures for show what we have seen in recent years, that we will not see any decrease in mortality. “ oth in terms of num er and percentage of mortality, these are the highest figures e have recorded so far.”

The figures sho that the mortality rate for salmon in the sea phase as . , up from . in .

The actual num er in as . million dead farmed salmon. The directorate says there are appro imately . million fish, hich have not yet een categorised and which may contribute to a minor correction of the overall figures.

Production area three (Karmøy to Sotra, north of tavanger had the highest mortality ith a rate of , hile production area ast innmark and one edish order to ren oth had elo . run said rought a change of pace in terms of attention to the health, welfare and mortality of farmed fish. nitiatives ere taken in the industry and administration to improve the situation.

“We ill return to hat is ehind the mortality in and other conditions that affect the health and elfare of or egian farmed fish in the ish ealth eport ne t month , he added.

The or egian eterinary nstitute uses an epidemiological calculation method for mortality, hich takes into account the fact that the num er of fish in the cages varies over time.

of Trade, Industry and Fisheries o er the error. he case fina went to court in November last year and six weeks later, Måsøval was told it had been successful, although the amount of compensation fell well short of the NOK 29.8m claimed.

The sum awarded was for loss of earnings and incurred expenses as a result of the misdiagnosis, plus accrued interest and delay interest.

Måsøval decided to appeal the sum awarded, however, after the government announced last month that it would be putting in its own appeal over the ruling.

The company’s decision was announced in a Stock Exchange notice.

It has been an eventful start to the year for the company. Last month, it was revealed that Helge Gåsø, the founder of the NTS salmon group, had increased his stake in the group.

Then last week it emerged that Pure Norwegian Seafood, a subsidiary business Måsøval, bought into in 2021, had been selling condemned frozen salmon for human consumption.

The practice, involving a small amount of fish ha een ha ening efore it acquired a stake in the business, it was Above: Salmon also disclosed.

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12/02/2024 14:16:16

EUROPEAN NEWS

NEWS IN BRIEF

Faroes set to host Seagriculture EU 2024

Norcod ‘now top cod farmer’, company says NORCOD is now the dominant producer in Norway’s fast-growing cod farming sector, the company has claimed. ased on official statistics, the company now accounts for 52% of the total farmed cod iomass volume. uring the first months of , it reported e port volume according to officially reported statistics as , tonnes hole fish e uivalent W .

Over the same period, the Trondheim-based company harvested appro imately , tonnes W , confirming its market share of around . ts main market last year as central and estern Europe.

Above: Nordic House in the Faroes

Skretting agrees major deal with Finnish insect company GLOBAL aquafeed company Skretting and the Finnish insect ingredient producer Volare have agreed a commercial collaboration to produce ingredients for Skretting’s Norwegian salmon feed.

Skretting has secured a substantial capacity in Volare’s

factory in Finland, which is set to start construction this year. The new factory represents Volare’s first venture into production at an industrial scale.Volare said its insect-based products offer an environmentally friendly solution to the evolving needs of aquafeeds.

ing i n

PER Grieg, the former head of the Grieg Group, has died just short of his 92nd birthday.

Grieg Seafood today is one of Norway’s leading salmon farming

i s g companies. It also operates in Canada.

Grieg lived in Bergen most of his life, trained as a civil engineer and joined the business as a ship’s broker. He played a leading role in developing the company into the Grieg Group, which grew to encompass shipbroking, shipping, logistics and fish farming. e was also an active philanthropist, establishing the Grieg Foundation in 2002 and contributing to other charitable and cultural causes.

The Grieg Group said Per senior was “a warm and wise man… who has left a deep mark.”

Left: Per Grieg

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Faroes-based kelp farmer that is also developing sites in North America.

The organisers, DLG Benelux, arn that ights to the aroes and local accommodation are expected to be in high demand, and advise that delegates book early.

The lead event sponsor for Seagriculture EU 2023 was Norwegian research institute SINTEF. The conference was also supported by North Sea Farmers and the Norwegian Seaweed Association. There were 221 delegates from 26 countries attending.

To book your place at eagriculture , to find out more about the conference and opportunities to sponsor the event, or to secure a place at the trade show, visit the website: www.seagriculture.eu

Gigante Salmon encounters high mortality in smolt release

Above: oldier y

i g fish

EUROPE’S biggest conference for the seaweed industry, Seagriculture EU 2024, takes place this June in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.

Seagriculture EU 2024 will be held from 18 to 20 June at The Nordic House, Tórshavn (pictured, photo by Arne List).

The theme of this year’s event, Bridging Continents, transcends borders and oceans to unite seaweed enthusiasts from diverse corners of the world.

The conference will be delving deep into the global landscape of seaweed cultivation, harvesting and innovation, learning from the unique experiences and perspectives of experts and enthusiasts from various countries and continents.

Delegates will have the opportunity to join a site visit to Ocean Rainforest, the innovative

NORWEGIAN land-based salmon farmer Gigante Salmon has reported significant morta it with its secon smo t atch. he com an sai in its re ort that the first e i er went we t there Above: Gigante Salmon proposed site were ro ems with the secon e i er at its faci it in the north of the co ntr . n a righter note the com an has now starte ro ction with a re ease of smo t with an a erage weight of a ro imate g. e ge ertsen sai n or er not to affect the f rther ro ction an for the faci it to an o er arge e tent we ha e chosen to e o fewer smo t than we origina anne to e e o e ast a t mn. r foc s is now to ens re fish we fare in the est wa whi e a so gaining e erience an sec re goo o erations. ish ha e een re ease in one of three ro ction asins. he ast two wi e com ete thro gho t an the ne t smo t re ease is e ecte in the thir arter.

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12/02/2024 14:16:52

Police decision to drop salmon escape investigation challenged THE Icelandic Veterinary Authority, Mast, is appealing against a local police decision not to prosecute rctic ea arm over a large fish escape in the summer.

More than 3,500 salmon got out of the farm in the Westfjords in August in what turned out to be one of the largest escape incidents in recent times.

The incident led to an outcry from environmentalists and antifish farm campaigners ho called for an outright ban on sea pen aquaculture.

There was even a large demonstration in the centre of Reykjavik in early October against this type of aquaculture.

Above: Arctic Sea Farm, Iceland

Shortly before Christmas the police chief in the area indicated that the company had not deliberately been negligent and was therefore dropping its investigation.

But Mast said yesterday that in its opinion, the internal control at the site as insufficient and the procedures that the company had set for slaughtering were not followed, which resulted in a largescale escape of farmed fish.

Mast added: “Taking into account the violations that existed during the operation and due to the insufficient procedure, hich should have rightly prevented the incident, it is the opinion of the Food Administration that it is necessary to investigate in more detail the motives and causes of the smear, as well as to obtain the position of the state prosecutor about the processing of the case.”

The (bb.is) news website in Iceland said that some 27 protests have been received from various groups, but only those party to the case can formally complain.

IS O M A X

E X TR E M E

news as “shocking” and wishing ICELAND’S Prime Minister her a speedy recovery.

Katrin Jakobsdottir has taken The food minister has come over temporary responsibility in for criticism on a number of for the reform of the country’s issues, including her decision to aquaculture industry and general temporarily ban whaling. fishing responsibilities.

Salmon farming has also The move comes after the Food become a hot political potato and Minister, Svandís Svavarsdóttir, the food minister’s proposals revealed she has breast have been strongly cancer and is taking criticised by SFS, the indefinite leave. seafood industry’s The prime minister employer organisation. said: “I will prioritise The government has what is absolutely received more than necessary at this time.

300 comments on the It is not as if I am going food minister’s aquaculture to start some new strategy reform bill, many from or anything like that, those who want to see but I am going to carry open fjord fish farming out these tasks as totally banned. best I can until things SFS has said become clearer.” that while the legal There is a great deal framework needed to of sympathy with the food minister’s Top: Katrin Jakobsdottir be reviewed and there are some good things predicament. The Above: Svandís in the bill, some of People’s Party has Svavarsdóttir the proposals were withdrawn a motion too onerous. It also believes the of no confidence against Svandís minister’s powers are too strong.

Svavarsdóttir, describing the

H eav y D uty and CO M F O R TA B L E

CO N D I TI O N S

Iceland PM takes over responsibility for fish farm reform

F

R E N C H M anuf ac turer

E st. 1 9 6 4

www. g uyc otten. c om

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12/02/2024 15:36:37

EUROPEAN NEWS

Cermaq ordered to cut production in Nordland

Farmed trout gaining in popularity, says Norwegian Seafood Council

SALES of farmed trout, for so long a good “There as a decrease in ut is no second best to salmon in the popularity stakes, ack at the level measured in volume. are on the rise.

However, there has been a sharp turn in the The Norwegian Seafood Council reports trout product mix for trout. Fresh whole trout has increased its dominance compared to the other showed a large growth in volume last month and sales seem to be gathering momentum. product types,” he added.

Trout is more popular in certain countries, Sales of fresh farmed cod are also continuing notably the United States and Thailand, but to take off. ports at , tonnes ere up y despite the ravages of war, sales to Ukraine on a year ago and ere orth m SALMON farmer Cermaq has been ordered are also rising sharply. . m , representing of fresh cod supplies. to reduce activities by a third at one of its sites Norway’s trout farmers sold 4,584 tonnes of Seafood Council analyst Eivind Hestvik in Nordland, Norway – and it is not happy. the fish orth m . m in anuary, Brækkan said: “While the transit country The instruction has come from the Nordland Denmark is the largest destination for wilda volume rise of and the value up y . state administrator, which has ruled that hipments to kraine totalled tonnes, a caught cod, ith over of the e port production must be reduced from 5,400 rise of on a year ago. volume, Spain is the largest destination for tonnes to 3,600 tonnes. farmed cod ith of the volume ending Seafood Council analyst Paul T Aandahl said Cermaq said that while the decision will not that historically speaking, both trout production up in this market.” have consequences for local jobs in the short ean hile, the council’s e port figures for and e ports have had large uctuations. term, it will affect the municipalities of Steigen anuary sho that high salmon prices at the and Hamarøy in the form of lower activity. It start of this year helped to maintain a strong will also influence Cermaq’s future decisions export performance despite lower volumes. for growth in Nordland.

Seafood exports by value for Norway in The decision follows a process that Cermaq anuary totalled . n around n, started in 2019, when the company applied up on anuary last year. for an increase in area and biomass on The value growth in seafood has now Oksøy and Anevik. A mandatory survey of continued for consecutive months, although biodiversity was carried out and live coral in volume terms the figure is do n. The deposits were discovered in the area. tonnage as , tonnes, lo er than Cermaq said: “In response to the a year ago. application from 2019, the state administrator first adopted an increased emission permit for the Anevik site in 2020 from 5,400 tonnes to 8,000 tonnes.

“Later, in February 2022, the state clarified in any of the incidents. from the storms. The areas HUNDREDS of salmon are administrator instead notified the possible “The two supposedly largest worst affected were in central thought to have escaped withdrawal of the emission permits for both incidents are at Hitra and and northern Norway, with following Storm Ingunn, locations. The state administrator then Frøya, where tears up to 4m the Trøndelag area particularly which savaged the Norwegian assumed that further operation could have to 5m long were found.” badly hit. coastline at the end of anuary. negative consequences for red-listed species Storm Ingunn caused havoc The directorate, which is Storm Ingunn, which saw and habitat types… [referring to] corals. over a long area of the following up on the incidents, northern Norway battered by “Both the state administrator and Cermaq coastline. SalMar said it was added: “The damage varies hurricane-level winds, was one agree that there is a lack of a sufficient investigating possible breaches from damage to jump nets to of the worst incidents of its knowledge base for the impact on corals from via a feeding camera and other holes in the groove of various kind for many years. It forced farming, which Cermaq wanted to contribute companies are doing the same. sizes. The localities in question the salmon industry to batten to the application process for Oksøy and Salmon farms also suffered have salmon in sizes from down the hatches for several Anevik.” a great deal of structural a out g to kg. The e tent days.

As part of this, Cermaq carried out in 2021 damage. In one dramatic of the escape has not been But the storm also looks a comprehensive survey of benthic conditions, episode, a group to have had further and the impact on the seabed and the fjord. of people managed environmental “We identified and proposed concrete to save tonnes consequences. measures to reduce the risk of possible of salmon after a The Norwegian impact, including a comprehensive large trailer slid off Directorate of monitoring programme with sludge collection a main road and Fisheries has to maintain the current MTB [microbial ended up in a ditch. received a number turnover to biomass] volume. This is to espite fierce of reports about verify the real impact the facilities had. winds, they pro lems at fish “The state administrator’s decision, succeeded in getting farms. however, entails a reduction of biomass the fish out efore An estimated 14 on Oksøy and is based on a precautionary transferring it to cages spread over assessment in relation to corals. It will another vehicle. eight locations had therefore not give a real assessment of logged escapes whether today’s volume has had an impact.”

Above: Storm Ingunn seen from space recently, resulting Photo: Nasa

Storms leave a trail of fish escapes

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12-17_European news (1).indd 16

12/02/2024 14:18:30

Bakkafrost’s salmon jet arrives

BAKKAFROST’S plan to launch its own in-company air salmon delivery service, FarCargo, is moving ahead. The company’s new subsidiary has taken possession of a Boeing 757-200 aircraft acquired from the United States last year.

The aircraft, which has a crew of eight, has arrived in the Danish capital Copenhagen to be transferred to the European flight register.

It had previously been operated by American Airlines as a passenger jet, but has been repurposed for cargo operations and can hold up to 35 tonnes or 230 cubic metres of cargo.

The plane is equipped with energy efficient winglets

and Required Navigation Performance 0.13 technology, which helps to keep it on a precise flight path.

Bakkafrost said the plane’s specifications make it suitable for flight operations to and from the Faroe Islands. The aircraft’s cargo hull has been modified to hold refrigerated cargo.

Bakkafrost said it will now undergo a process to transfer the registration. FarCargo has made an agreement with the Swedish airline West Atlantic to operate the aircraft under its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) on behalf of FarCargo, until FarCargo is able to obtain an AOC. Initially, the aircraft will operate in Europe to allow the flight crews and technical personnel to get comfortable with it, and to obtain all necessary certificates and permits.

Once this is completed, FarCargo will start flying between the Faroes and the United States.

Bakkafrost said the number of flights will gradually expand to multiple departures every week.

Portuguese project aims to create sustainable aquafeed PLANS have been unveiled for a new state-of-the-art industrial unit in Coruche, ort ga to ro ce fish fee sustainably from a range of animal byproducts.

The new facility is being developed by Sebol, a subsidiary of the Portuguese ETSA Group, which produces a variety of products for the food, pharmaceutical, pet food, biofuel and other industries.

It is part of a project involving the development of revolutionary protein h ro sates for fish fee derived from byproducts from fish o tr an or production, and even insects.

The initiative is part of Pep4Fish, part of the European Blue BioEconomy Pact, and is supported by Portugal’s national Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Pep4Fish is focused on

developing sustainable solutions for the aquaculture sector that s ort fish resilience.

Protein hydrolysates are superfoods developed from animal byproducts, optimising n trient a sor tion for fish.

Ultimately, the aim is for these hydrolysates to be incorporated into feeds for sea bass and gilt-head bream.

The new industrial unit spans approximately 9,000m2 with a €15.4m (£13.2m) investment, of which about €4.6m (£3.9m) is funded by the Blue Bioeconomy Pact.

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12/02/2024 15:38:08

WORLD NEWS

World news

NWAA awards honour leading industry figures

INDUSTRY group the Northwest Aquaculture Alliance (NWAA) has announced its Lifetime Achievement Award winners for 2023.

Sharing the honours this year are two acific orth est a uaculture industry veterans from Cooke Aquaculture acific: evin right and andy E Hodgin.

In addition, NWAA named the Cooke uaculture acific leadership team of Tom laspie, rett aemer, oug imms and Nichole Robinson as Aquaculture Champions.

The latter is a new award that, as W resident and amesto n eafood C im arsons e plained, recognises those “unsung heroes who ork tirelessly in caring for the fish, the

environment, their colleagues and the industry.”

Parsons, the former General Manager of Cooke uaculture acific, descri ed the awardees as “some of the best and brightest in the aquaculture sector, e emplifying professionalism and integrity in the face of e traordinary challenges brought about when the state’s Department of Natural Resources terminated Cooke’s leases – leaving the state with no commercial net pens.” e added: “ have kno n this group of professionals for many years now and am pleased that the leadership of NWAA chose to award them all with its highest honour. To a person, the award is well-deserved.” right, ermit Coordinator of Cooke

uaculture acific, serves on the W oard of irectors and has een involved in fisheries for more than years. right also served on the oard of NWAA’s predecessor organisation, the Washington Fish Growers Association.

Hodgin started his aquaculture career in 1986, where he worked in salmon culture for Stolt Sea Farm. From 1994 to 2018, he was Site Manager for Smolt Sea arm and Cooke uaculture acific, and eventually managed all of Cooke’s marine sites in Washington.

The NWAA is an advocacy organisation that is committed to building a sustainable aquaculture industry in the acific orth est and beyond.

Top[ left: (L-R) Aquaculture Champion awardees Doug Simms, Brett Raemer, and Tom Glaspie; Lifetime Achievement Award winners Randy E Hodgin (holding the award) and Kevin J Bright.

Above: Nichole Robinson, Cooke Aquaculture Pacific

Saudi joint venture heralds big sea farming expansion with a production target volume of about 5,000 tonnes THE aquaculture industry in Saudi Arabia is set for per year of farmed fish. The current production capacity significant growth following the announcement of a of the project is around 2,000 tonnes per year. new joint venture between NEOM, Saudi Arabia’s The company focuses on three warm-water species: sea development organisation, and fish farming business bream, Asian sea bass (also known as barramundi) and Tabuk Fisheries Company. meagre (also known as croaker).

Trading as Topian Aquaculture, the new venture will Nasser A Al-Sharif, Chairman of Tabuk Fisheries include a hatchery, which is expected to become the largest Company, said, announcing the deal: “We are excited to in the Middle East and North Africa region by the end of bring the joint venture with NEOM to fruition. Tabuk 2024. The hatchery has a planned capacity of 42 million Fisheries Company has built a strong foundation, fingerlings and marine-pen production facilities, with producing high-quality marine fish for the local market, production of finfish in the pens projected to reach and the joint venture will allow for the adoption and 20,000 tonnes per year. integration of next-generation technologies, propelling The strategic agreement was unveiled at the Saudi Topian Aquaculture to the forefront of sustainable International Marine Exhibition in Riyadh. development.”

NEOM’s interest in the joint venture will be exercised Nadhmi Al-Nasr, CEO of NEOM, said: “Topian through Topian, the organisation’s food company. Its aim Aquaculture reflects NEOM’s is “to develop a robust, sustainable mission to implement innovative aquaculture sector in the Kingdom solutions that strengthen key to support food security and industry sectors, while mitigating self-sufficiency, and ensure the our impact on the environment. The production of fresh, healthy seafood strategic joint venture with Tabuk in Saudi Arabia and beyond”.

Fisheries Company highlights the Tabuk Fisheries was established in role collaboration plays in NEOM’s 2005 and started raising fish in sea goal of redefining business and in cages from 2008. Since then, it has meeting the national objectives of expanded the number of farms and Above: Tabuk Fisheries joint venture signing Saudi Arabia.” cages, and now operates three farms

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12/02/2024 14:21:34

New Zealand King Salmon offshore farm wins consent

Above: Blue Endeavour pen side view

FISH farmer New Zealand King Salmon has been given a provisional green light by Fisheries New Zealand for its proposed open ocean farm, Blue Endeavour.

The positive aquaculture decision is subject to a potential judicial review period, which is due to end on 28 February.

A judicial review would require a judge of the High Court to examine whether the procedure leading to the decision was made was in accordance with the law, rather than re-examining the factual grounds for the decision.

Once this period is complete, NZK can give effect to its already granted resource consent.

Blue Endeavour would be New Zealand’s first open ocean (offshore) fish farm. It already received initial consent in November 2022 and the company is hoping that it has now passed the final hurdle.

Situated 7km offshore, the high-energy site will comprise two blocks of pens, each with 10 circular pens arranged in a two by five layout. The whole farm site will cover less than 12 hectares.

Annual production is planned to be 10,000 tonnes.

Ketchikan, Alaska set to host Seagriculture USA ENTREPRENEURS, academics and other experts in the growing field of sea eed cultivation ill e gathering in etchikan, laska for eagriculture , taking place on and eptem er.

Top speakers ill share their insights on topics including sea eed for feed, food, offshore cultivation, iorefinery of sea eed, and much more. laska’s suita ility for sea eed cultivation lies in its clean, cold, and nutrient rich coastal aters, along ith long daylight hours during the summer, making it an ideal environment for sea eed gro th. dditionally, its lo population density and e pertise in a uaculture further position laska as a promising player in the emerging sea eed industry. etchikan is laska’s southeastern most settlement and its downtown area has been designated a ational istoric andmark istrict.

The eagriculture conference is an addition to the uropean edition of eagriculture, hich has een successfully organised since and has uilt up a solid reputation as the leading

conference for sea eed farming in urope. esides the e pansion of the brand to North America, the organisers, enelu , have also launched an sia acific edition of the conference. ast year, eagriculture as held in aine, attracting nearly delegates from countries, ith speakers in seven sessions and three net orking events as ell as a trade sho . The trade sho had companies as e hi itors and in total, companies attended the conference.

To ook your place as an attendee or exhibitor, go to .seagriculture usa.com or email enelu at info dlg enelu .com

Above: Ketchikan, Alaska

Proximar suffers loss after leak at Mount Fuji site LAND-based salmon farmer Proximar Seafood has suffered a biomass loss following a tank breach at its Mount Fuji facility in Japan, the company has revealed.

The incident happened in one of four operational tanks at the company’s new post-smolt grow-out facility.

Preliminary estimates suggest that fish ha e een ost in the reach. he tota n m er of fish in the faci it across all stages amounts to more than one million individuals.

Proximar said early investigations indicate that a leakage from the tank had washed away soil beneath the tank, resulting in a sudden breach.

A part of the batch in the tank was saved and transferred to another production tank. Proximar said it is currently thoroughly investigating the incident and preparing to improve all joints and sealings to prevent any future leakage.

The company said: “The treatment will be made for all tanks in the grow-out facility.The costs associated with the improvements are expected to be approximately NOK 5m. osts re ate to fi ing the reache tan are e ecte to e approximately NOK 1m.” In sterling terms, the total loss is thought to be around £450,000.

Proximar is in contact with its insurance companies for co erage of amages an oss of fish. here wi e a imite impact on long-term harvest projections.

Proximar continues: “The RAS [recirculating aquaculture system] technology at the post-smolt growout facility is demonstrating good performance in terms of water treatment capacity and steady operations. Since the start of production, the company has not experienced any system-related ro ems an the fish are erforming well across all the batches.

“According to plan, Proximar will start to har est the first atches at the ost smo t grow o t faci it in the third quarter of 2024.”

The statement went on: “The breach will impact the harvest volumes in the fourth quarter of 2024. In the start-up phase, Proximar has inserted a high number of eggs and will continue to do so.

“This is a precautionary measure put in place to secure excess biomass needed to handle unexpected incidents, i e the one now e erience . ecent chec s a a ifie eterinar confirm goo hea th an we fare con itions. ro imar sai there was no fin amage an the fish are healthy and show a good body shape. Importantly, there was no esca e of fish to the o tsi e en ironment.

Further information on the breach incident as well as a general production update will be provided.

Read more about Proximar’s journey, starting on page 40.

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12/02/2024 14:22:11

WORLD NEWS

Tasmania salmon farms ‘not harming n i n n s fin s A recent research project has found that the expansion of salmon farming around Storm Bay,Tasmania has had little or no adverse environmental impact.

The survey was carried out by the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies and supported by the Australian Government’s Fisheries Research and Development Corporation. It was commissioned after environmentalists and other had expressed concerns about Above: Tasmania salmon farm the effect of aquaculture in the Storm Bay area, which has been earmarked for further salmon farming growth.

Professor Jeff Ross, the study’s principal investigator, said that because Storm Bay is fairly new to aquaculture development it was important to carry out an early investigation.

He said: “The monitoring programme is tailored for a range of habitats, both in the direct vicinity of the leases and more broadly across Storm Bay – so it improves how environmental responses are measured and evaluated, and how the government manages the environmental effects of salmon farming in this waterway.

“It’s enabled us to assess the condition of important inshore and deep reefs, soft sediment and seagrass habitats across Storm Bay – and we’ve found they are healthy, biodiverse and show no evidence of adverse effects from aquaculture inputs.

“This has created an important reference point to assess environmental performance against, as the industry develops in the bay.”

The research focused on the environmental conditions and health of the sediments and vast water column across an extensive array of active sites, extending from the pens out to distances of 1.5km in all directions.This was carried out during the peak stocking period.

Luke Martin, CEO of industry body Salmon Tasmania, said: “According to the report, these habitats are deemed healthy, biodiverse and exhibit no evidence of adverse effects from aquaculture inputs. Storm Bay’s high-energy environment, facilitating nutrient dispersal and diffuse effects, positions it as a prime area for sustainable salmon aquaculture expansion.”

China approves protein from industrial gas as aquafeed CALYSTA’S FeedKind protein, which is created using waste gases from industry, has received formal approval for use in aquaculture feeds in China.

The new feed is being manufactured in China

by Calysseo, a joint venture between Calysta and feed giant Adisseo. Calysseo hopes to deliver its feed product to customers in China shortly.

Above: Calysseo plant, Chongqing, China

The country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) has formally given Calysta’s single cell protein full approval for use in fish and shrimp feeds after an extensive evaluation process.

Calysseo’s first production plant is in Chongqing, already producing sustainable FeedKind protein for the aquaculture industry, giving producers access to an alternative to plant or animal sources for aquafeed diets.

The protein is produced by harnessing the power of a naturally occurring microbe that converts methane into a nutritious feed ingredient, FeedKind.

The company describes FeedKind as “a natural, sustainable and traceable feed ingredient produced by fermentation for aquaculture feeds and pet foods producing using no plant or animal ingredients”.

FeedKind has been validated via extensive trials

across popular aquaculture species, including shrimp, sea bass and salmon. esearch previously demonstrated enefits for shrimp, concluding that FeedKind promotes strong, healthy growth, while also helping activate shrimp’s immune response to Vibrio, the causative agent of early mortality syndrome.

Herman Hong, Adisseo Aquaculture Manager for China said: “This is a significant step for ard for the adoption and use of fermented proteins across global food systems.

“MARA approval is more than simply a regulatory step. It is validation that our product is a healthy and practical ingredient for use in aquaculture systems, and opens the door for the Chinese aquaculture sector to set new standards in sustainable feed practices.”

As well as its facility in China, Calysta operates a market introduction facility in Teesside, northeast England, producing sample quantities.

Conflicts had impact on Vietnam 2023 seafood exports VIETNAM’S seafood exports in 2023 – mostly aquaculture related – have hit US $9.2bn (£7.2bn), just short of the $10bn (£7.8bn) goal that had been set at the start of the year.

The Vietnamese Fisheries Directorate said the main export species were shrimp at $3.45bn (£2.7bn) and pangasius at $1.9bn (£1.5bn), both heavily farmed.These two species were followed by molluscs and tuna.

The directorate says the main reason why it fell just short of its target was the combined impact of the near t o year ussia kraine con ict and more recently, trouble in the Middle East, especially the srael a a con ict. oth have had a dampening effect on the global economy. n ation is also having an impact as the cost of some goods and input materials involved Above: Vietnam fish farm in aquaculture development are still high.

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The government thinks that high logistical costs are putting pressure on production activities particularly when consumer demand slows down.

Vietnam is still having problems with exports to Europe, with the European Commission continuing to maintain a “yellow card” traceability warning for certain seafoods, which means that exports are failing to achieve set targets.

Nguyen van Trung, Head of the Department of Fishing Vessel Management and Fishery Logistics Services, said it is now more necessary to complete the electronic logbook (or e-logbook) software to deliver traceability for seafood.

The e log ook is an app for fishers and seafood producers, which is currently being trialled.

He also highlighted data digitisation as an important asis for fisheries management, administration and transparency.

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12/02/2024 14:24:52

Chile’s Nova Austral saved from liquidation CHILEAN salmon farmer Nova Austral has been saved from the immediate threat of liquidation.

The long-running saga came to an end last night after the bondholders voted in support of a reorganisation agreement drawn up late last year.

An announcement on the Oslo Stock Exchange said: “Following the issuer’s presentation of the reorganisation agreement, Nordic Trustee AS has... published a notice to a written resolution at the request of bondholders representing more than 10% of the bonds.”

Nova Austral, which is believed to owe more than US $500m (£395m), told the Chilean media: “This restructuring is more than a financial reset; it’s the revival of our company.We’re ready to forge ahead, making significant contributions to the economy and the community of Porvenir, while upholding our dedication to producing high-quality, eco-friendly salmon.”

Nova Austral would have been forced into liquidation or a sale if the proposals had not been agreed. For a time, it looked as if that might happen following several meetings in which the parties failed to come to an agreement.

The news will certainly come as a relief to the hundreds of people in southern Chile who work directly and indirectly for the company.

COMING IN THE NEXT ISSUE...

In MARCH:

• Boats and Barges • Regional Focus - Faroe Islands • Seafarming • Landbased Farming & Hatcheries • he fish • Processing News • Featured species • Subsea Expo, Aberdeen - Review For more information on opportunities for advertising with editorial content around these subjects please contact: Janice Johnston 0044 (0) 131 551 7925 jjohnston@fishfarmermagazine.com Copy deadline - Friday 1 March

Fish Farmer

Above: Nova Austral crew

SalMar denies China fish smuggling claims SALMAR has strongly denied a Norwegian radio report that it was involved in the illegal import of salmon into China a decade ago.

Worried about seafood being smuggled into the country through Vietnam to get around sanctions imposed on other nations, China imposed major restrictions on seafood shipments from overseas.

The radio station NRK Dagsnytt broadcast a report early in January claiming that SalMar was fully aware that its products were being sent on to China unlawfully.

After the clampdown, a businesswoman called Yimin Dong, who NRK claims represented SalMar in China, was jailed for smuggling Norwegian salmon into the country.

The company issued a lengthy statement, which said: “NRK has again told the story of Yimin Dong, who is imprisoned in China and

convicted for what NRK describes as smuggling Norwegian salmon...Yimin Dong has never been employed

by SalMar or received salary or other remuneration from the company. Until she was imprisoned, she was... an important customer for SalMar and other Norwegian seafood companies.”

Yimin Dong’s husband Bjørn Wikne has expressed his frustration at the lack of help from SalMar. SalMar said it understands that Yimin Dong and her loved ones have found themselves in a difficult situation and regrets that the company was not able to do better in helping her in 2019. It said it did not intervene in the court case because that was what her husband wanted and added that it is ready to clarify whether there is anything SalMar and Wikne can do together to remedy the situation.

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12/02/2024 14:25:29

Processing news

PROCESSING NEWS

Processing leaders Marel and MMC announce ‘strategic partnership’

Above: Peter Leon Fauske, CEO of MMC First Process, and Diego Lages, Director of Sales & Marketing at Marel Fish, sealing the partnership

INTERNATIONAL food processing business Marel and MMC First Process, a global leader in fish handling, processing and cooling system solutions, have announced a strategic partnership focused on seafood processing.

The two companies said: “This partnership underscores a mutual commitment to drive positive change through innovation, efficiency and sustainability in fish handling, processing and water treatment.

By filling in complementary gaps, the alliance enhances a complete product offering throughout the value

chain, providing customers with the convenience of a comprehensive onestop-shop experience.”

The collaborative agreement is aimed at improving trust, transparency and sustainability. It will, the partners hope, mean greater energy efficiency and reduced carbon footprint, along with lower production costs for customers.

The joint statement said: “Additionally, increased traceability will enable consumers to track their seafood’s journey from ocean to plate, promoting transparency and trust. This assurance that their seafood has been handled and processed to the highest standards

satisfies consumer preferences and adds value to our customers’ offerings.”

The strategic partnership builds on a joint venture between the two companies originally agreed in 2020.

Olafur Karl Sigurdarson, Executive Vice President Fish of Marel, said: “The partnership with MMC First Process opens new opportunities for both companies and our customers. We are excited about the potential the partnership brings to the market, being able to offer full-line solutions.

The collaboration is a testament to our commitment to revolutionising the seafood processing industry.

Together, we are poised to set new benchmarks in innovation, efficiency and sustainability.”

Petter Leon Fauske, CEO of MMC First Process, added: “This strategic partnership with Marel signifies our dedication to providing cutting-edge solutions and unmatched expertise in fish handling. Together, we will reshape the future of seafood processing, delivering excellence to the industry and safer, sustainable and traceable seafood for consumers.”

Together, we will “ reshape the future of seafood processing ”

t

Cooke oils subsidiary makes fifth acquisition to acquire POS,” said Shannon Sears, President and CEO THE Cooke Group’s specialist food and oils processing of Bioriginal. “POS’ world-leading processing technology, subsidiary, Bioriginal Food & Science Corp, has chalked up its fifth acquisition in 12 months with the purchase of combined with its team of scientists in new product POS Biosciences Corp. development, will play a key role in driving innovation POS was previously owned by Canopy Growth Corp, an for the human and pet nutrition industries.”

Other recent acquisitions by Bioriginal include Softgel Co. Ontario-based company known for producing cannabis, of Colorado, The Factory of the Netherlands, Kroppenstedter which is legalised in Canada. Ölmühle of Germany and Cana Corp. of Japan. As a result of POS (Proteins, Oils and Starches), formerly known as KeyLeaf Life Sciences, will operate independently, guided this transaction, the Bioriginal group has eight manufacturing facilities on two continents

by Jim Shields, the new Managing supported by regional offices in Director. Bioriginal will become Anaheim, California, Den Bommel, POS’ largest vendor and customer, gaining access to POS’ state-of-thethe Netherlands and Yokohama, art oil processing, concentration Japan, as well as 18 warehouses around the globe. and molecular distillation facility designed to create value-added The terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed as Bioriginal is oils and proteins. POS will also provide research and development a private company, Cooke said.

Cooke is a multinational services to Bioriginal using its 11 corporation based in Canada with laboratories and six pilot plant extensive interests in aquaculture processing areas.

“We are grateful for the opportunity Above: POS facility, Bioriginal and fisheries.

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Sykes Seafood sales soar, but inflation eats into profits SYKES Seafood has reported a £100m plus rise in turnover in the last financial year.

But inflation meant that profits fell sharply for the UK-based company during the period ended 1 April 2023, Based in Warrington, Cheshire, Sykes is now one of the UK’s largest seafood companies, supplying a wide range of farmed and wild caught fish.

It grew impressively during the period, acquiring The Big Prawn Co (taking the business out of administration) and Ruskim Seafood of Shropshire. Both have been fully integrated into the main business.

Posted on Companies House recently, Sykes’ accounts show that turnover rose from £150m during the previous financial year to £251.5m.

Pre-tax profits fell, however, from £5m to £1.4m. The company said this was due to inflationary pressures and higher interest rates.

Above: Sykes Seafood production line Inflation has been a major factor in reducing profits at two other large seafood businesses, Young’s Seafood and the Hilton group.

Sykes said: “The company has grown significantly in the year, both organically and via acquisition.

Lerøy outlines action being taken over listeria issues

Above: Listeria tests Right: Henning Beltestad

THE Lerøy Seafood Group has issued a statement outlining how it plans to combat the company’s recent listeria problems.

The issue appears to centre around a slaughterhouse at Lerøy Midt from where a number of cases have been reported.

In December it was reported that Lerøy’s salmon and game supply business, Laks & Vilt (Salmon & Game) in Oslo, had discovered the Listeria monocytogenes bacteria in a batch of gravlax. Earlier in the year there were cases reported in Sweden involving Lerøy producers.

Lerøy CEO Henning Beltestad said the company has always focused on minimising occurrences by providing accurate and comprehensive informa�on to its customers and the public authori�es. He added that Lerøy is working with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Ma�lsynet, on the problem.

“We have an integrated value chain for salmon produc�on, which gives us the best condi�ons to

ensure safe and healthy products for consumers,” he said.

“Lerøy and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority share a common interest in comba�ng listeria in the best possible way.

“Therefore, we seek open and construc�ve dialogue with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority to find solu�ons where both par�es are confident that food safety is well-maintained.”

He con�nued: “In our opera�ons, we have always focused on minimising the occurrence of listeria and providing accurate and comprehensive informa�on to our customers and public authori�es.

“We have an integrated value chain for salmon produc�on, which gives us the best condi�ons to ensure safe and healthy products for consumers.”

He said one of the most important measures is an extensive sampling programme, covering surfaces in the factory, raw materials and finished products.

Lerøy Midt conducts between 8,000 and 10,000 samples annually in the factory premises and on equipment.

Beltestad said: “With such extensive sampling, listeria will be found over a period, which is natural as it is present everywhere in the environment around us.

“This is also the purpose, to be able to take ac�on and reduce the risk of listeria in products.”

“The year benefits from the full-year effect of the Ruskim Seafood acquisition in October 2021 and the acquisition of The Big Prawn Co in January 2023.

“The operations of the acquired entities have been successfully integrated into the Sykes business post year-end and our distribution network consolidated into our new purpose-built, state-of-the-art UK distribution hub in Warrington.

“Underlying EBITDA has increased 42%; however, inflationary pressures and increased interest rates have lowered reported profit before taxation.

Sykes added: “The company continues to monitor and carefully navigate in the volatility in the global political and economic environment, and all factors that could impact on the company to take prompt mitigating actions, if necessary.”

Hilton says seafood turnaround contributed to revenue growth A strong performance by its UK seafood subsidiary contributed to a successful 2023, according to multinational producer Hilton Food Group.

In its trading update for the 52 weeks ending 31 December 2023, Hilton said it expects to report revenue for the year in line with the board’s expectations.

Hilton also said: “Trading during the key festive period was strong, with +3% volume growth in December compared to the same period last year.”

It added: “UK Seafood has performed ahead of our turnaround targets with the business generating operating profits throughout the second half of the year and for the full year in total.”

Hilton Seafood UK is the leading supplier of chilled fish to the UK retail market.

Dutch salmon specialist Foppen, which Hilton acquired in late 2021, saw continued growth and contributed to overall year-on-year growth for Hilton’s European operations.

Hilton said: “We have submitted more ambitious science-based targets across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions aligned to 1.5oC pathway. Continuing to improve the efficiency of our state-of-the-art facilities is a key area of focus within this plan; 10 of them have now achieved ISO 50001 accreditation in recognition of the focus we place on energy management and efficiency throughout the business with further roll-out planned throughout 2024.”

Steve Murrells CBE, Hilton Foods Chief Executive Officer, said: “We finished the year with positive festive trading and full-year performance in line with expectations. Our Christmas period was supported by the strength of our high-quality and relevant products. Over the year, we have developed our technology and supply chain capabilities, and underpinned by our Sustainable Protein Plan... We were delighted to announce a longterm supply agreement with Walmart Canada in September. Looking ahead, we remain confident that Hilton’s inherent strengths leaves the Group well-placed to grow further with new and existing customers as we remain focused on becoming the international protein partner of choice.”

Above: Hilton Seafood Group staff

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12/02/2024 14:27:48

COMMENT

But where are the

lice?

Modelling for the supposed prevalence of sea lice is not backed up by samples taken in the field, says Dr Martin Jaffa

C

ONGRATULATIONS to the Fish Farmer magazine team for hosting their first Aqua Agenda webinar, which took place in January. The subject was fish health (see the report starting on page 46 of this issue). I found the format worked extremely well, with those on the panel answering questions submitted by email.

All too often, when I have attended other meetings when interaction with the audience is possible, those answering questions can get dragged into a direct debate with the

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questioners, which is of little interest to the rest of the audience. Anyone wanting to know more about any issues raised can always follow through after the meeting has concluded.

For me, the most interesting aspect was to hear an admission that industry vets must sometimes treat the fish under their care for sea lice because of regulations, rather than in the interest of fish health.

This is not of any surprise to me, because I have increasingly argued that the narrative about sea lice is wrong and that the industry is having to dance to the tune of the wild fish sector. Given the constant focus on sea lice, it might have also been surprising to many of the webinar audience that this is not the issue requiring most of the day-to-day attention of the industry’s health care professionals.

My views on the sea lice narrative were confirmed in January with the publication of two linked papers that were published in the scientific journal Aquaculture Environment Interactions, both concerning the identification of gaps in the scientific community’s knowledge about sea lice.

The first paper is a review of current knowledge, whilst the second paper concerns the output of an international workshop on sea lice. However, what I haven’t mentioned is that the papers are not about sea lice per se, but rather about analysing the gaps on modelling sea lice infection pressure.

Over recent years, research on sea lice has increasingly been about models and

”

Research on sea lice has increasingly been about… modelling and not about sea lice Above: L och L innhe Left: S almon f arm

on the Scottish est coast Opposite: Salmon louse

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modelling, and not about sea lice. Sea lice appear to have become secondary to the models.

The paper says that a virtual workshop, held in October 2021, brought together participants including scientists involved in modelling, industry stakeholders, policy makers and managers of nongovernmental organisations, who expressed their views on what future work is required. It seems that those working on sea lice but not on modelling were not invited. I was certainly refused entry to a follow-up event because I wasn’t considered a modeller.

The second paper includes a table listing the top 10 gaps considered worthy of being given the highest priority in sea lice dispersal and population modelling research. Number 10 is “Efficient methods for getting good samples of planktonic lice are required”.

The recent SPILLS project (“Salmon Parasite in Linnhe, Lorn and Shuna”, supported by the Scottish Government) found that only 19 out of 372 samples from sea lochs actually contained sea lice levels. This led the project report to suggest that just because the study failed to find numbers of lice in the sea didn’t mean that they weren’t there. My own view is that the researchers couldn’t find the lice exactly because they are not there.

The new paper does say that obtaining representative samples of larvae sea lice is problematic, given the rather low densities

of sea lice larvae and the high densities of other types of plankton. The obvious question for modellers is that if the larval sea lice are only present in rather low densities, then surely the risk of infection to wild fish must be low too. Those blaming salmon farms as damaging wild fish stocks often claim that there is a soup or clouds of lice larvae, but this image is far from reality. However, the narrative says that salmon farms emit large numbers of lice so there must be a risk to wild fish.

Yet as long ago as 1996, Irish researchers

found that the dilution of any lice coming from farms was so low within just 1km of a farm that it was difficult to find any lice at all.

It is also worth mentioning the Scottish Coastal Observatory, which was highlighted in the recent Scottish Government Marine Science and Innovation Strategy presumably as an example of good science. One of the Observatory’s sampling stations is located in Loch Ewe, close to the site of what is arguably Scotland’s most contentious salmon farm. Despite the proximity of this farm, the Observatory recorded just 80 samples that included examples of Caligidae (the family that include sea lice).

These were recorded from 2002 to 2017 out of a total 201,163 zooplankton records.

Fifty-nine of the samples contained just one individual, although one sample did include 40 – but that is one taken over a period of 16 years.

I do not disagree that there are lots of gaps in our understanding of sea lice, but the focus needs to be on the sea lice themselves not on the models. If lice larvae are not present in the sea in the numbers claimed, then the models must be invalid.

The Fish Farmer webinar is a great forum to begin the discussion on such issues, but we really need to have a proper debate about sea lice rather than just focusing on the modelling.

See the Fish Farmer Fish Health webinar at bit.ly/AquaAgenda-health

www.fishfarmermagazine.com

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12/02/2024 14:51:42

SALMON SCOTLAND

The great masquerade Salmon Scotland Chief Executive Tavish Scott addresses the blurring of the lines between activism and journalism, and highlights the desperate tactics of anti-salmon campaigners

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UR sector has hundreds of brilliantly talented biologists, veterinarians, hatchery technicians and environmental scientists who deliver the highest standards of animal welfare anywhere in the world.

The innovation that has developed in Scottish aquaculture means that we can lend our expertise to the vital fight to save the wild salmon from extinction – and that’s precisely what we are doing.

In February, the latest phase of our fund to help save wild salmon by restoring habitats, providing protection from predators and encouraging river restocking schemes opened for applications.

This is more important than ever following the decision by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to put Atlantic wild salmon in Great Britain on its endangered list in 2023.

What the published data found is that this decline is steepest in Wales and England. The rates of decline since 2010 were put at 76% in England, 86% in Wales and 74% in Scotland. And the challenge is particularly acute on the east coast of Scotland.

The fact that wild salmon numbers are declining faster in areas where there are no salmon farms (and never have been) is an inconvenient truth for activists who want to shut down our sector.

If you visit the Salmon and Trout Association Limited website – now calling itself WildFish – it will tell you about the IUCN decision, but not about the variations within Great Britain.

The website highlights high pollution levels in English rivers as a reason for the salmon population crisis in England – and yet when it comes to Scotland, it puts nearly all its efforts into attacking hard-working salmon farmers.

The truth about WildFish is that it masquerades as a conservation organisation – when it is nothing of the sort.

It is a simply a well-funded but ill-informed pressure group headquartered in Hampshire devoted to making 12,500 people in Scotland redundant amid a cost-of-living crisis, destroying livelihoods, decimating rural communities and taking opportunities away from young Scots.

Just imagine if, instead of campaigning for farmers to lose their jobs, it put the £900,000 it spent in 2022 into direct measures to save wild salmon.

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That job has fallen to us instead, with the Wild Fisheries Fund set to invest £1.5m in doing this.

The misrepresentation of both our sector and WildFish’s own aims and objectives is shameful.

Its underhand tactics even extend to pretending that its very own campaign – Off the Table – is a separate organisation, using this to bulk up signatories for a recent publicity stunt.

Never mind the fact that this campaign, led by a former salmon farming vet turned activist, has failed miserably and salmon’s popularity in the UK is rising. This is an

Opposite: L och Du art

work er on f arm with salmon Below: Press clipping f rom The G u ard ian

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Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that activists resort to such gutter tactics

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attempt to deceive both the public and independent certifiers.

However, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that activists resort to such gutter tactics.

It’s naturally disappointing, though, when this smoke and mirrors routine makes its way into the mainstream media.

Take a recent article in The Guardian, for example, which regurgitated a WildFish press release.

Salmon Scotland was given little over one hour to respond – and the tone of the article had, of course, already been decided before we had chance to reply.

The letter accompanying the press release carried the usual logo parade of organisations and “charities”, many of which are oneperson bands with a logo, and “Russian doll” organisations such as the Coastal Communities Network, which contains other activist groups already listed.

Even anti-salmon farming organisations on the other side of the world, in Chile, California and British Colombia, were listed.

Easy answers – but wrong Scotland and the UK are fortunate to have a vibrant, free media and many brilliant journalists. With newsrooms under huge financial pressure and fewer staff reporters, however, it has become easier for campaigners who pass themselves off as conservationists to target freelancers looking for a pay cheque or cultivate writers who personally sympathise with their views – often blurring the lines between balanced journalism and opinion as a result.

Thoroughly discredited activists are given a platform when they have zero expertise.

To give just two examples, first a recent documentary on Netflix contained a segment with someone who is simply an anti-salmon activist, with no relevant qualification, and featured a fish that looked unlike anything anyone who has ever purchased salmon would recognise.

And, not so long ago, we were asked to comment on claims from a musician that farm-raised salmon was affecting wild salmon levels in the River Spey.

An understanding of Scottish geography, or just a cursory glance at Google Maps, would show how this is simply impossible.

The focus of the article then shifted to attack our sector from a different angle because even the journalist realised he couldn’t stand up these nonsense claims.

The team at Salmon Scotland works hard to ensure untruths are not reported or we secure corrections and commitments that errors won’t be repeated when this does happen.

The only positive thing I can say about this group of activists is that they are a determined and highly motivated bunch, and they have some allies in the media – even if most of the editors I regularly meet recognise our strong Scottish success story.

I am also grateful to everyone at Fish Farmer and other trade publications who provide factual industry news about our sector.

I know that the attacks in the mainstream media can affect morale and the mental health among our amazing workforce, who passionately care for the fish in their care. Your hard work rarely gets the recognition it deserves – and I share your frustration.

As you know, we are subjected to independent audits on an almost daily basis to confirm our transparently high levels of animal welfare, but of course this isn’t considered “news”.

So it is testament to your integrity and dedication that you continue to go out in extreme weathers, at all times of day and night, to rear the best salmon in the world. Thank you.

Rest assured that the public appetite for salmon in Scotland and the UK continues to grow, international demand is rising in new markets such as Asia and we have fantastic backing from both the Scottish and UK governments, as well as the leadership of opposition political parties.

We will continue to champion Scottish salmon and tell the positive story of our sector.

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12/02/2024 15:04:50

SHELLFISH

Rocks ahead

Is shellfish farming still viable in the UK? Nicki Holmyard reports on a paper that sets out to answer that question

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HE past president of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain (SAGB), Jeremy Simmonds, has seen the industry go through many highs and lows over the decades, but says he has never seen shellfish aquaculture businesses deal with as many serious concerns as they face today, particularly the deterioration of water quality. They are also confronted by powerful stakeholder groups that are inherently opposed to all forms of aquaculture, including shellfish aquaculture.

Keen to put his accumulated knowledge to good use, Simmonds

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recently wrote a paper for SAGB that looks at the history of shellfish production in the UK, the development of the industry and the issues.

He finds that the expansion of shellfish aquaculture offers a genuine way to enhance national food security and that good water quality is a critical asset.

However, diverse sources of water pollution are having a deleterious effect on shellfish farms. Due to the heavy burden of proof required in law, there is no realistic way to compensate the farmers if the water quality in their production areas deteriorates. It is hoped that improvements in testing methods and the manner and frequency of testing for classification of waters may lead to improvements in this situation.

The big question is, what is the timeline for these improvements?

Simmonds points out that officially designated “Shellfish Waters” provide no remedy for the shellfish farmer against pollution and there is no evidence that effective enforcement of the regulations protecting Shellfish Waters will provide any measure of comfort in the foreseeable future.

Too many businesses have failed in the past few years, particularly since Brexit, which has left those producing in Class B waters unable to export their mussels. Bulk depuration is not desirable if the product is not immediately packaged for final consumption, but is destined for further immersion as part of a due diligence process at a European destination.

Left: S hu ck ing oysters Opposite from top: M u ssels; B rex it has created challenges f or the sector

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Too many businesses have failed in the past few years

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Brexit blues In effect, the loss of the export market following the departure of the UK from the EU is the biggest limiting factor in terms of expanding the industry. Simmonds believes it has become the “elephant in the room” as far as shellfish aquaculture is concerned.

He believes that the Brexit-related experiences of shellfish farmers “…have been such as might discourage those who could be contemplating entry into, making an investment in or perhaps commencing a career in shellfish aquaculture.”

The short-term remedy is for the UK to negotiate a political solution in the form of a derogation from EU rules or a trade deal to allow export from Class B waters and subsequent depuration in the EU. The long-term solution is for government to take a whole watershed approach to cleaning up our rivers and their estuaries.

Only then will we regain the confidence of people to invest in shellfish farming.

Simmonds took a look at reported

English aquaculture production figures for mussels, Pacific oysters and native oysters as provided by Cefas for the years 2008 to 2021. These figures, which exclude Scotland and Wales, showed that at its peak in 2013, mussel production was just over 4,000 tonnes, dropping to 2,943 tonnes in 2019, 2,674 in 2020 and 2,351 in 2021.

Pacific oyster production has hovered around the 1,000 tonne mark since 2014, with peaks of 1,220 in 2019 and 1,147 in 2021, and a low of 682 in 2020.

Native oyster production fell from a high of around 90 tonnes in 2010/11 to just

11 tonnes in 2021. This species is now the focus of several major well-funded restoration projects.

While trends indicated by statistics must always be treated with caution, Simmonds suggests that there is huge potential to grow the shellfish aquaculture industry. He cites the positive example of the Offshore Shellfish mussel farm in Lyme Bay and hopes that it will be possible to build on this.

Unfortunately, the potential to grow Pacific oyster production is threatened, and in some cases even cancelled, by Natural England’s (NE) current approach. This regards them as an invasive, non-native species, with the government advised against any expansion north of the 52nd parallel. Recommended use of triploid oysters is below that line.

A further knock-on impact of NE’s stance is that some shoreline owners have stopped supporting the sector. The Duchy of Cornwall, for example, has decided to phase out all Pacific oyster farm leases over the next two to three years on sites where

What’s wrong with the water?

A second report, prepared for SAGB by Joe Redfern, sheds light on the profound socioeconomic impacts of poor and declining water quality on the UK’s shellfish aquaculture industry. The challenges they face as a direct result of poor water quality include diminished yields, increased production costs and eroded consumer trust.

Recommendations include robust investments in water quality improvement, financial support based on the polluter pays principle, research and development for efficient testing, and consumer education to boost confidence. The report concludes with a call for collaborative efforts from government, industry stakeholders and the public to secure the future of the shellfish industry.

Socioeconomic Impacts of Water Quality on the UK’s Shellfish Aquaculture Industry (SAGB) can be downloaded from bit.ly/impact_water_quality

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SHELLFISH

to understand and accept the benefits of growing mussels and oysters, and to build a regulatory system that supports rather than hinders the industry. Seaweed, the new kid on the block in the UK, can do no wrong it seems, but at present it is producing more hype than substance.

Jeremy Simmonds’ report What Hope for Shellfish Farmers? is available to download from bit.ly/simmonds-shellfish-report

Isle of Mull Oysters

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they already exist. No new leases will be granted. Their decision will close several businesses in Cornwall and provide an example for other shoreline owners.

On Marine Protected Areas, Simmonds finds that they are well suited to shellfish aquaculture. This activity should be actively encouraged within them, although such a move would need a complete rethink on the Pacific oyster situation from Natural England.

Between 2013 and 2021, the approach to aquaculture in published Marine Plans was downgraded to what appears to be “unthinking and repetitive lip service”, according to Simmonds, and there is little or no encouragement for aquaculture to be derived from the current MMO Strategy. Instead, government and regulators continue to fail to address issues.

The report shows a sad state of affairs but A failure of strategy also huge opportunities

Above: O yster bags

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Over the years, various strategy documents and plans have been published that include ambitious targets and assurances of support for shellfish aquaculture, including Defra’s 2015 multiannual plan and the Seafood 2040 Aquaculture Strategy for England. These have been shown to be either over-optimistic or lacking in progress and it is not for want of ambition or effort on the part of the shellfish industry. In fact, the exciting initiative provided by Seafood 2040 seems to have died.

In the meantime, shellfish aquaculture remains faced with a complex bureaucracy that requires the shellfish farmer to deal with, seek consent from and in some cases, make significant payments to a wide range of bodies.

David Jarrad, SAGB CEO, commented: “The report shows a sad state of affairs but also huge opportunities, if only government and its agencies would get fully onboard and help facilitate the sector.”

Simmonds paints a rather bleak future for the industry in his report, but he finds that there are still opportunities to be exploited, if the political will can be generated and regulatory procrastination and opposition downgraded. This demands actions, not words.

It appears that there is much work ahead of us to get everyone

ACHIEVING certification under the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s (ASC) strict standards is a daunting challenge even for large companies, but Gordon Turnbull and his colleagues at Isle of Mull Oysters have been celebrating winning this coveted status.

The business, a member of the cooperative organisation Scottish Shellfish, is based on Mull in the Inner Hebrides, off Scotland’s west coast. Marketing through the cooperative, it numbers leading retailer Waitrose among its customers – which was a large part of the motivation for going through the ASC process.

Turnbull explains that the certification process covers not only sustainability and traceability aspects – both of which were already intrinsically a part of the company’s business model – but also social responsibilities.

He says: “There were a lot of things, previously taken on trust, that we had not written down.”

The sheer administration involved in the process could have been a lot for a small operation to handle, but Scottish Shellfish is able to cover the costs of certification and helps its members through the paperwork.

With the certification under his belt, Turnbull is now able to concentrate again on the day job, ensuring, as he puts it: “Guaranteed freshness and a good, healthy, clean product.”

Above: I sle of M u ll O ysters

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RAISING THE BEST OYSTER SEED

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12/02/2024 10:14:37

POLICY

X marks

the spot

It’s an election year for the Westminster parliament, so what is the aquaculture industry looking for politicians? Sandy Neil investigates

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RACE yourself for a UK election year. A Labour landslide? A Conservative revival? A king-making coalition? Whatever happens, 2024 will surely become another turning point for the country and, for this short time only, we have the power to set its course.

What are the main election issues for the seafood sector? What positions do the political parties take? These are the questions we asked this month to get a clearer view of where we should head.

While the industry answered with clear voices, all the main parties except the Greens responded with silence: perhaps they don’t know or can’t say yet.

In Scotland, many of the issues that matter most to the industry – such as managing fishing vessels, licensing salmon farms, building rural houses and restoring wild stocks in Highly Protected Marine Areas – are delegated to the UK’s devolved institutions such as the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood.

Other issues, such as international trade or immigration, are reserved for the UK Parliament in Westminster. The sector has a lot to say on these. Exports are vital to the seafood industry.

Most of the UK’s catch is exported and Scottish farmed salmon was the UK’s top food export in 2022, with sales reaching 54 countries, led by France and the US, and totalling £578m.

In its manifesto submission, the trade body for salmon farming, Salmon Scotland, is not alone in wanting a “smooth trade flow” post-Brexit. Specifically, it says: “The lack of a new eCertification

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for export health certificates (EHCs) and issues with the current outdated system is costing salmon farmers millions of pounds every year. Improving the certification programme should be an urgent priority for Defra.”

Salmon Scotland also would like “a more enlightened approach to the movement of labour into the UK, which recognises the unique challenges our coastal and rural farming communities face, including a change to key worker definitions and a broader

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public signal that the UK is open to people coming here to work”.

Salmon farming directly employs more than 2,500 people in economically fragile coastal communities in rural Scotland, it says, with a further 10,000 Scottish jobs dependent on the sector.

So we’re just a few lines in and already we can see how much is at stake in this Westminster election, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expects to call “in the second half” of 2024, before the deadline on 28 January 2025. The result may also be a bellwether for the next Holyrood election due on 7 May 2026.

At this early stage, it may be wise for the sector to appeal to all.

The green stuff Opposite from top:

W estminster; ex ports, and soon imports, of seaf ood became more ro lema c a er B rex it Above and below: B allot a er o n

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“Seaweed has the great potential to provide benefits to all the major political parties,” said Rhianna Rees, the Scottish Seaweed Industry Association’s Business Development Manager.

“For the Green Party, seaweed is a nature-based solution, providing ecosystem services and... protection over Marine Protected Areas where fishing should not be taking place. For the SNP, seaweed is part of a strong marine sector that has a firm and direct history in Scotland, providing a product with strong provenance credentials. For the Labour Party, the seaweed sector could open up more opportunities for jobs in coastal communities and for the Conservative Party, seaweed provides further blue economy potential and general economic growth.

“By focusing on scalability, the recognition of marine natural capital and environmental research on ecosystem services provided by the seaweed sector, we should be able to unlock some of seaweed’s enormous potential.

“It is one of the most sustainable products on the planet, it requires no feed, fertiliser or freshwater, and the UK has an extensive coastline that we could be utilising for the seaweed sector. We need to reduce the cost of production substantially and to do that we need to simultaneously increase mechanisation and scale. The UK would need to invest heavily in scientific research to determine both the positive and negative impacts of seaweed cultivation at scale in multiple locations, including nearshore and offshore.”

Rees adds that her members would also like to see pilot projects in offshore wind colocation projects, similar to the ones seen in Belgium and Denmark.

She explains: “These colocation opportunities could provide a potential solution to the marine spatial squeeze felt by the aquaculture sector and biodiversity net gain goals imposed by the government. With rigorous scientific data supporting the biodiversity credentials of seaweed, we could unlock a previously untapped area whilst providing consenting support to another sector.

Rees adds: “Infrastructure investment is a key bottleneck and needs to be addressed. Processing is critical to success as buyers want their seaweed ‘stabilised’, for example, dried, frozen, ensiled, fermented. Kelp farmers who cannot access sufficient processing facilities within their start-up years will likely fail. We have seen this addressed in other countries, with many lessons to learn from Norway, North America and the Faroes. With funding into, and the encouragement of, knowledge exchange we could help provide and focus on low-energy, low-cost, local processing.

All of which should be reflected in new marine policies.

“Finally, routes to market. There are 101 different things you can make with seaweed and a new use every day. However, with different products come with major differences in the price and scale of seaweed required, and many routes to market will not benefit kelp farmers because their price point for raw materials is too low (for example, bioplastics, biofuels). We need to decide (as a nation) what markets will deliver most prosperity for seaweed farming businesses (for example, biostimulants, food, nutraceuticals) and from that invest in developing those markets, with support from government and policy.”

What shellfish farmers want Meanwhile the Shellfish Association of Great Britain’s Chief Executive David Jarrad wants the next government to deal with issues constraining the industry, such as the use of Gigas oysters, “the mainstay of the oyster industry in the UK”.

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POLICY

“Currently, it seems government and its agencies are actively trying to prevent new areas being cultivated and expansion to existing farms, and are vilifying the use of the species,” Jarrad said. “This is against a background of government bringing the species in (1960s) and that science suggests they will spread naturally all around the UK coast by 2050.”

A second issue is pollution. “The UK is recognised as the dirty man of Europe,” he explained. “Our shellfish harvesting waters are ‘protected’ by mandate under the water framework directive – but 75% of our waters fail this standard. The ambition that 50% of our waters should be improved by 2050 isn’t overly ambitious!”

A third is trade with the EU, he added: “For many decades, the EU imported Class B shellfish from the UK. But since Brexit this has been disallowed. A new SPS [Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures] arrangement needs to be found to reinstate this trade.

“The classification of shellfish growing waters is carried out by the Food Standards Agency under the same regulations and directives as when we were in the EU. But it is applied differently to our European neighbours, who apply them in a much more industry-acceptable manner whilst protecting consumers.”

Targeting trade issues Improving trade with the EU and easing the passage of perishable products to overseas buyers is also a priority for Seafood Scotland, the national trade and marketing body.

“Thanks to the valiant efforts of the industry to adapt to the post-Brexit landscape, worldwide demand remains high, but it is also true that measures to smooth trade flow and open new markets have been slow to materialise,” says Seafood Scotland’s Industry Engagement Manager Jeni Adamson. “The issue of EHCs is a case in point. It is widely accepted that, in their current form, they place an undue burden of paperwork on UK exporters, particularly for smaller businesses.

“Hopes rose when a pilot programme to test eCertificates got underway. The pilot went down well with the industry owing to

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Above: S eaweed f arm Below: W ou ld a change

of gov ernment mean a reset f or U K - E U rela ons

its potential to support export growth and generate millions for the Scottish and UK economies, but it was halted without clear plans for adoption.

“So we will be continuing to press both UK and Scottish governments to help resolve any stumbling blocks. We believe digital EHCs are the way forward for an industry that sustains thousands of jobs and supports the livelihoods of so many of Scotland’s coastal and rural communities.”

YouGov voting intention polls, asking “If there were a general election held tomorrow, which party would you vote for?”, have consistently put Labour ahead of the Conservatives since December 2021.

Give or take a few here and there, the party is about 20 points ahead since Mr Sunak became PM in October 2022. So, barring unexpected events, we’re probably looking at the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, becoming Prime Minister. Does he want to improve trade with the EU? Can he?

Starmer hopes to achieve a “much better” Brexit deal. He said his party would use the review of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) to expand its terms. He said the current trade deal with the EU is “too thin” and that its scheduled review in 2025 should be used to create a “closer trading relationship”.

Labour has proposed a number of measures to add to the EU deal, including an agreement on veterinary standards and improved labour mobility arrangements.

Labour is willing to go further than the Conservatives in signing supplementary agreements to ease post-Brexit friction in specific sectors such as food imports.

However, the EU considers the TCA “a very good agreement”. There is also significant Brexit fatigue in EU circles as well as a long list of higher priorities, whether energy, Ukraine, de-risking China and the migrant crisis within the EU itself.

There is little appetite to revisit the TCA. Therefore, should Labour come to power, it will need to persuade the EU to negotiate.

There will be a lot at stake this year and we can expect all these arguments to be well rehearsed over the coming months.

Measures to smooth trade flow and open new markets have been slow to materialise

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COMMENT

Seeing through the glass ceiling Tackling unconscious choices can help us ‘banish’ bias from aquaculture, argues Heather Jones

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HERE was a wonderful moment in the BBC’s The Traitors – no spoilers here for those who still haven’t watched, I promise – when host Claudia Winkleman spotted a trend in the contestants who were being removed from the game. The three traitors, who at that point all happened to be men, had ‘murdered’ only women from the second episode onwards.

Of course, they hadn’t realised the theme of their decisions and were aghast at Claudia’s suggestion that it was “just like the old days” – but it was a timely and quite amusing reminder of just how unconscious we can all be of our unconscious biases.

It was something I thought about on Sunday (11 February), which marked the UN’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

There has been a huge amount of progress across the sectors that rely on scientific enquiry as their foundation – many of which have traditionally been heavily skewed towards men.

While we don’t officially track the gender split in aquaculture, having worked in the sector for many years now I can see firsthand how much has changed. Just the other week, I attended a fish health workshop and was pleased to see almost 40% of the audience was female. This is a huge improvement on the first, big Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre workshop we held at the same venue in 2016.

But the event was not just about female attendance – it demonstrated the growing visibility of female leadership too, with several impressive female speakers. The Blue Food Innovation Summit in London, at which there will be 15 women presenting and 22 men, shows this is no one-off. All of these women are

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The event… demonstrated the growing visibility of female leadership

Photo: B B C

Above right: W omen

in aq u acu ltu re are break ing the glass ceiling Left: The Traitors presenter, C lau dia W ink leman

active in the sector at the highest level, with roles ranging from CEOs and directors to chief scientific officers and chief marketing officers.

At the grassroots, Women in Scottish Aquaculture has been a great addition to the sector and supported many women at different stages of their career – whether through mentoring or the returner schemes. It has even helped with the development of female-led businesses and, just as importantly, participation from lots of men has shown there are some brilliant allies in aquaculture.

Of course, there is always still further to go. While I have spoken to plenty of women who have not had to deal with outdated attitudes or comments – sometimes inadvertently – made at their expense, there are still plenty who have to endure those experiences. And, for every example of an event with strong female involvement, there are too many all-male panels and speaker line-ups – even if it’s not a consciously deliberate choice.

Just like Winkleman, it’s incumbent on all of us to call that out when we see it, talk openly about the issue of gender and keep an open mind when discussing the topic among colleagues and peers. As more young people bring fresh, new attitudes into aquaculture, the tide will inevitably shift further. But for now, let’s endeavour to do more and really think about the things we say and do.

Heather Jones is CEO of the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre.

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NORWAY

Safe to eat

The latest round of testing shows that Norway’s farmed fish are still safe for consumers, as Vince McDonagh reports

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ARMED fish is free of illegal substances and safe to eat, research by the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research has found.

The organisation carried out the work, which mostly took place in 2022, on behalf of Mattilsynet, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority.

The detailed nature of such research means it is generally going to be up to two years behind, but little is thought to have changed since then.

Just over 15,000 farmed fish were examined for illegal and unwanted substances, and nothing untoward was found.

Every year, the Institute of Marine Research checks Norwegian farmed fish for illegal drugs, legally used veterinary drugs and environmental toxins. The aim is to ensure that the food is safe.

In 2022, just over 3,000 samples were analysed, consisting of 15,040 farmed fish. The fish are analysed in collective samples, which each consist of five fish from the same cage.

“The samples should represent Norwegian farmed fish as a whole,” researcher Annette Bernhard (pictured) explains.

The monitoring programme is regulated through an EEA agreement and is part of the EU’s monitoring programme for animal foodstuffs.

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To protect public health, current EU legislation assigns maximum residue limits (MRLs) for all legally applied pharmacologically active substances in products intended for human consumption.

An MRL denotes the highest permitted residual concentration of a legally applied veterinary drug. It is evaluated for each substance and each food product individually.

Consumption of food with drug residues below the MRL is deemed to pose no health risk to the consumer.

For fish, the MRLs are set for muscle and skin in natural proportions. The samples examined for veterinary drugs were collected from fish at processing plants and the samples are representative of fish ready to be placed on the market for human consumption.

The Food Safety Authority is responsible for the sampling of farmed fish, while the Institute of Marine Research carries out the work and reports back.

Most of the samples were farmed salmon, but the researchers also checked rainbow trout, trout, halibut, turbot, char, cod and spotted catfish.

A third of the samples were analysed for illegal substances. These samples were taken from farms and from all life stages of the fish.

Fish tested for illegal compounds were collected at the farm by official inspectors from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority without any warning for the farmers.

Samples were taken at all stages of farming in order to represent farmed fish during production. They were also

Top: Tes n for salmon uality Above: nne e Bernhard, ns tute of arine esearch Below: attilsynet, the or e ian Food Safety uthority

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transported to the Institute of Marine Research in a frozen state.

Some of the substances monitored include growth promoters such as steroids and stilbenes, and unauthorised drugs.

The unauthorised drugs considered most relevant for aquaculture are chloramphenicol, nitrofurans, metronidazole and dyes.

Bernhard said: “Illegal agents are, for example, substances with anabolic effects, such as growth hormones or unauthorised drugs.”

No traces of illegal substances were detected in any of the tested samples.

The remainder of the samples were taken at the slaughterhouse and analysed for traces of unwanted substances.

This includes both legally used veterinary drugs – such as antibiotics, anaesthetics or drugs used against parasites – and environmental toxins.

The samples should represent Lice treatment chemicals found – but at safe levels Norwegian farmed fish as a whole

Residues of the anti-lice agents emamectin, lufenuron and imidacloprid were found, but the levels were within the limit assessed as safe.

The use of imidacloprid to treat salmon lice was authorised for the Norwegian market in 2021. It is the active ingredient with Ectosan Vet, Benchmark’s sea lice treatment offering which was rolled out two years ago, as part of a package with the company’s CleanTreat system, which is intended to remove the pesticide before waste water is returned to the sea. Imidacloprid was included in the monitoring programme and measured for the first time in 2022.

Residues of cypermethrin and deltamethrin were also found in several samples. These are substances that can be used as

lice killers, but they can also be used as pesticides in agriculture and can thus be transferred to the fish through feed. The samples showed these substances were also at levels below the limit value.

Other veterinary drugs, such as antibiotics or drugs used against intestinal parasites, were not found.

For environmental toxins, there are limit values for dioxins, dioxin-like PCBs, total PCB-6 and the heavy metals mercury, lead and cadmium.

As in previous years, this year’s monitoring data also showed that the levels in farmed fish do not exceed the limit values for these environmental toxins, says Bernhard.

Limit values for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of chemicals used to make fluoropolymer coatings and products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease and water, were also introduced. These substances have been part of the monitoring for several years and apart from the discovery of PFAS in a sample of Atlantic halibut, no measurable levels of PFAS were found in the analysed seafood samples.

The Institute of Marine Research says it is now in the process of developing even more sensitive methods.

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SEA FARMING

Smart

farming

Salmon farmers may be slow to experiment with artificial intelligence solutions but Cermaq is one of the leaders, reports Vince McDonagh

N

ORWAY may be the world leader in aquaculture, but the industry is still too slow in adopting artificial intelligence (AI) into its systems, says a new report.

This means Norwegian fish farmers are likely to be losing out on the advantages AI can bring to business, the survey adds.

The independent organisation Samfunnsökonomisk Analyse (Economics Norway), commissioned by, among others, the Norwegian business organisation NHO, has found that only 24% of businesses, including salmon companies, actually use AI. Of course, much is being written about artificial intelligence and how it is going to transform all our lives, even if eliminates millions of jobs around the globe.

But such claims have to be treated with caution.

Those old enough to remember the advent of the internet and its related computer technology in the early 1980s will recall talk of paperless offices and everyone having so much leisure time they will hardly be off the beach. If only!

The Samfunnsökonomisk report has grouped aquaculture in with fisheries, farming and forestry as among the lowest users of AI. However, there is no mention of salmon companies such as Cermaq, who are going in for this new technology in a big way – as set out later in this article. The report does state that

43% of businesses within this group are currently thinking strategically about implementing it.

Other companies in salmon farming are now teaming up on various AIrelated projects.

One of the problems with AI is that its introduction often doesn’t involve changing a company’s entire production system – just bits of it. Each business will have its own priorities.

Above: C ermaq iF arm Left: Geir S tang H au ge,

B ioS ort

Below left: iF arm

monitoring

Opposite: T he iF arm

proj ect

Faces in the crowd A few producers are now moving ahead at an impressive pace, however. Cermaq is using AI from the aquaculture healthrelated technology company BioSort to improve fish health and welfare in the cages by creating a record for each individual salmon.

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About iFarm

Cermaq found that each salmon has a unique appearance. BioSort was able to recognise individual fish in a cage and give them their own health records.

The underlying software systems for health records and registration of health reports for individuals are also now running live.

The General Manager of BioSort, Geir Stang Hauge, says: “We have worked with the algorithms for facial recognition of salmon for a long time and built up an image database of fish from various life stages. This has now been put into use online at the Hellarvika plant at Cermaq in Steigen (in Nordland).

“This means that every time a fish is seen by the iFarm sensor, the fish’s identity is checked. A health report, which includes welfare indicators, lice, weight and k-factor [the overall condition of the fish], is stored in the individual’s record for each registration. In this way, we get a history of individual fish, which can be used to follow the individual’s growth and any welfare symptoms.

“For example, if the fish has a wound, we can see if it heals or worsens, and the fish should possibly be removed to avoid the spread of infection.”

Work is now being done to increase the database for the various machine vision algorithms. This means the accuracy of individual recognition and information for the fish increases.

Karl Fredrik Ottem, Cermaq’s Head of Fish Health and Project Manager for the iFarm project, says: “Machine vision for fish health monitoring will in the future provide us farmers the opportunity to follow the fish more closely. Over time, we gain a better understanding of the course of disease, which we can translate into better management of challenging health situations” Last summer, BioSort demonstrated that their sorter, a robotic hoof, is capable of catching individual fish and moving them to a separate tank in the water surface.

It is essentially core technology that will make it possible to remove fish with lice for continuous lice removal in the cage, as well as remove sick fish that can infect others.

This can then be done without disturbing other fish and enable preventive fish health at an individual level. Being able to remove individual fish from the cage when necessary will limit early culling as a tool for handling challenging situations.

Furthermore, the aim is to sort out fish for the removal of lice, before the lice become sexually mature. If we succeed in this, it will mean a lot for the lice pressure, not only for the locality itself, but also for the area as a whole.

BioSort’s Hauge added: “Even though it is not a goal in the original plan in the iFarm project, we still envision that the next step in development is to get the sorter, together with the sensor, to function autonomously and react to selected criteria, such as lice or fish with signs of wounds or illness.”

THE iFarm project is a collaboration between Cermaq, BioSort, ScaleAQ and Nofima. Cermaq has been awarded four development concessions with iFarm. iFarm is a concept based on artificial intelligence and machine learning, which should make it possible to recognise each individual fish in a cage, each with its own follow-up action and health record. It will improve fish health and welfare, and will be a major step forward for the aquaculture industry.

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LAND-BASED FARMING AND HATCHERIES

In the shadow of Mount Fuji Norway’s Proximar looks set to be big in Japan, reports Sandy Neil

I

T’S been a successful year for Proximar Seafood, a Norwegian company based in Bergen, which is building Japan’s first fish farm for Atlantic salmon at the foot of Mount Fuji.

Around 90% of the fresh salmon consumed in Japan is transported by air from Norway, its website begins. Proximar Ltd’s land-based fish farm in Oyama is just two hours’ drive from the Japanese capital Tokyo, a huge market with a population of 20 million.

Proximar has based its salmon farming facility on recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) technology, which has produced Atlantic salmon at AquaMaof’s site in Poland.

The Oyama fish farm consists of two separate buildings: a hatchery and nursery where fish are raised from egg to about 100g, and a post-smolt grow-out site, where the fish is grown to harvest size of about 5kg.

Operational start-up was in 2022 and first harvest is expected in 2024. At full capacity, it is targeted to produce about 5,300 metric tonnes (HOG) of salmon per year.

Throughout 2023, the company hit major milestones. In January, Proximar announced

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the first batch of juveniles (Atlantic salmon) had started to take feed. “This marks a breakthrough for Proximar’s production team, after the first eggs were successfully inserted in the company’s hatchery in October 2022,” it said.

“The successful transfer of our first juveniles to start feeding is an important milestone for us and according to our production plan,” added Charlotte Okstad, Hatchery and Nursery Manager of Proximar Seafood. The batch stayed in the first feeding department for two months, before the next transfer to the nursery.

“The quality of works is the best I have seen in my 11 years of experience with RAS,” said Dharma Rajeswaran, COO of Proximar. “I am convinced that the low complexity design of AquaMaof is a huge advantage in terms of operational risk. The combination of strong technology and our

highly competent team provides confidence in reaching our production goals.”

AquaMaof’s facility in Poland had marked five years of successful production of Atlantic salmon, Proximar said. By that time, 36 cohorts of salmon had successfully reached an average size of 4kg to 5kg, with a survival rate of about 93% in post-smolt phase. The production had shown consistent results, with growth from egg to harvest size (4kg to 5kg) in approximately 22 months at stocking densities of around 85kg/m3. The average volumes achieved was around 300 tonnes per year and the fish was being sold in Poland and across Europe.

“We follow this facility and performance closely and are impressed by the AquaMaof solution’s ability to maintain consistent and adequate water quality,” Rajeswaran said.

“Even at high densities, the solution from AquaMaof has demonstrated its capability.

Water quality is the basis for good growth performance. This, combined with the low complexity and simple design, makes us confident in delivering on our plans.”

The first batch Later in the spring, Proximar successfully transferred its first batch of Atlantic salmon to the nursery. “The fish is performing according to our expectations. We are confident in the facility and the team’s capabilities going forward,” said CEO Joachim Nielsen.

Then in the summer, Proximar revealed its first batch of Atlantic salmon was growing well and better than expected, with an average weight of 63g.

“It is exciting to see the fish growing well in our new facility,” said Rajeswaran. “The weekly development and steady growth are reassuring, proving our good growth conditions and fish welfare.”

New batches of eggs are inserted on a monthly basis, with eight tanks filled with

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ro imar, first fish in ost smolt facility harma a es aran oachim ielsen Top: ua aof’s S technolo y source ua aof This page from top:

ro imar tank, yama ro imar, yama lant ro imar, yama under construc on ro imar hatchery, yama

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fish in the nursery department. “We are weighing the fish on a weekly basis and see the performance steadily improving as we are fine-tuning and gaining the experience with the AquaMaof technology and equipment,” continued Dharma. “In parallel, with the introduction of new batches, we experience continuously better performance, which is an encouraging sign.”

In another important milestone in August, construction works for the grow-out building was completed by Proximar’s Japanese construction partner, Daiwa House, meaning it was ready to receive the first batch.

Nielsen announced: “We have completed the construction works of our 5,300 tonne facility according to schedule. We are now focusing our efforts on production and harvesting of the first Atlantic salmon at our facility in Q3 next year.”

The following month, Proximar took ownership of the entire fish farming facility in Oyama, marking the end of the company’s construction works. “With the construction now behind us, we can switch all our focus over to operations and production, where we remain on track with our plan of first harvest in Q3 2024,” Nielsen said.

In the following months, installation of the remaining RAS equipment continued in the grow-out building to enable the first transfer of fish from the hatchery and nursery building in Q4 2023.

“With this completion, we will also proceed to review further capacity expansion in Japan,” Nielsen said. “Proximar sees a strong growth potential as a leading supplier of Atlantic salmon for the Asian market. We are also motivated by the support for such growth by our Japanese partners and banks.”

Proximar then gave its first production update in October. At the end of Q3 2023,

Proximar had a standing biomass of 11.5 metric tonnes, up from 1.4 metric tonnes at the end of Q2.

“The fish is performing well and growing better than expected,” said Nielsen. “This supports the quality of our production facility and chosen technology, operational structure and fish farming competence. The water quality remains good and stable, which we now see turning into good growth performance.”

The company had seven batches in production, showing “strong growth curves ahead of expectations”.

“We are pleased to show the progress also in terms of biological development,” Nielsen said. “The performance of the system is stable and mortality is lower than expectations.” The company plans to issue production updates at the end of every quarter.

Another milestone Just before Christmas, Proximar announced the first Atlantic salmon had been successfully transferred from the nursery to the post-smolt grow-out (PSG) facility.

“It is a great milestone to finally initiate operations in the PSG facility,” said Rajeswaran. “We have been waiting with excitement for this day and I am pleased to see that the move into the new building has been successful. Our team has done a fantastic job in preparing for this transfer.”

Following the completion of construction works, installation and testing of the RAS equipment had progressed swiftly in the first module of the PSG and the grow out-building had been prepared to receive the first batches in accordance with the schedule. Installation of RAS equipment in the remaining three modules is set to continue in the coming months, aligned with the required capacity and production plan.

“As the first commercial producer of Atlantic salmon in Japan, we are enthusiastic about reaching this phase of the production with top-tier fish from our own smolt production,” added Nielsen.

“Given that the PSG facility is based on the same technology as the nursery, we are confident that we will be able to continue to provide Atlantic salmon with excellent fish welfare and growth conditions going forward.”

There are currently nine batches in operation in Proximar’s Oyama facility, with the 10th batch joining by the end of December. More biological details are expected in the company’s production update, expected as Fish Farmer went to press in February 2024.

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LAND-BASED FARMING AND HATCHERIES

Long live the kingfish

Yellowtail producer The Kingfish Company is scaling up and now has breakeven in its sights, Vince McDonagh reports

T

HE Kingfish Company has announced that the second phase of expansion for its land-based farm in the Netherlands has been completed and is now fully operational.

In a 2023 final quarter trading update, the yellowtail producer said the standing biomass has more than doubled to 967 tonnes in the company’s recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility. It was just 408 tonnes 12 months earlier.

The volume sold during the final quarter was 343 tonnes and the company recorded revenues of € 5.2m (approximately £4.5m). Both figures are broadly similar to Q4 for the previous year.

The revenue per kilogram has increased by 3.8% to € 15.20.

Kingfish said phase two in the Netherlands was successfully completed before the end of December, resulting in all 18 tanks being fully stocked. “This significant milestone has enhanced the total production capacity to 3,500 tonnes,” the company added.

“In 2025, the company will be able to operate at full capacity.

The biological performance of the new farm is excellent and continues to exceed our expectations.

“Despite softer markets at the beginning of the fourth quarter and increased competition in the US frozen market, prices in our principal markets in Europe have remained stable.

“Additionally, as the year concluded, demand in key markets strengthened, underlining the market appeal of Dutch yellowtail.”

CEO Vincent Erenst said: “The completion of phase two marks

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the beginning of an accelerated sales phase. In a strategic move, we welcomed a new Commercial Director, Gudo Klein Gebbink, in January 2024. This role is pivotal in driving the expansion of our customer base and boosting sales across both existing and new markets.”

All Q4 figures are unaudited.

While a full financial report for Q4 and for the 2023 financial year is due to be published on 11 April, by combining the company’s quarterly trading updates it is possible to estimate that Kingfish Zeeland sold just under 1,500 tonnes and its revenue for the year totalled € 22.1m.

Barring accidents, it now looks

Above left: in fish aine Above: Tank, in fish eeland hase t o Below: incent renst Opposite: Balmoral tanks in in fish eeland’s S farm

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The completion of phase two marks the beginning of an accelerated sales phase

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as though the company’s goal of getting the Zeeland operation past the breakeven point and into profit in 2024 looks eminently achievable.

Meanwhile, the Kingfish Company’s US subsidiary, Kingfish Maine, is building another RAS farm in Jonesport, Maine.

At more than 8,500 tonnes per year, this site is planned to have more than double the capacity of the European farm.

The Maine project has had to overcome a series of hurdles, including at least two planning appeals – neither of which has been successful.

Kingfish Maine remains a fully permitted project, after last summer’s ruling from Maine’s Superior Court, which denied the latest appeal by the project’s opposition, the Roque Island Gardner Homestead Corporation and Eastern Maine Conservation Initiative.

That was Roque Island’s second appeal denial on a state level in their continued attempt to stop the project. The way was therefore cleared for work to continue on developing the Jonesport site.

Kingfish has already harvested a limited number of fish from its trial system in Maine and distributed them to select restaurants in the US, as well as to the residents of Jonesport.

“Our first harvest of Dutch yellowtail from Maine was well-received by top chefs and restaurants across the country. We look

forward to another successful harvest as we continue to prepare for our full production facility in Jonesport,” said Operations Manager Tom Sorby last autumn.

Erenst added: “The momentum in Maine is tremendous at this time. The US operations team is focused on building our broodstock numbers and preparing pre-design for the facility in Jonesport.

We credit not only our strong team in Maine but the supportive community of Jonesport, who will benefit from the economic development we will provide to the region.”

The Kingfish Company was founded in 2015 by Kees Kloet, Hans den Bieman and

Ohad Maiman, who has since stepped down as CEO but continues to work in the field of aquaculture.

Farming at the Zeeland site began in 2019. The Kingfish Company operates an egg to plate model, retaining control of the whole process from research and development to management of the company’s broodstock through to sales and marketing.

The company prides itself on energy efficiency and use of renewable energy, and on the fact that it has a “no antibiotics, no GMO [genetically modified organisms]” philosophy.

Additional reporting by Robert Outram.

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12/02/2024 14:47:06

EELS

A slippery problem

A United Nations initiative aims to promote the recovery of the European eel population in the Mediterranean. Is aquaculture helping or hindering?

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HE future of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla), an iconic fish species and much appreciated in Mediterranean cuisine, is currently at risk. But a management plan that includes a partial closure of eel fisheries each year, a complete ban on recreational eel fishing and the setting-up of a monitoring network to identify effective management measures could help reverse the situation.

Eels are critically endangered and face threats such as climate change, habitat loss, pollution and overfishing all along their migration routes, which originate in the Sargasso Sea and span a distribution range from the Mediterranean to northern Europe.

In 2020, the migration of young European eel to freshwater habitats, a crucial stage in their

lifecycle, reached an all-time low.

The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) responded to the situation and pioneered a comprehensive research programme in nine Mediterranean countries between 2020 and 2022.

The outcomes of this work, published in the report European eel in the Mediterranean Sea: Outcomes of the GFCM research programme, provide a detailed overview of eel fisheries, habitats and the biological and ecological features of local stocks. The report also offers a comprehensive look at the current management and conservation measures, and performs a model-based appraisal of the core measures.

The report identified lagoons as a crucial habitat for eels in the Mediterranean Sea. However, lagoons face substantial challenges, including climate change, fishing pressure and pollution.

Habitat loss, poor water quality and pollution are also evident in other eel habitats, such as rivers and estuaries.

The research also found that, despite the numerous management measures by fisheries in place, some of them (such as closure periods and bans on fishing of certain stages) showed poor harmonisation and were often insufficiently aligned to local conditions, reducing their efficiency.

The decline of eels impacts fishers as catches have exponentially decreased.

“Before me, my father and grandfather used to fish here. We all fish to make a living.

Unfortunately, now we fish very little. We used to fish a lot,” says Adriano Deiana, an eel fisher in Sardinia, Italy.

The declining resource also results in fishers leaving their jobs, with subsequent losses in the traditional knowledge, management and environmental stewardship that fishers themselves were providing.

A coordinated management plan for recovery The dire situation underlines the need for action on multiple levels.

“The European eel, the habitats that host its different life stages and the livelihoods it sustains require action and protection on all fronts: biological, environmental,

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Opposite from top: E u ropean eels; catching eels in O rbetello L agoon, I taly This page from top: E el su rv ey, F ogliano, taly fish arrier, S ardinia; eel catch, O rbetello, I taly

socioeconomic,” says Elisabetta Betulla Morello, one of the editors of the report and a GFCM Fishery Resource Officer.

“Cooperation is essential for identifying and implementing adequate measures, not only to manage fisheries but also to protect the environment and the socioeconomic setting revolving around this species,” she added.

Starting with the transitional measures already in place since 2021 and based on the results of the research programme, in 2022 the GFCM adopted a multiannual management plan for European eel in the Mediterranean Sea. It includes a partial closure of eel fisheries for six months each year, with alternative options for its implementation. It also imposes a total, permanent ban on recreational fishing of European eel at all stages – glass eel, yellow eel and silver eel, and in all habitats – freshwater, brackish and marine. These measures were reinforced in 2023 with additional precautionary measures for the protection of glass eels.

Another key part of the plan is to set up a monitoring network involving fishers and scientists across the Mediterranean to identify effective management measures, tailored to specific situations and implemented by all stakeholders. Workshops have already brought fishers, scientists and administrators together, sharing case studies and best practices, with a view to replicating them elsewhere.

A socioeconomic study forms part of the research programme’s next phase, which will also expand the existing habitat databases and collect information to appraise management measures.

The ultimate goal is to ensure the conservation of the species and the preservation of the heritage of artisanal fisheries within Mediterranean coastal communities.

Aquaculture remains problematic

”

Eel aquaculture in Europe is, in one sense, not an alternative to catch fishing because it depends on the capture of wild eels, or at least their seed. Although the problem is being worked on, no reliable method of breeding European eels in captivity has yet been found and so Anguilla anguilla cannot yet be said to be domesticated.

The report European eel in the Mediterranean Sea includes a chapter on eel aquaculture. Of the nine partner countries in the GCFM survey, only four reported aquaculture activities: Italy (reporting the most significant annual aquaculture production of 464 tonnes in 2019), Greece, Egypt and Tunisia (where eel “aquaculture” is limited to

We all fish to make a living.

Unfortunately, now we fish very little

collecting seed from the sea to stock the basins of inland dams that cannot be reached naturally by migrating elvers). The latter has not been included in the report’s aquaculture statistics.

Three forms of rearing techniques are used for European eel aquaculture: semi-intensive culture pond systems, intensive recirculation aquaculture systems and an extensive culture system called valliculture, which has been traditionally practised in the coastal lagoons and brackish waters of the Mediterranean region, especially in Italy.

The most significant European eel aquaculture production in the Mediterranean occurs in Italy. Reported data covers 2008 to 2019.

Production rose from 510.4 tonnes in 2011 to a maximum of 750 tonnes in 2015, before dropping to 464 tonnes in 2019.

Greece reported aquaculture activities for the same period, 2008 to 2019, recording a maximum production of 428.2 tonnes in 2009 and a minimum of 128 tonnes in 2018, while its most recently reported annual production was 146 tonnes.

Fragmentary aquaculture data were documented in Egypt, where European eel aquaculture has been practised since at least 2010 and the current level of annual production is just four tonnes.

Two important research projects have been funded in Europe recently: the international research project PRO-EEL, supported by the European Commission, which aims to breed European eel in captivity and ITS-EEL, a research and innovation project carried out by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Aqua) and aquaculture industry partners.

PRO-EEL involves standardised protocols for the production of highquality gametes (eggs and sperm), viable embryos and feeding larvae of European eel. ITS-EEL aimed to advance emerging technologies to breed European eel and scale up larval culture to enhance offspring survival, and sustain the feeding larval (leptocephalus) stage.

The research has yielded some positive results, the GFCM report says, but “…due to the complex reproductive physiology of eels, many advances will have to be made before commercial production of European glass eels in captivity can be achieved.”

Overall, then, eel aquaculture in Europe reached a peak in 2000 at 10,663 tonnes. This is compared with just 1,480 tonnes in 2019, as recorded by FAO FishStat, or 1,100 tonnes according to the Federation of European Aquaculture Producers.

European eel in the Mediterranean Sea: Outcomes of the GFCM research programme (FAO, 2023) can be found online here: www.fao.org/documents/card/fr/c/CC7252EN

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AQUA AGENDA

Taking on the

challenges

Climate change and other factors keep throwing up new threats to fish health, as our expert panel explained in Fish Farmer’s Aqua Agenda webinar. Robert Outram reports

THE PANELLISTS DR IAIN BERRILL HEAD OF TECHNICAL, SALMON SCOTLAND

Dr Iain Berrill has always had an interest in the marine and freshwater environment. He studied a BSc in Marine Biology at Swansea University, followed by an MSc in Applied Fish Biology at Plymouth University and a PhD at the Institute of Aquaculture in Stirling.

He has worked with industry body Salmon Scotland (formerly the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation) since 2010. He sits on various industry and governmental working groups, and acts in a steering group and advisory capacity on several collaborative research projects.

CHARLES ALLAN HEAD OF THE SCOTTISH FISH HEALTH INSPECTORATE

Charles Allan has been involved in the Scottish aquaculture industry in both commercial and statutory roles for more than 30 years, including working in a small commercial salmon company, Scotland’s Fish Health Inspectorate and the Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen.

He has led the Fish Health Inspectorate since 2008 and in 2022, took on additional responsibilities as Senior Delivery Lead for Aquaculture and Fish Health, Freshwater Fisheries and Biosecurity.

Charles Allan is currently responsible for delivery of all the scientific work of staff, covering aquaculture, fish health, salmon and freshwater fisheries, and biosecurity. This is within the science, evidence, data and digital portfolio of the Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government.

RONNIE SOUTAR HEAD OF VETERINARY SERVICES, SCOTTISH SEA FARMS

Ronnie Soutar has been involved as a vet in aquaculture for more than 35 years. He is currently employed as Head of Veterinary Services for Scottish Sea Farms, one of Scotland’s leading salmon farmers.

He holds a Master’s degree in Aquatic Veterinary Studies from Stirling University and is a Past President of the Fish Veterinary Society. He represents fish vets on the Scottish Government’s Farmed Fish Health Framework working group and is a member of the Veterinary Products Committee, advising the Veterinary Medicines Directorate on medicines issues in aquaculture. He is also a former Chair of animal welfare charity the Scottish SPCA.

F

The discussion was facilitated by ROBERT OUTRAM EDITOR, FISH FARMER

ISH Farmer’s first Aqua Agenda webinar focused on a key issue for aquaculture: fish health and welfare in salmon farming.

This is always high on the agenda, but the last couple of years have brought greater public attention and some criticism for the aquaculture industry in Scotland.

Mortality figures in 2022 and 2023 have been challenging for the industry, both as measured by harvest numbers and profitability, and in terms of reputation.

The Aqua Agenda Fish Health and Welfare webinar brought together a panel of experts to discuss the challenges, the factors behind them and what the industry has learnt.

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They were: • Dr Iain Berrill: Head of Technical, Salmon Scotland; • Charles Allan: Head of the Scottish Fish Health Inspectorate; and • Ronnie Soutar: Head of Veterinary Services, Scottish Sea Farms As Dr Berrill explained, Salmon Scotland does a lot to help the industry address fish health and welfare issues, including running health managers’ meetings, networking and engaging with health managers, organising technical events and supporting research.

Salmon Scotland also provides secretarial support for a Prescribing Vets Group and

helps the industry with its transparency agenda, for example in its reporting of lice data in various forms since 2010.

Berrill said: “In the last two years, we’ve seen some challenges and our sector has been open about those. Our mortality rates have been compared to other sectors and I would make two observations. We are the only sector in the UK to publish mortality data on a farm-by-farm basis. I think globally, we are the only salmon farming sector to do that.

“But more importantly, we have to remember that salmon are a completely different species and fish are a different class of animal to birds and mammals, which are traditionally farmed.

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“We have an animal that produces thousands of eggs with the hope that a couple will go on to survive and reproduce.

Birds and mammals have different strategies.

Our fish have different physiologies, too.”

Soutar highlighted that there is sometimes a disconnect between real and perceived issues. As he put it: “I don’t spend a great deal of my time these days thinking about sea lice – but if you listened to wider social media, you would think that was the biggest thing happening.

“I do spend a lot of time thinking about gill health, which I think represents around 50% of what’s affecting the fish I care for.”

And he pointed out that on any given day, the vet team at Scottish Sea Farms have around 20 million fish under their care.

Soutar shared a graph showing mainland sea farm temperatures recorded by his company between 2021 and 2023. He noted that 2021 had followed the average pattern

but 2022 and 2023 had been warmer, with winter temperatures in the early part of last year never dipping below 8°C. He added: “Those temperatures are well within the preferred range for salmon – they won’t suffer directly as a result of those temperatures – but there is an impact on everything else: the pathogens, the parasites, all the organisms that can impact fish.”

He added: “Predation has certainly been a factor. We’ve seen some regulatory changes affecting seals, that in my opinion have had a direct and negative effect on fish health and welfare.”

It is now unlawful in Scotland to use lethal force against seals or even manhandle them. Use of acoustic deterrent devices has been suspended.

Soutar stressed: “I am firmly of the opinion that our response should be and is concerned with husbandry and farming strategies, not about ‘treatments’. Prevention is better than cure; how we manage and handle our fish is significant.”

The first question for the panel was: how much do the primary causes of fish mortality change, year on year?

Dr Berrill argued that the change had been significant. The 1990s had seen different challenges compared with the 2010s, when issues like amoebic gill disease (AGD) started to emerge. More recently, the industry has also had to address issues such as harmful algal blooms and micro jellyfish.

Allan noted that interventions have changed. In the early days, the farmers faced problems such as furunculosis and sea lice.

Vaccination has had a significant impact on the former and a number of treatments have been developed for sea lice.

He added: “Other pathogens emerge. I would characterise the 1990s as dominated by viral diseases – but the pharmaceutical industry stepped up and we had a wider range of vaccines.

“From the earlier part of this century up to now, we have seen the Above: F ish health: salmon being ex amined emergence of a number of pathogens which previously weren’t of Left: F ish f arm, S cotland such concern.”

Soutar agreed that both the challenges and the responses had evolved: “I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about sea lice – but I do spend a lot of time thinking about the effects of controlling sea lice. We do control them well now, but the controls have an impact themselves.

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We’ve seen some challenges and our sector has been open about those

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AQUA AGENDA

“Gills will heal, given a chance, but if we have to deal with sea lice even at a level that may not be harmful to the fish, that may have an impact on gill health.”

Returning to the issue of seal predation, he added that farmers are strengthening nets where there is a risk of seal attacks, but he stressed that simply keeping seals out of the pens is not enough.

Even the presence of large predators nearby is enough to stress the fish. This has been linked to impaired immunity and an increase in viral diseases.

The panel also discussed climate change as a factor and in particular a question from the audience: “From a fish health perspective, do current climate change-induced environmental challenges now point to an inevitable need for a more fundamental change in how and/or where salmon is farmed in Scotland, rather than just another layer of costly treatment options? If so, what might this look like?”

Soutar commented: “I don’t believe the temperature itself is an issue for the salmon, but it has an effect on everything else, which can have an impact on fish health.”

He pointed out that in 2018 – the year of the winter blast that became known as the “beast from the east” – Scotland experienced a very cold winter and the summer was not especially warm. Fish survival that year was good, Soutar added.

He said: “The relationship between winter temperatures and fish health is just as important as the peak summer temperatures. In mild winters, organisms in the sea survive better.

“The pathogens – such as the amoeba that cause AGD – survive in larger numbers. And organisms, like jellyfish, that were previously known in the Mediterranean or the English Channel now have a wider range.”

Whether this represents permanent climate change or a cyclical phenomenon, we will have to see, he added.

Berrill pointed out that the salmon farmers are already exploring different strategies to the way fish are farmed to address climaterelated issues, from semi-closed and closed containment systems to siting farms in more exposed locations.

He stressed, however, that such decisions “…have to be driven by data and experience.”

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Are Scotland’s fish health challenges unique or are they shared by other countries? It’s a bit of both, the panel felt.

As Dr Berrill stressed that even Norway alone has a long coastline spanning a range of latitudes and different regions are facing different issues.

Scotland shares a number of issues with other north Atlantic salmon-producing nations, such as Norway, Ireland, Iceland and the Faroes.

Even on the other side of the globe, Tasmania for a long time faced challenges with AGD, which was not initially a problem for the north Atlantic – but has increasingly become one.

Allan stressed the importance of sharing information internationally, especially clinical data between reference labs.

Scottish Sea Farms is jointly owned by two Norwegian companies: SalMar and Lerøy. This creates a cross-border platform to share information and best practice within the business.

Soutar observed: “The international ownership of salmon companies in Scotland sometimes attracts negativity, but for us it’s a major positive.”

Having said that, he also stressed the importance of tailoring farming approaches, nutrition and genetic

Above left: S ea temperatu res f rom 2 0 2 1 to 2 0 2 3 ( sou rce: Scottish Sea Farms Opposite from top: Ronnie S ou tar and Dr I ain B errill, webinar images; sea lice; B allan wrasse

”

What we take from the data and what we do with the data is vastly important

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selection – which has become an increasingly important tool for farmers – to the requirements of salmon in specific locations rather than relying on a “one size fits all” approach.

The panel also addressed a question about stress. One answer to health and welfare challenges in the late 1980s and early 1990s was “low stress” farming – but are today’s farming methods low stress?

Ideally, farmed fish thrive best with a minimum of handling, but interventions are required – such as treatments for lice or gill disease – that in themselves can create stress and so weaken the fish’s immune defences.

Soutar said: “The armoury of medicines we have is limited, but physical interventions are effective. They are a necessity, but sometimes we have to use them because sea lice levels have risen to a number that has been specified, not for the benefit of the fish that have the sea lice on them but because of a perceived benefit elsewhere.

“Sometimes I find myself having to do things that go against my principle of ‘first, do no harm’. So, I think we have to look at our interventions and when we are compelled to use them.”

Dr Berrill agreed and added: “There is also a need for regulatory support so we can have diversity in where and how we farm our fish. Companies can use their years of experience to understand where and when fish should be in different places.”

Allan pointed out that dialogue does already exist between fish farmers and regulators, for example through the Farmed Fish Health Framework. He said: “We are always engaged in trying to make the lot of the profession better.

“We farm our fish differently [compared with the early days]… We have more knowledge with regard to risk assessment

and this has moved significantly forward since the early days of the industry.

“There has been some really significant work done on fish welfare.”

Stocking densities are also lower than they once were, he added.

Another question concerned cleaner fish – they do an important job in helping to manage sea lice, but are we monitoring their health and welfare sufficiently?

Allan made the regulatory point that cleaner fish are aquatic animals that are stocked in fish farms and therefore fall within the realm of the aquaculture regulations.

He said: “They are valuable, they are well looked after but there are certain issues surrounding their use.

“There is a difficulty in accounting for them, particularly at the end of a cycle.

They do a good job, but… we don’t necessarily understand the fate of all the fish. That is something that can be addressed.”

Dr Berrill commented: “As with salmon farming, there are always improvements that can be made. Cleaner fish species are relatively new in aquaculture and the speed of learning has been very, very rapid.

“There has been investment – not just financial but in terms of time, effort and commitment – to ensure, for example, there is a lumpfish or wrasse specialist on any farm that uses cleaner fish.”

He added that Salmon Scotland is currently financing a PhD student who is researching the catching of wild wrasse as cleaner fish to assess the sustainability of the practice.

Two other questions concerned the use of bubble curtains (aeration) to protect fish against harmful algal blooms and micro

jellyfish, and the potential value of artificial intelligence (AI) and underwater cameras to monitor fish health and welfare.

On the former, Soutar confirmed that bubble curtains are already being applied in Scottish farms.

For AI, Dr Berrill said: “This is a hugely interesting area, but we need that information to be appraised by an individual. We can’t automate decision making.”

There is no substitute for stockmanship – the insight of an experienced farmer – he stressed.

Soutar agreed that this technology is a game-changer: “I could learn more sitting at this desk and looking at the fish through underwater cameras than I could by standing at the surface looking down at the fish… but it does come down to people.

What we take from the data and what we do with the data is vastly important.

“We have some excellent people involved in fish farms in Scotland and that, of all things, gives me grounds for optimism.”

You can watch a recording of the Aqua Agenda Fish Health webinar in full at: bit.ly/AquaAgenda-health Ideas for future Aqua Agenda topics are welcome. Email Fish Farmer at editor@fishfarmermagazine.com

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hoto

a nhild e ersen

Technology is opening up a number of potential fronts in the struggle to keep farmed fish lice-free

E

ARLY warning could help salmon farmers take timely action to reduce sea lice numbers before their stock becomes infested with the parasites.

Clearly, assessing the levels of sea lice by counting the lice attached to salmon in a pen will only flag up the problem once it has already been established. Assessing the number of free swimming lice is difficult, however – for the human eye, anyway.

Two current initiatives involve the use of advanced underwater cameras, combined with artificial intelligence (AI), to see whether technology could provide an earlier warning of sea lice numbers.

In its e-Lice project, Norwegian research institute Akvaplan-niva and partners are

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using advanced sensors and AI to detect and quantify salmon lice in the water column.

October was the start of the first experiment in the project, testing the underwater imager UVP6 and developing an algorithm to classify the lice.

The institute is working with VESO Aqualab, a commercial testing facility in Norway; French technology business Hydroptic, which developed the sensors; Nova Sea, Kongsberg Discovery; and MP Consulting.

The initial experiment took place at VESO Aqualab’s facility. Sea lice eggs collected from a local slaughterhouse were hatched and the lice larvae in the nauplius stage – the initial free swimming stage before developing into the copepodids that can infect fish – were released into tanks in a high concentration.

Over 15 days, the sensors recorded thousands of images of lice in both the nauplius and copepodid stages to be used as the basis for developing an algorithm through machine learning, so that the system can detect lice automatically.

Akvaplan-niva explains: “The objects imaged by the UVP6 can be biotic (zooplankton and fish larvae) or abiotic (particles) in nature.

Given the diversity of particles (for example, detritus) and other co-occurring zooplankton in the water, it is important that free-swimming stages of salmon lice are detected and classified correctly. To meet this challenge, we developed artificial intelligence and computer vision-based algorithms to automatically detect and classify the objects imaged by the UVP6 in real-time.”

The institute says that the algorithm should detect sea lice with more than 91% accuracy.

The next step will be to implement the UVP6

hoto

The war on lice

a nhild e ersen

SEA LICE

in a mooring that is being deployed and tested in the field in Tromsø. It will then be deployed in a strategic location to detect and quantify free swimming salmon lice in a Norwegian fjord.

Trude Borch, Senior Scientist at Akvaplanniva, says: “There has been extensive work going on before and after the Christmas holidays on mechanical and electronics integration and testing of the mooring equipment and sensor (UVP6) that will be applied… the first field deployment and technical testing will not take place before the end of January.”

Holographic solutions Meanwhile in Scotland, a team of researchers are also looking at how to create an early lice warning system based on holographic 3D imaging, machine learning and AI. Led by experts in engineering and digital holography from the University of Aberdeen, alongside the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), the project received a funding boost of more than £538,000 from partners including the UK Seafood Innovation Fund and the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre.

Electronics business Hi-Z 3D, seafood producer Mowi, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate are also supporting the initiative.

Using advanced underwater holographic cameras – developed at the University of Aberdeen – and AI-based automated image identification technology, the system would enable researchers to identify the natural presence and abundance of sea lice in the ocean, while also assisting fish farmers with rapid sea lice detection and effective management at Scottish salmon farms.

Currently, the most common way of testing for the parasite is to collect water samples to be analysed in a lab under a microscope, which can take several days to return results.

Compared to standard cameras and

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2D photography, digital holography has significant advantages when used for microorganisms, the researchers say. The holographic camera can instantaneously record a volume of water and extract high-resolution images of the various particles present in the water. One hologram, therefore, can provide a set of data equivalent to thousands of standard photographic images.

Distinguishing sea lice from other zooplankton species has been compared to looking for a needle in a haystack, which is where the AI will come in. The system will be trained with thousands of holographic images of sea lice, recorded in the lab at SAMS, to support the process of identifying sea lice when the tool is deployed.

Dr Thangavel Thevar from the University of Aberdeen’s School of Engineering says: “The type of camera being used in this project was first developed for the identification of marine organisms and microparticles in the ocean.

However, as it provides an accurate reflection of the different species present in the water, we saw an opportunity for the tool to be used to support the aquaculture sector with fish health management.

“The holographic imaging technology will be supported by AI and machine learning, which will help with the identification and cut processing time significantly. A major element of the project is to train the tool to recognise sea lice over other species. The images gathered over the next 18 months will help us to create the baseline for future analysis.”

SAMS has set up a dedicated sea lice hatchery for the project and will be supplying sample images that will be used as a starting point for the imaging tool. Digitally labelled holographs will be fed into the system to help train it to separate sea lice from other plankton species.

A major element of the project is to train the tool to recognise sea lice over other species Gene editing insights

Different species of salmon have differing degrees of resistance to sea lice. The parasites are much less of a problem for the Pacific

Opposite from top: L ice

entering the tank ; a nhild e ersen f rom A k v aplan- niv a and ise erete at S uala lice density coho salmon

This page from top:

e loyment of weeH oloC am in the orth Sea in une 2 0 2 1 ; plank ton ima es from orth Sea de loyment ene edi n ick o inson and ie o o ledo

species, coho and pink salmon than for Atlantic salmon.

Scientists from Norwegian research institute Nofima have been investigating the genetic basis for these differences. Their research, involving gene editing, has led to the creation of a guide that could help researchers in animal genetics generally.

Australian Nick Robinson and Diego Robledo, from Spain, are both scientists with Nofima who have been working at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute. Together with colleagues from Nofima, the University of Edinburgh and Deakin University in Australia, they have produced “A guide to assess the use of gene editing in aquaculture.”

As the guide explains: “Gene editing using CRISPR-Cas9 [which has become the standard technology for gene editing] has the potential to transform aquaculture by improving animal welfare, nutritional attributes and farming efficiency, with benefits for environmental sustainability.

However, gene editing also poses risks of harm via side effects on other important traits or genetic introgression into wild populations.”

Public acceptance of genetic research will depend, the authors say, on ensuring that the risks and benefits of any given piece of research have been thoroughly examined and understood. The guide sets out a framework to do this, which could be applied to genetic research across a range of fish and animal species.

Robinson stresses that the Nofima research involves small, targeted changes to the salmon’s own genes, not splicing genes from different species together.

In an article last year for Nofima, he said: “Our genomic research is helping us to understand which genes are involved in providing resistance against sea lice in the Pacific salmon species. The next step in our project is to test the function of these genes in Atlantic salmon using gene editing… [in 2024] we will be ready to introduce geneedited Atlantic salmon to sea lice in a closed biosecure facility.

“We want to see whether small and precise changes disrupting the function of these genes can cause the immune cells in Atlantic salmon to encapsulate the lice and kill them, as occurs in coho, or to prevent attachment as occurs in pink salmon.”

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SEA LICE

The research could help Atlantic salmon and the aquaculture industry, but the insights already gained could have even wider benefits.

Gentler treatment Mechanical treatments for sea lice can be effective in removing the lice and are not reliant chemicals that could get into the environment. The process itself, however, can cause stress to the salmon and damage their natural defences, leaving them open to a variety of threats, from heart failure to bacterial infection.

The companies developing mechanical treatments and pumping systems to transport the fish are increasingly focused on ways to minimise stress.

Lars Georg Backer, General Manager of Flatsetsund Engineering AS, said back in 2020: “That fish die during delousing is a reputational problem for the industry. In addition, the economy is bad for the farmers. Low fish mortality and other losses in production are important for efficient resource utilisation and the economy of the industry. We are concerned about this.”

He was speaking as the company launched the latest version of its FLS delousing system. The FLS CALIGUS delouser has undergone extensive testing in the aquaculture industry. The company says the solution is showing great results and proving that it can handle the fish gently.

Tests have shown that the FLS system, which can be installed on wellboats, can achieve an output of 300 to 400 tonnes per hour and 90% to 100% removal of lice, with mortality rates for the salmon of just 0.1%.

The siphon principle, where the fish is collected and delivered at the same level, means that the pump pressure is all the way down to 0.35 bar. The combination of a gentle ejector and low pump pressure results in little damage to the fish, low mortality and low energy consumption, the company says.

Laser vision Shooting sea lice with laser beams that kill the parasites without harming the fish sounds like the stuff of sci-fi, but it has already been successfully deployed in salmon farms.

North Norwegian fish farmer Nordlaks says it is so pleased with laser technology in tackling lice that it has decided to invest in up to 50 machines.

Nordlaks says it has tested the use of lice lasers from Stingray Marine Solutions at two locations: Havfarmen outside Hadseløya and Litjevika in Dyrøy municipality.

The lasers (pictured) are lowered into the cages, where the beams are directed at lice on the salmon.

This kills the lice, but does not harm the salmon, which can remain in their natural environment and are not stressed.

Results after use at the two locations have been sensational, says

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the company. Bjarne Johansen, Manager at Nordlaks Havbruk, said at the end of last year: “At Havfarmen, which is our largest facility, we have managed without delousing this year.

“We released fish this summer and this year there have been extra salmon lice due to the hot summer. Nevertheless, we have managed to keep the lice numbers in check.”

In Litjevika, too, there was no need for delousing after the lasers were installed.

After the success at Havfarmen and Litjevika, Nordlaks has now invested in a further 50 lice lasers from Stingray.

Some 12 machines were deployed in 2022 and a further 20 last year.

Nordlaks said the lasers will be installed at five to six new facilities and will result in lice lasers being used on 20% to 30% of Nordlaks’ production.

Fatal attraction Light of a different kind could be used in future to attract and trap sea lice swimming in and around pens. That is an enticing possibility anyway, suggested by research carried out by scientists at Norwegian research centre Sintef.

A paper entitled Responses and preferences of salmon louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis Krøyer 1836) copepodids to underwater artificial light sources (Nordtug, Kvæstad and Hagemann, published in Aquaculture, February 2021) used automated image processing to track the behaviour of sea louse copepodids in a lab tank.

The study found that: “Copepodids always moved towards the light source even at low light intensities… within a broad spectrum of visible light as well as near-UV. It is therefore plausible that subsea light sources frequently used in salmon farming under certain conditions can attract salmon lice copepodids and increase infection pressure.”

The researchers found that the lice preferred white or blue light to green, red or UV light, but UVA light alone was able to attract the lice.

More recently, the team has performed field experiments looking at patterns of diel vertical migration (the synchronised movement of zooplankton and fish up and down in the water column over a daily cycle) using a custom-made mesocosm (enclosed environment).

Combining attraction to light with an effective mechanism to trap and kill the lice, without impacting on the welfare of the salmon, will present a further challenge.

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Shooting sea lice with laser beams… sounds like the stuff of sci-fi

Above: S A I V A S A PB 5 mooring Below: T he u nderwater ision rofiler,

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Sea lice research at VESO Aqualab

lice in constructed heterogeneous fish populations. Optimal modes of treatment, dosage regimes and safety levels for test compounds may in some cases be found by combining our in vitro bioassays with in vivo fish/parasite trials in our challenge facilities. Our aim is to provide valid results using well-proven experimental models that reflect real-life situations in commercial salmon aquaculture.

Photo: A DE C , M ilas, T u rk ey

Highest quality standards

Sea lice – a point of focus VESO is a world leading contract research facility, committed to the conduct of state-of-the-art trials with fish and fish pathogens. Our main focus is on know-how regarding host-pathogen interactions and on conducting experimental challenge procedures with the pathogens that commonly affect aquaculture of cold-water species.

A particular point of focus has been on establishing standardised in vivo and in vitro trial models with the sea lice species Lepeophtheirus salmonis.

Well-established challenge models In vivo challenge procedures are ultimately used to establish efficacy, safety and tolerance profiles for vaccines and pharmaceuticals and the effects of functional feeds, and to generate biomarkers for identification of genetic resistance motifs against sea

VESO’s sea lice team is highly experienced and has worked with L. salmonis for many years. This ensures that trial design and data will be collected and stored according to stringent quality standards for pharmaceutical research. Please don’t hesitate to contact our dedicated team if you would like to discuss any sea lice-related topic. www.veso.no

Above: T he V E S O sea lice team hris an allace Si mund Se atdal arie oll Right: earin female salmon lice

GameChanger in sea lice removal.

Excellent fish welfare High capacity Bio-Security Low maintenance

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SEAWEED

Scaling up

Bacteria are being put to work, extracting the useful elements from harvested seaweed, as Robert Outram reports

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to separate the useful things from the stuff you don’t want.”

Seaweed has long been used, with minimal processing, as fuel, animal feed or even as an ingredient in human food. Today, however, it has a massive range of existing and potential uses, from pharmaceuticals to biopolymers, to replace plastic packaging.

All of these products rely on a production process that breaks the algae into its component parts. Biological agents, typically bacteria or yeasts, are tremendously effective at this and have been used in some shape or form for many centuries – to make beer or cheese, for example.

To move from an experimental stage, however, to a process that can be replicated at an industrial scale takes investment at a level beyond the means of the typical small company.

Here’s where IBioIC comes in. It was established in 2014 to fulfil the aims of the National Plan for Industrial Biotechnology, to grow the industrial biotechnology sector in Scotland to more than £900m in turnover, with more than 200 companies operating in the sector by 2025.

IBioIC set up FlexBio with support from the Scottish Funding Council and the seaweed fermenter was acquired thanks to a grant from Marine Fund Scotland. The facility aims to cover its equipment and consumable running costs, and at least a significant portion of its staffing costs, from the revenue it earns running tests for third parties.

The business model means FlexBio offers a service to producers and secondary processors looking to test out their approaches on a larger scale. FlexBio maintains confidentiality and does not retain any intellectual property, which remains with the client.

So what are the clients looking for?

Renault explains: “When seaweed comes out of the ocean it’s not stable, but you can combine it with fermentation to keep some of the key biochemical constituents stable. That may not be achieved in all cases by exactly the same processes.

“Some people want the sugar in the seaweed or a protein that might be converted later to something else, so it depends on the product. Fermentation has a lot of advantages when it comes to stabilising that material.

“People have been fermenting seaweed for a long time, particularly using acid fermentation, but there are other ways of fermenting seaweed.”

The FlexBio facility offers not just scale but speed. Fermentation can be achieved simply be leaving the biomass and the bacteria

E’RE in the John Coulson Building at Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University, watching macerated sugar kelp spinning furiously in what looks like a sophisticated food processor.

The aim of the exercise is not, however, to create a nutritious seaweed smoothie. It is part of a trial involving fermentation to unlock value from the algae species that grow abundantly along Scotland’s coastline.

The fermenter is just part of the equipment at the FlexBio bioprocessing facility, which was created by the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) to provide a scale-up capability for upstream and downstream processes.

The facility’s Manager, Neil Renault, explains: “This equipment enables us to scale up from a ‘coffee cup’ scale to 30 litres. It allows us to do it in a controlled, well-understood way. Scaling up is what we do.

“It can be complex – something like a vaccine could have 14 different steps.

“People working in the bioeconomy sector generally want to do two, three or four steps. So we have equipment here that allows us

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together in a vat for 30 days or more, but by adding other elements to the process – such as adding in air, stirring the mix, heating it or controlling its acidity – that process can be greatly accelerated.

Also, by controlling the process more tightly, it becomes possible to understand more fully what is going on and which elements or stages are necessary to reach the end result.

Pre-processing is an important step before the fermentation can start. Renault says: “We have had to buy equipment for pre-processing; blanching, washing or macerating; we have a press like a cider press to press the seaweed and get rid of any residual liquids; and we have equipment for analytics.”

It was soon clear that simply adding wet seaweed to the fermenter would not work.

It needs to be cleaned of any unwanted bacteria and other material, which is where the induction pot – the vessel that looks like a big stockpot – comes in. The seaweed also needs to be reduced to a consistent particle size so it does not block the impeller.

The bacteria used in the process may be “wild” – naturally occurring on the seaweed – or it may be sourced from elsewhere.

What is crucial is knowing which bacteria are involved in the process, so there is no random element.

FlexBio currently operates the only fermenting system of its kind in Scotland.

There are also equivalent facilities in Norway and Belgium, for example. And the setup at Heriot-Watt could also be used for fermenting other forms of biomass, such as sidestreams from agricultural produce, for example.

Renault says demand for the service started slowly, but interest is now picking.

Opposite from top: N eil Renau lt and f ermenter with seaweed; fermenta on scien st L is V iv as with f ermenter This page clockwise from top left: F ermenter with seaweed; seaweed at Fle Bio addin sea eed to the macerator oren o iele, fermenta on scien st, ith microsco e

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He adds: “The funding grants give us an opportunity to demonstrate a need and to create an awareness that we have this equipment in Scotland, and that we have the skills and expertise to help scale up new processes.

“We’ve had conversations with people where nine months ago, they weren’t interested in fermenting seaweed. They have since realised that perhaps they’ve got a waste stream from their process.

There’s an element that they had not realised they could get something from, which you could find a use for if you combine it with fermentation.

“It comes down to cost of goods – what is the market for it and what would the unit price be? There’s no point in engineering a process that would cost way more than the customer is prepared to pay for the product.”

There seems to be no shortage of new applications for this underrated crop, however. Another IBioIC project underway, involving researchers from the University of Glasgow and Marine Biopolymers, concerns combining silicon with alginates derived from seaweed to create a sustainable alternative to lithium in electric vehicle batteries.

Bioprocessing is nothing short of a quiet revolution and seaweed, humble as it is, is right at the heart of it.

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WASTE MANAGEMENT AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

From problem to product Sludge from fish farms and hatcheries is seen as waste, but it also contains potentially valuable resources

O

NE of the advantages of fish farming with a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) is that waste – in its various forms – can be collected rather than ending up in the ocean.

The bad news is that it is still necessary to do something with that waste. Increasingly, however, the industry is learning to see waste as a sidestream from its production process, rather than simply as a disposal problem.

In Denmark, a consortium led by water treatment specialists Alumichem has been awarded a grant as part of the Green Development and Demonstration Programme (GUDP) for the development of a system known as NAPRAS – “Effective Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorous (P) removal in [RAS] fish farming”.

The aim of the project is to develop and demonstrate a consolidated treatment system that reduces emissions of N in the forms of nitrate, nitrite and nitrous oxide (greenhouse gas) and P, as well as heavy metal contaminants in RAS. The treatment implements granulated sludge technology alongside P precipitation, wet electrochemical removal of heavy metals such as Zn, Cd and enrichment of P bioavailability, and finally drying to

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effectively remove >95% of N and capture >95% of P into a granular safe fertiliser product.

Alumichem is working in partnership with three other businesses: DTU Aqua, Clean Matter and Drying Matter.

The Department of Aquatic Resources (DTU Aqua) researches, advises, educates and contributes to innovation in sustainable use and management of aquatic resources.

DTU Aqua is an institute at the Technical University of Denmark. Its scientists conduct research into the biology and population ecology of aquatic organisms, physical and chemical processes in the aquatic environment and ecosystem structure and dynamics, taking into account natural and anthropogenic influences.

Clean Matter is focused on closing the phosphorous cycle in the circular economy.

They focus on phosphorous recovery from biomass waste streams, whether it is from municipal wastewater treatment or aquaculture. Their goal is to bring P back into the environment.

Drying Matter brings innovative and sustainable sludge drying solutions to their clients. The company converts wastewater sludge into easily manageable granules that can bring value back to the environment and the economy.

The GUDP scheme supports innovative projects that promote green and economic sustainability in agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and the food industry. GUDP is a programme run by the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, with input from private sector representatives.

“DTU Aqua, Clean Matter and Drying Matter have been strong partners for us and we are always happy to execute on innovative and potentially disruptive projects with them,” says Christian BangMøller, Chief Technology Officer at Alumichem. “This is an exciting innovation project because we are seeing the environmental discharge limits within RAS become tighter and more complex.”

As Trevor Gent, Director of Engineered Solutions with Alumichem, explains,

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We are always happy to execute on innovative and potentially disruptive projects

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Opposite: Dr Georgina

Robinson with polychaete worm Above: Polychaete worm Below: Phosphoric acid

NAPRAS is “disruptive” in two ways: “The first is the footprint required to deploy traditional activated sludge treatment for denitrification is reduced by a significant factor (minimum of 50%), making it more affordable and easier to deploy in a market where footprint is at a premium... The removal rate of nitrous oxide is significantly increased, which ultimately reduces a major greenhouse gas.

“The second is in relationship to not only the removal of phosphorous but the availability of the phosphorous in the end.

By focusing on removing greater than 99.5% of the P from the waste stream, we have to bind it as a precipitate, which can reduce its bioavailability but with the next step of ‘Power to P’, we can increase the bioavailability and ultimately the value of the product to the market.”

Waste management is an urgent issue for RAS farmers, who are facing strict rules on discharge limits in a number of jurisdictions. Not surprisingly, environmental regulators are looking to minimise the discharge of substances such as nitrogen and phosphorous into the water supply.

Gent says: “With NAPRAS, we are working to control both of those parameters while providing a small footprint and saleable product, which historically was just a waste stream.”

The NAPRAS team have three years to bring the pilot project to fruition. They are targeting deployment at both a fresh water and a saltwater site to work on the viability under both water conditions.

As well as simply removing nitrogen and phosphorous, the aim is to create sidestreams with value in their own right. Two examples are to produce usable phosphoric acid, which has a number of applications, and to produce dry sludge, which has a high organic content to be used as fertiliser or to enrich soil for agriculture.

Gent adds: “Currently the project will be deployed in Denmark, but the goal is to make the technology available to all countries and fish species.”

Bring on the worms Chemistry is not the only science being applied to the problem of waste processing. Biology is playing its part as well – two separate projects are exploring a potential function for bristle worms.

Led by researchers at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), with funding support from the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC), the initiative could open up a new avenue for seafood producers to deal with waste in a more circular way. Scottish Sea Farms, technology supplier Power and Water, and waste services company Tradebe also support the research.

While most waste from aquaculture is already recycled, the results of this study could see byproducts being repurposed in the farmed

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WASTE MANAGEMENT AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY The final stage of the research includes an assessment of the environmental impact and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, with the new approach compared to existing methods of waste disposal. Currently, liquid aquaculture waste is transported and spread to land in rural locations after treatment.

SAMS plans to bring the circular concept to the market this year under a spinout called N-ovatio-N. In October, Dr Robinson picked up the top prize from The Converge Challenge, which recognises novel start-up and spinout ideas with high commercial potential and scalability. N-ovation-N will receive £50,000 in cash and £20,000 in in-kind business support to drive the salmon sector, including as a protein-rich feed ingredient. Water company forward in its next phase. treatment equipment designed and supplied by Power and Water Ewen Leslie, Head of Freshwater will be used at Scottish Sea Farms’ Barcaldine Hatchery near Oban Engineering and project lead at Scottish for the duration of the project. Using an electrochemical process Sea Farms, says: “Repurposing fish waste and ultrasound technology, it will first extract excess water from into valuable byproducts is a core part of waste matter before the remaining nutrient-rich material is fed to our day-to-day operations at Barcaldine marine worms – or polychaetes – to boost their growth.

Hatchery. This new collaboration has the Bristle worms are marine annelids and form part of the diet of potential to build on this by diversifying many fish species such as sea trout, flounder and cod. A second and growing the range of byproducts that stage of the research involves assessing the nutritional profile of can be delivered.” these worms, including protein and fatty acids, to gauge their Heather Jones, CEO of SAIC, adds: “This suitability as an aquaculture feed ingredient. project is about tackling the sector’s waste Polychaetes are already used in seafood production as a key at the source and creating a viable, circular feed source for shrimp at the breeding stage. Other studies have model. In addition to the environmental explored their role in terrestrial animals’ diets. The remaining benefits, it will also demonstrate some of wastewater will then be filtered further using natural seaweed the higher-value commercial possibilities to absorb any nitrogen and phosphorous. for co-products. By supporting and Dr Georgina Robinson, lead researcher and UKRI Future encouraging collaborative research Leaders Fellow at SAMS, says: “Aquaculture waste is not typically initiatives like this, we can minimise the considered as valuable as co-products from other sectors, but environmental footprint of aquaculture there are opportunities that could change that attitude. By taking while also boosting its economic impact.” a circular approach, we can use the co-products to aid the growth of other organisms that will benefit the sector as a sustainable Health check feed ingredient. This is the first time the water treatment system We know that bristle worms can eat has been used for freshwater waste and the results of the project sludge, so the next question is whether could show huge potential for it to be adopted more widely.” they can be safely fed to farmed fish

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By taking a circular approach, we can use the coproducts to aid the growth of other organisms

Above: Scottish Sea Farms’ hatchery, Barcaldine Left: Fish farm tanks Opposite: Trout in fish farm

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destined for human consumption. This is the focus of ongoing study at Norwegian research organisation SINTEF. In an article last October (“Sludge from salmon hatcheries will become a soughtafter resource”) for the financial daily Dagens Næringsliv, SINTEF’s Ida Grong Aursand, Andreas Hagemann and Stine Wiborg Dahle, explained: “At present, it is not permitted to commence the sludgebased rearing of bristle worms for use as salmon feed. This is because we are currently uncertain as to whether bristle worms can transfer unwanted components, such as microorganisms, from the sludge they eat into the food chain.

“To date, we have yet to identify a bristle worm containing either a bacterium or a virus after having eaten sludge to which such organisms have been added. If future research gives us the evidence we need to declare bristle worms as risk-free, these annelids may become Norway’s next massproduced feed organism.”

The biological know-how and the technology needed to commence the sludge-based rearing of bristle worms are already in place. A cluster of Norwegian companies are now hoping to obtain public funding via the Research Council of Norway’s Green Platform initiative to construct a pilot facility at Tjeldbergodden.

SINTEF estimates that if the sludge

from all existing Norwegian hatchery facilities was collected and used to rear bristle worms, it would generate an annual production of 1,400 and 540 tonnes of proteins and lipids respectively. While this is only a fraction of the aquaculture industry’s requirements, it would go some way towards reducing the pressure on wild-caught marine ingredients.

In the meantime, the SINTEF article stresses that it is already permitted to use nutrient salts from fish farm sludge to grow plants. Specifically, microalgae represents a possible source of proteins and lipids.

As the old saying goes: “Where there’s muck there’s brass” or to put it another way, “Where there’s sludge, there’s value – if you know how to find it.”

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PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

What’s NEW Monthly update on industry innovations and solutions from around the world Ace Aquatec hires Ben Perry as sales chief

Dundee-based aquaculture technology company Ace Aquatec has appointed Ben Perry as Head of Sales. He has worked across freshwater and marine finfish production, animal health and genetics for more than 15 years. Perry (pictured, with Ace Aquatec’s A-Biomass camera) comes to Ace Aquatec from Benchmark Holdings Ltd, where he held the role of Sales and Technical Manager, and most recently worked on developing the company’s genetics business in North America.

Feed mills win ASC accreditation

Mexico-based Vimifos and the Chilean branch of multinational group Skretting are the first organisations to win accreditation under the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s new Feed Standard. Both Vimifos and Skretting undertook a rigorous audit process over several months for their sites. The conclusion of the audits has established, the ASC said, that their processes and performances meet the Feed Standard’s robust environmental and social requirements. Vimifos gained certification for three of its feed mills in Mexico producing feed for shrimp, tilapia, trout and marine fish, while Skretting also achieved multi-site certification for two feed mills in Chile producing feed for salmon.

New for the fish farming market – the SpinTouch FX Water Analyser

Using proven photometric technology that has been game-changing in global water testing applications, the SpinTouch FX tests eight parameters, including ammonia, nitrate and nitrite with one water sample, simultaneously, within two minutes. The genius lies in the disc, which uses precisely measured reagents, meaning results are easy to obtain, accurate and repeatable. Portable, rugged and with results displayed on-screen, the SpinTouch FX is the new go-to analyser for on-site testing – helping fish farmers to achieve accurate results thereby maintaining consistency of environment. www.lamotte-europe.com

Vónin Scotland lands £955K for new aquaculture net facility

In a significant advancement for the Scottish aquaculture sector, Vónin Scotland Ltd, a leader in aquaculture services and supplies, has received £955,000 in funding from the Scottish Government.

The grant will contribute towards the large investment required to develop a comprehensive facility for the maintenance, cleaning and treatment of fish farming nets.

Vónin’s new operation will be located adjacent to Mowi Scotland’s feed plant in Kyleakin, Skye, enhancing the infrastructure for sustainable fish farming practices.

This funding, part of the Marine Fund Scotland’s 2023 to 2024 allocations, represents a key initiative to support the marine industry post-Brexit, filling the void left by the absence of the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund. www.vonin.com

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PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Effective and sustainable wastewater treatment in Aquaculture NAPRAS

Alumichem, along with partners, has secured a Green Development and Demonstration Programme grant for the NAPRAS fish farming wastewater treatment project. Collaborating with DTU Aqua, Clean Matter and Drying Matter, the NAPRAS initiative aims to revolutionise wastewater treatment in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). The project focuses on efficient nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) removal, aiming to reduce emissions significantly.

The innovative treatment involves granulated sludge technology, P precipitation, wet electrochemical removal of heavy metals and a drying process, achieving more than 95% removal of N and capturing over 95% of P. The collaborative partnership seeks to address tightening environmental discharge limits in RAS. Learn more online at alumichem.com/effective-and-sustainablewastewater-treatment-in-aquaculture-napras or scan the QR code.

Learn more about solutions for Aquaculture effluent treatment: alumichem.com/aquaculture

GroAqua merges with tech supplier Havida

Norwegian aquaculture technology business Havida has merged with aquaculture supplier GroAqua in a move which, both companies say, strengthens their position in international markets. Havida, based in Brønnøysund, supplies monitoring, control and winch technology in what it describes as “a complete ecosystem”. It holds a strong market position in North and Central Norway. GroAqua is located in Faroes, Scotland, Poland, Denmark and Norway. It was created when Faroes-based JT Electric came together with Sterner AquaTech UK under one brand last year, following JT Electric’s acquisition of Sterner in 2020.

Kontali acquires Nasdaq Salmon Index

Seafood data business Kontali has acquired the Nasdaq Salmon Index, which publishes regular updates on Atlantic salmon prices based on the Norwegian export market. It has been operated by Nasdaq since 2008.

Erik Flingtorp, Global Head of Seafood at Nasdaq (pictured, left) said: “Kontali has the knowledge, experience, development capacity and trustworthiness to support and strengthen the position of the Salmon Index under their own brand.

Kontali’s Jan Erik Øksenvåg (right) added: “While it will be ‘business as usual’ for all users, we have plans to enhance and introduce more services and features to the index in the future.”

Faroes’ Fiskaaling rebrands to reflect wider role

The Faroese aquaculture research establishment Fiskaaling is rebranding as Firum in a move which, it says, more accurately reflects the institution’s range of activities, which involve research into all forms of aquaculture, fish and plant based. Fiskaaling (literally, “fish farming”) might indicate, the organisation says, that the company itself farms fish, but this is not the case. The new name was arrived at by combining the Faroese words FIRðir (fjords) and UMhvørvi (environment).

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INDUSTRY DIARY

Industry DIARY The latest aquaculture events, conferences and courses JUNE 24

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Ketchikan, Alaska September 11-12, 2024

Leading conference for the seaweed sector in the US.

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Medellin, Colombia September 24-27, 2024

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Hammamet,Tunisia November 20-23, 2024

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Copenhagen, Denmark August 26-30, 2024

Aquaculture conference and exhibition organised by the European and World Aquaculture Society.

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OPINION – INSIDE TRACK

What shall I talk about?

By Nick Joy

T

HERE’S hardly been any news about farming, so what on earth can I talk about? With French farmers dumping God knows what on their parliament and Brussels trying to fend them off the EU, there’s barely anything interesting going on. Yet the media are finding it hard to cover. Occasionally, they mention the green agenda but nobody in the mainstream press actually gets what’s going on.

This is about livelihoods, careers, families and most of all, the loss of knowledge of the land. For those of us who have been in food production all our lives, the idea that we would risk losing that knowledge is beyond imagination.

For us in aquaculture it seems so far away and so unconnected, yet it may soon be. To understand better, we have to look back at how the farmers became trapped between a rock and a hard place. It is easy to look at them now and think: “Why can’t they just work themselves out of the situation like most businesses could? Why not drive more efficiency or more productivity?

After all, their market, like aquaculture’s, is assured.”

When rationing ended at the end of the Second World War, food was scarce and a new government thought that anything was possible. They tried many different ways to fix food prices or at least control the fluctuations. By the 1970s, price controls on bread, soap and many other staples were attempted. Such measures were bound to fail but farmers’ lives were played with in the process.

Subsidising farms was viewed as necessary to increase production. This succeeded and though some like to call the farmers greedy for overproducing, why would anyone turn down the opportunity? The problem was that normal market mechanisms weren’t allowed to act. For us in aquaculture, the periods of price collapse were salutary and led to restructuring for the industry, but in agriculture, no such force came into play.

The other critical component for agriculture is that it is limited by size, not just because of the value of the asset but because the knowledge required of each field makes it much harder to deal in larger and larger farms. Land farming will always need local knowledge, passed from generation to generation.

Once we joined the EU, this all became much further entrenched as the farming groups in Europe are far more radical than those of the UK. In France, for instance, the typical farm size is quite small and, without subsidy, these businesses could be wiped out quickly. So they react strongly to any cuts in support.

The average age of farmers in this country is now around 59.

Some suggest it is time for farmers to hang up their boots but in this lies another fundamental problem. Firstly, the farmers themselves have watched their incomes dwindle, so giving up is less easy. Then their children have watched their parents work every hour God sends to try to make a living while government experiments to see what works. Why would they want to do it?

There are many more subtle and complex facets to this issue, but the essential components are as described. So now add in the modern supposed “green” mantra. Farming has not become about producing food but trying to interpret the will of

66

”

The idea that we would risk losing that knowledge is beyond imagination

an increasingly dilettante government.

Imagine trying to work out a business strategy based on a capricious market that changes its mind every three or four years.

So here we are, at the end of a long experiment with food producers and they have had enough. Oh, sure the French are jumping up and down as usual but now even the mild-mannered Scots are going the same way.

Earlier I mentioned that it might one day come to our industry. Imagine a government that defined the price of salmon. We all know how hard it is to predict the challenges that face a salmon farm year on year. If government determined the price in the face of such variable cost, what chance would we have of survival?

In the end, those who advocate producing less are Darwinian tree surgeons cutting off the limb they are sitting on. We need food and the people who can make it happen. The problems only come when those in power are too distanced from the source of their food.

Just in case you were getting hopeful, this is just the beginning…

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