Posts by Editors
£1.6m secured for fish health research
The Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) has announced its support for three innovation projects aimed at enhancing finfish health and welfare in response to a changing climate and other emerging challenges.
The projects concerned will address three major biological threats to farmed fish: micro-jellyfish, harmful algal blooms (HABs) and proliferative kidney disease (PKD).
Read MoreNew name and brand for ECMA awards
Seawork, the European commercial marine & workboats exhibition, has announced a new brand for its prestigious European Commercial Marine Awards (ECMAs). From next year’s event, taking place at Seawork 2025 in June next year, these will be known as the Seawork Awards.
Read MoreMarine Fund Scotland announces latest grant decisions
A trial for a new water-borne feeding system for salmon farmer Cooke Scotland and a new service station for cleaning fish farming nets are among the projects supported in the latest round of funding from the Marine Fund Scotland.
In total, the fund is making grants with a total of £14m for marine industries and coastal and island communities in 2024/25.
Read MorePartnership is key for Aquaculture Africa
Collaboration and partnerships are set to take centre stage at the upcoming Aquaculture Africa 2024 Conference in Tunisia, 19-22 November 202. Aquaculture Africa 2024 Conference (AFRAQ24) takes place this November in Hammamet, Tunisia, with collaboration and partnership at the heart of the three-day event. The great strength of AFRAQ is the bringing together of the…
Read More‘No cover up’, Holyrood committee is told
A hearing held as part of the Scottish Parliament’s inquiry into the salmon farming industry yesterday was dominated by arguments over an alleged “cover-up” ahead of the MSPs’ visit to a fish farm on 23 September.
The Rural Affairs and Islands Committee of the Scottish Parliament is following up on a previous report, in 2008, on the salmon industry. As part of the inquiry, members of the committee visited a Scottish Sea Farms site at Dunstaffnage, near Oban on Scotland’s west coast, on 23 September.
Later that week, campaigning group Animal Equality UK released video footage which, it said, showed dead fish being removed from the pen in the early morning, ahead of the MSPs’ visit. Animal Equality UK Executive Director Abigail Penny said the removal of dead fish – “morts” – indicated that the salmon industry wants to “hide the truth” about mortality in farms.
She argued: “We urge the committee to see the industry for what it truly is: deceptive and deadly.”
At yesterday’s committee hearing, MSPs quizzed representatives of the salmon industry about the issue.
Dr Ralph Bickerdike, Head of Fish Health at Scottish Sea Farms, stressed that the morts removal that had been filmed was a routine exercise carried out at pens regardless of whether any external visitors were expected.
Read MoreMowi’s first post smolts transferred from Loch Etive
Salmon producer Mowi Scotland has transferred the first of its post smolts from Loch Etive to the company’s farm off the isle of Muck, on Scotland’s west coast.
Mowi said the move was a “significant milestone”. The Loch Etive sites were acquired by Mowi as part of its purchase of the fish farming assets of Dawnfresh in 2023. They had previously been used to grow trout, but Mowi has repurposed them to grow post smolt salmon in conditions that, the company hopes, will make the transition from fresh to salt water more sustainable for the fish.
Read MoreMowi denies Blar Mhor was source of river spill
Salmon producer Mowi has denied that its Scottish processing plant was responsible for an apparent pollution incident in the River Lochy, near Fort William.
Read MoreSeagriculture USA 2024 explores new frontiers
The Seagriculture USA 2024 conference, the premier event for the seaweed industry, was successfully held in Ketchikan, Alaska from 11-12 September 2024.
Under the theme “Exploring New Frontiers,” Seagriculture USA 2024 united nearly 200 stakeholders from 10 countries to share knowledge and ideas, steering the future of the seaweed industry towards sustainable and economically viable paths. Representatives from more than 121 companies and institutions actively engaged in discussions, networking, and knowledge sharing.
Read MoreKingfish producer signs supplier for next phase
Land based fish farmer The Kingfish Company has signed a deal with a key supplier for the expansion of its production facility in Zeeland, in the Netherlands.
RAS (recirculating aquaculture systems) specialist VAQ AS will be working on the technology for Phase III of the yellowtail kingfish farm.
Read MoreNew system will turn hatchery waste into fertiliser
Salmon farmer Bakkafrost Scotland has been granted a licence for a treatment system to turn fish waste into fertiliser.
The pyrolysis unit, which turns organic sludge into inert biochar, will be based at Bakkafrost’s hatchery at Applecross.
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