Archive for February 2019
Visitor centre tells The Salmon story
NORWEGIAN Prime Minister Erna Solberg said she hoped a salmon farming visitor centre in Oslo would help address misconceptions about the industry. At yesterday’s official opening of the centre, called The Salmon, she acknowledged the importance of aquaculture to the country’s economy and said the government was committed to its growth. ‘The salmon industry is…
Read MoreSAIC gets top farmers on board
DAWNFRESH farming director Alison Hutchins and the managing director of Shetland Mussels, Michael Tait, have joined the board of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC), it was announced today. With a combined 35 years of experience, Hutchins and Tait will enhance the board’s existing expertise, said SAIC in a press release. The board consists of…
Read MoreRow erupts over seafood export charges
SCOTTISH seafood businesses claim they are facing prohibitive increases in export costs because of council hikes, according to a new report last night. The row centres on local authority health certificates, with some costs rising almost thirtyfold in less than two years. Health certificates are required when selling to countries outside the EU, but they…
Read MoreAKVA man Johnson to retire
ONE of aquaculture’s most familiar faces, Dougie Johnson of AKVA, has announced his retirement. Johsnon, sales director at Inverness based AKVA Group Scotland, has worked across the industry in a career spanning more than 40 years. He began as a salmon and trout farmer in the mid-1970s, and went on to work at Kames and…
Read MoreLerøy posts strong Q4 results
THE Lerøy Seafood Group today posted substantially higher earnings and profits for the final quarter of 2018. The group, which owns a half share in Scottish Sea Farms, announced that Q4 revenues rose by NOK 773,000 to NOK 5,340 million. Harvest total was up by 17 per cent 49,000 tonnes gutted weight of salmon and…
Read MoreIndustry forges links with PhD talent pool
AQUACULTURE’S future leaders will meet with industry representatives in a series of seminars designed to find new ways of tackling the sector’s challenges. Four PhD students from the universities of Stirling, Aberdeen, and Glasgow, as well as the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), will join 11 participants from Scottish companies, including Mowi, BioMar, the…
Read MoreEU raids cost salmon firms millions
ALMOST seven billion kroner (about £625 million) has been wiped off the value of a number of Norwegian salmon farming companies following a series of inspections by EU officials in Scotland and the Netherland last week. The Seafood Index on the Oslo Stock Exchange has taken a huge hit during the last few days, with…
Read MoreIntelligent feed tool a farming ‘breakthrough’
A FEEDING system using artificial intelligence has been described as a ‘revolutionary breakthrough’ for fish farmers. The innovative software uses artificial intelligence (AI) to not only optimise feed costs with pellet recognition technology, but also provides a detailed analysis of fish behaviour. Created by London based Observe Technologies in partnership with AKVA group Scotland, the…
Read MoreSalMar to accelerate Iceland expansion
SALMAR has announced it is to speed up the development of its Icelandic salmon business Arnarlax after it completed securing a majority stake in the company today. The Norwegian salmon farmer has informed the Oslo Stock Exchange that it has proceeded with its plan to purchase 3,268,670 shares in Arnlarlax at a price of NOK…
Read MoreInsect farmer secures $125m funding
A FRENCH insect farmer has secured $125 million from venture capital investors to build the world’s biggest insect farm, to be run by robots. Ynsect, one of the early pioneers of insect farming, rears a type of beetle for fish feed, as well as for pets and fertilising plants. The fundraising round, which will be…
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