Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2011

2. ATLANTIC SALMON ( Salmo salar) - OVA AND SMOLTS

Production survey information was collected from all 28 companies actively involved in the freshwater production of Atlantic salmon, farming 98 active sites. This figure represents the entire freshwater industry operating in Scotland.

Company and Site Data

Table 12: Number of companies and sites in production during 2003-2011

Year	No. of companies	No. of sites
2003	48	176
2004	48	172
2005	41	148
2006	39	135
2007	37	135
2008	38	130
2009	30	105
2010	31	104
2011	28	98

In 2011 the number of companies authorised by the Scottish Government and actively engaged in the freshwater production of Atlantic salmon decreased by three to 28. A total of 98 sites were actively engaged in commercial production.

Production and Staffing

Table 13: Number (000's) of smolts produced, staff employed and smolt productivity during 2001-2011

Year		2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Number (000's) of smolts produced		47,546	47,161	44,414	39,999	36,326	40,827	38,125	36,450	36,868	36,872	43,626
Staffing	Full-time	317	312	291	259	200	209	217	209	216	233	225
	Part-time	111	93	82	60	74	62	62	54	54	56	68
	Total	428	405	373	319	274	271	279	263	270	289	293
Productivity, 000's of smolts per person		111.1	116.4	119.1	125.4	132.6	150.6	136.6	138.6	136.5	127.6	148.9

Smolt production in 2011 increased by 18.3% compared to 2010. The number of staff employed increased by four and productivity increased by 16.7%, to a figure of 148,900 smolts produced per employee.

Escapes

There was one incident involving the loss of 1,500 fish from a freshwater Atlantic salmon site in 2011.

Smolts by Age Group

Table 14: Number of smolts (000's) produced by type during 2000-2011

Year	S½	S1	S1½	S2	Total
2000	11,841	33,722	0	20	45,583
2001	14,684	32,732	110	20	47,546
2002	15,791	30,527	843	0	47,161
2003	14,907	28,836	671	0	44,414
2004	14,428	24,862	709	0	39,999
2005	12,639	22,197	1,489	1	36,326
2006	16,953	23,172	698	4	40,827
2007	15,431	22,694	0	0	38,125
2008	12,431	24,019	0	0	36,450
2009	13,837	23,031	0	0	36,868
2010	14,116	22,756	0	0	36,872
2011	17,233	26,393	0	0	43,626

In 2011, production was dominated by S1 smolts, numbers produced increased by 16.0%. The production of S½ smolts increased by 22.1%. There was no production of S1½ or S2 smolts.

Production Systems

Table 15: Number and capacity of production systems during 2007-2011

System	No. of sites with system					Total capacity, 000's cubic metres
Year	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Cages	56	53	47	45	44	327	385	388	401	325
Tanks and Raceways	79	77	58	59	54	37	41	37	38	49
Total	135	130	105	104	98	364	426	425	439	374

The principal types of facility used for the production of smolts in fresh water are cages or tanks and raceways. In 2011, the number of farms using tanks and raceways decreased by five and the number of farms using cages decreased by one. In terms of volume, tank and raceway capacity increased by 11,000 m³ and cage volume decreased by 76,000 m³. This resulted in a net decrease in volume of 65,000 m³ available for the production of smolts in Scotland during 2011.

Table 16: Number (000's) of smolts produced and stocking densities by production system during 2007-2011

	Number of smolts produced (000's)					Stocking densities (smolts /m 3)
Year	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Cages	19,440	17,065	17,041	20,333	23,135	59	44	44	51	71
All others	18,685	19,385	19,827	16,539	20,491	505	472	536	435	418
Total	38,125	36,450	36,868	36,872	43,626	-	-	-	-	-

The average stocking densities of cages increased from 51 to 71 fish per m³ in 2011 compared to 2010 while densities in tanks and raceways decreased from 435 to 418 fish per m³.

Ova Production

Table 17: Number (000's) of salmon ova produced during 2004-2011

Year	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
No. of ova	128,866	73,211	60,941	83,822	135,230	91,964	91,655	78,208

Just over 78.2 million ova were stripped in 2011, a decrease of over 13.4 million (14.7%) on the 2010 season.

Table 18: Source, number (000's) and previous year's estimate of ova laid down to hatch during 2000-2012

Year	In-house broodstock	Out-sourced GB broodstock	GB wild broodstock	Foreign ova	Total	Previous year's estimate
2000	38,674	33,592	1,605	4,660	78,531	69,220
2001	40,086	32,002	615	10,720	83,423	83,458
2002	40,732	30,664	120	15,184	86,700	80,679
2003	38,766	21,138	0	20,822	80,726	73,193
2004	31,390	20,024	27	19,138	70,579	74,464
2005	43,261	22,465	71	9,896	75,693	65,741
2006	19,063	17,768	63	27,157	64,051	58,385
2007	18,837	14,366	78	42,022	75,303	68,032
2008	19,831	14,261	171	26,409	60,672	75,302
2009	17,148	20,158	65	30,200	67,571	64,693
2010	13,744	26,220	0	29,657	69,621	61,011
2011	15,664	14,630	0	34,322	64,616	54,526
2012						55,723

The number of ova laid down to hatch was 64.6 million, a decrease of just over 5 million (7.2%) on the 2010 figure. The majority of the ova (53.1%) were derived from foreign sources this being an increase of 4.7 million (15.7%) on the 2010 figure. Supplies derived from GB broodstock decreased by 9.7 million this being a 24.2% decrease on the 2010 figure. Producers' estimates for the number of ova to be laid down in 2012 has decreased from the actual number of ova laid down in 2011. No ova from GB wild broodstock were laid down in 2011, however, in previous years the ova derived from wild stocks were generally held and hatched for wild stock enhancement by the aquaculture industry in cooperation with wild fisheries managers.

Smolts Produced and Put to Sea

Table 19: Actual and projected smolt production and smolts put to sea (millions) during 2002-2013

	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Actual smolts put to sea	50.1	43.8	39.1	37.2	41.1	37.8	36.6	38.5	38.5	42.7
Smolts produced	47.2	44.4	40.0	36.3	40.8	38.1	36.4	36.9	36.9	43.6
Estimated production	49.3	44.2	40.0	36.2	33.2	41.2	34.9	32.6	28.7	35.9	31.3	43.6
Ratio of ova laid down to smolts produced	1.8	1.8	1.8	2.1	1.6	2.0	1.7	1.8	1.9	1.5

The figure for the number of smolts put to sea includes smolts produced in England and fish imported from elsewhere, whereas smolt production data relate only to those produced in Scotland. Farmers estimate putting 31.3 million smolts to sea in 2012.

The ratio of ova laid down to hatch to smolts produced in 2011 was less than the ratio in 2010.

Scale of Production

Table 20: Smolt-producing sites grouped by numbers (000's) of smolts produced during 1999‑2011

Year	Scale of production								No. of sites in production	Total smolts produced
	1-10	11-25	26-50	51-100	101-250	251-500	501-1,000	>1,000
1999	1	1	15	25	29	24	21	7	123	39,763
2000	1	2	10	17	36	24	24	9	123	45,583
2001	0	1	7	19	30	26	13	14	110	47,546
2002	1	1	11	17	29	34	17	10	120	47,161
2003	2	0	7	20	32	31	12	10	114	44,414
2004	3	3	9	14	31	22	18	7	107	39,999
2005	2	1	4	15	25	22	21	4	94	36,326
2006	1	4	2	9	19	21	18	10	84	40,827
2007	2	2	4	7	21	21	14	11	82	38,125
2008	2	1	5	8	21	20	15	9	81	36,450
2009	0	0	3	7	14	18	10	12	64	36,868
2010	1	0	4	4	16	15	10	14	64	36,872
2011	1	0	4	5	11	14	9	17	61	43,626

Note: These data refer only to sites producing smolts. The sites holding only ova, fry or parr are excluded.

The number of sites producing smolts has decreased to 61 in 2011. The number of sites producing less than 101,000 smolts has increased by one and there has also been a decrease of seven in the number of sites producing more than 100,000 but less than one million smolts. The number of sites producing in excess of one million smolts per year has increased by three.

Production of Ova and Smolt by Production Area

Table 21: Staffing 2011, ova laid down to hatch 2010-2011, smolt production 2010-2011 and estimated production 2012-2013 by region

Region	Number of staff employed in 2011		Ova laid down to hatch (000's)		Smolt production (000's)		Estimated smolt production (000's)
	F/T	P/T	2010	2011	2010	2011	2012	2013
North West	132	31	34,316	31,950	21,927	23,420	16,665	23,615
Orkney	2	0	0	0	100	118	120	120
Shetland	12	13	2,010	1,710	1,300	1,706	1,185	1,560
West	36	9	15,395	16,501	7,328	9,631	7,000	9,660
Western Isles	30	2	10,580	9,868	4,099	6,459	4,788	6,850
East and South	13	13	7,320	4,587	2,118	2,292	1,554	1,790
All Scotland	225	68	69,621	64,616	36,872	43,626	31,312	43,595

The North West, the West and the Western Isles were the main ova and smolt producing areas in Scotland in 2011 and employed the greatest number of staff.

International Trade in Ova

Since the introduction of the EU single market on 1 ^st January 1993 and the associated Fish Health Regulations common to all EU member states, a trade in live salmon and ova has been established.

In addition, the European Economic Area ( EEA) Agreement allows trade between the EU and the member states of the European Free Trade Association ( EFTA). Until 2003, trade under the EEA Agreement was restricted to halibut alevins and salmonid eggs or gametes. With the cessation of these restrictions, trade became based on the same rules as are established within the EU regarding compartments and zones declared free from listed diseases. Areas of Norway have equivalent status to Great Britain with regard to non exotic diseases, but approved National Control Measures granted to Great Britain in respect of Gyrodactylus salaris has meant trade in live fish has not occurred. Changes to these protective measures in 2003 mean the importation of salmonid ova is permitted from Norway.

Trade with Third Countries has also been established, but only from sites that have met the same health standards as are established within the EU regarding the approval of farms and zones for listed diseases. Exports to countries outside the EU are subject to the health conditions placed by the importing country. Marine Scotland Science advises potential exporters to ascertain with the importing country any specific health testing requirements that may be a condition of import.

Figure 2: The distribution of active smolt sites in 2011

Imports and Exports

Table 22a: Source and number (000's) of ova, parr and smolts imported during 2000-2011 derived from health certificates

	Ova						Parr and Smolts
Import Year	EU Member States	EFTA		Third Countries		Total	EU Member States
		Iceland	Norway	Australia	USA
2000	0	4,610	-	500	-	5,110	3,436
2001	8,173	10,833	-	1,620	-	20,626	2,475
2002	8,650	11,623	-	1,800	500	22,573	2,879
2003	7,820	9,518	2,900	550	400	21,188	2,570
2004	4,450	3,475	6,750	1,860	450	16,985	824
2005	2,610	570	13,210	-	450	16,840	150
2006	11,575	300	15,940	2,400	-	30,215	375
2007	10,511	0	33,555	0	0	44,066	420
2008	5,600	0	22,703	0	0	28,303	519
2009	5,460	0	29,938	0	0	35,398	328
2010	2,150	0	26,533	0	0	28,683	452
2011	3,400	0	35,851	0	0	39,251	800

The numbers of ova imported increased by 36.8%. The number of parr and smolts imported increased by 77%.

Table 22b: Destination and number (000's) of salmon ova, parr and smolts exported during 2001-2011 derived from health certificates

Export year	Farmed origin				Total	Parr and Smolts
	Chile	EU	Norway	Others
2001	2,675	8,542	0	0	11,217	349
2002	1,600	6,627	0	0	8,227	0
2003	0	2,171	0	0	2,171	941
2004	2,215	3,699	0	0	5,914	1,488
2005	8,560	3,130	0	1,566	13,256	1,362
2006	26,930	4,312	0	0	31,242	998
2007	32,150	164	0	0	32,314	2,169
2008	62,185	130	0	15	62,330	551
2009	7,181	317	0	0	7,498	89
2010	0	189	600	0	789	130
2011	0	3	0	820	823	183

In 2011, a total of 0.82 million ova were exported. Exports of ova to other EU member states decreased by 98% to 0.003 million in 2011. Overall ova exports increased by 4.3% on the 2010 figure. Parr and smolt exports also increased.

Vaccines

Table 23: Number of sites using vaccines and number (millions) of fish vaccinated during 2003-2011

Year	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
No. of sites	104	98	84	79	73	80	68	70	67
No. of fish (millions) vaccinated	41.7	39.4	33.8	43.5	41.0	36.7	39.6	42.6	49.2

Vaccines were used to provide protection against furunculosis, a disease caused by the bacterium Aeromonas salmonicida, which was the cause of serious losses within the fish farming industry in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Vaccination is normally carried out at the pre‑smolt stage by intra-peritoneal injection. In addition, some sites vaccinated fish against ERM, infectious pancreatic necrosis ( IPN), pancreas disease ( PD) and Vibriosis. A total of 49.2 million fish were vaccinated across 67 sites.