May 28, 2018

 

Scotland lays groundwork for sustainable aquaculture

 

Scotland's aquaculture sector and concerned government agencies have jointly developed a 10-Year Farmed Fish Health Framework, which includes measures to improve fish health, protect the marine environment, and ensure Scotland's No. 1 food export grows sustainably.

 

The strategic plan outlines several key areas of activity, including managing sea lice, ensuring better information flow and transparency, and tackling issues around climate change.

 

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing explained that since aquaculture is one of Scotland's great food success stories, "[w]e want that success to continue into the future so getting the balance right between future economic growth and protecting the marine environment is vital". 

 

"Sustainability is at the heart of this framework, which has been developed by all the key partners. It will seek to address current and future health challenges, focus on investment in innovation and ensure appropriate regulation", he said.

 

Ben Hadfield, managing director of Marine Harvest Scotland and co-chair of the Framework Working Group, said the Farmed Fish Health Framework sets out collaborative activity to ensure that growth is achieved in the most sustainable way.

 

Ensuring good health of salmon and trout

 

"Ensuring good health status of our salmon and trout stocks will maximise economic contribution, whilst minimising the environmental footprint of our farming operations", he said.

 

Scotland's farmed salmon and trout sector has become an important contributor to the country's economy. Scotland is one of the world's top five producers of salmon.

 

Earlier last month, a Scottish Parliament committee that looked into the current state of the country's aquaculture industry found that the sector did not fully understand the importance of the impact it has on the environment.

 

The committee on the environment, climate change and land reform said in its report that it was "deeply concerned that the growth of the sector is taking place without a full understanding of the environmental impacts".

 

The Parliament committee report added that it was not convinced that the sector was being regulated sufficiently.

 

The Scottish government is currently in the process of establishing a working group to look at how the country advances the dialogue on the interaction between wild and farmed salmon.