Scottish fish farm production survey 2016

2. Atlantic Salmon ( Salmo salar) - Ova and Smolts

Production survey information was collected from all 26 companies actively involved in the freshwater production of Atlantic salmon, farming 87 active sites. This figure represents the entire freshwater industry operating in Scotland.

Company and Site Data

Year	No. of companies	No. of sites
2007	37	135
2008	38	130
2009	30	105
2010	31	104
2011	28	98
2012	28	100
2013	27	102
2014	26	96
2015	25	87
2016	26	87

In 2016 the number of companies authorised by the Scottish Government for freshwater production of Atlantic salmon increased by one to 26. A total of 87 sites were actively engaged in commercial production, which remained the same as the 2015 figure.

Production and Staffing

Year		2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Number (000's) of smolts produced		40,827	38,125	36,450	36,868	36,872	43,626	44,324	40,457	45,004	44,571	42,894
Staffing	Full-time	209	217	209	216	233	225	235	237	244	239	252
	Part-time	62	62	54	54	56	68	93	48	65	55	42
	Total	271	279	263	270	289	293	328	285	309	294	294
Productivity, 000's of smolts per person		150.6	136.6	138.6	136.5	127.6	148.9	135.1	142.0	145.6	151.6	145.9

Smolt production in 2016 decreased by 4% compared to 2015. The number of staff employed in 2016 remained the same and productivity decreased by 3.8% to a figure of 145.9 smolts produced per person. Data for staffing and productivity in 2013 are shown, however, there are uncertainties with these data due to consolidation within the industry.

Smolts by Age Group

Year	S½	S1	S1½	S2	Total
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
2012	18,795	25,239	290	0	44,324
2013	19,024	21,279	154	0	40,457
2014	22,367	22,473	164	0	45,004
2015	23,850	20,711	10	0	44,571
2016	25,072	17,822	0	0	42,894

In 2016, there was an increase (5.1%) in the number of S½ smolts produced but a decrease (13.9%) in the number of S1 smolts produced. There was no production of S1½ and S2 smolts in 2016.

Production Systems

System	No. of sites with system					Total capacity, 000's cubic metres
Year	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Cages	43	44	41	38	38	349	372	351	355	400
Tanks and Raceways	57	58	55	49	49	51	64	65	47	46
Total	100	102	96	87	87	400	436	416	402	446

The principal types of facility used for the production of smolts in freshwater are cages or tanks and raceways. In 2016, the number of farms using cages and tanks and raceways remained the same as in 2015. In terms of volume, cage capacity increased by 45,000 m³ and tank and raceway capacity decreased by 1,000 m³. This resulted in a net increase in volume of 44,000 m³ available for the production of smolts in Scotland during 2016.

	Number of smolts produced (000's)					Stocking densities (smolts/m 3 )
Year	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Cages	26,882	20,910	22,816	18,135	15,884	77	56	65	51	40
All others	17,442	19,547	22,188	26,436	27,010	342	305	341	562	587
Total	44,324	40,457	45,004	44,571	42,894	-	-	-	-	-

The average stocking densities of cages decreased from 51 to 40 fish per m³ in 2016 compared to 2015 while densities in tanks and raceways increased from 562 to 587 fish per m³.

Ova Production

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
No. of ova	91,964	91,655	78,208	57,489	56,904	33,450	11,605	13,689

In 2016, 13.7 million ova were stripped, an increase of 18% from the number of ova produced in 2015.

Year	In-house broodstock	Out-sourced GB broodstock	GB wild broodstock	Foreign ova	Total	Previous year's estimate
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	18,556	9,981	0	34,700	63,237	55,723
2013	16,996	8,263	0	41,315	66,573	49,249
2014	14,418	2,725	10	53,684	70,837	48,149
2015	6,479	223	10	61,463	68,175	65,284
2016	5,884	4	0	58,458	64,346	59,604
2017						60,673

The number of ova laid down to hatch was 64.3 million, a decrease of 3.9 million (5.6%) on the 2015 figure. The majority of the ova (90.8%) were derived from foreign sources, this being a decrease of 3.0 million (4.9%) on the 2015 figure. Supplies derived from GB broodstock decreased by 0.8 million, a 12.1% decrease on the 2015 figure. No ova from GB wild broodstock were laid down in 2016, 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

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Actual smolts put to sea	37.8	36.6	38.5	38.5	42.7	41.1	40.9	48.1	45.5	43.0
Smolts produced	38.1	36.4	36.9	36.9	43.6	44.3	40.5	45.0	44.6	42.9
Estimated production	41.2	34.9	32.6	28.7	35.9	31.3	28.1	39.9	43.4	36.6	39.3	43.3
Ratio of ova laid down to smolts produced	2.0	1.7	1.8	1.9	1.5	1.4	1.6	1.6	1.5	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 39.3 million smolts to sea in 2017. The ratio of ova laid down to hatch to smolts produced in 2016 was same as the ratio in 2015.

Scale of Production

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
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
2012	0	0	1	3	19	14	11	13	61	44,324
2013	1	0	1	7	14	14	7	14	58	40,457
2014	0	0	2	1	11	9	14	13	50	45,004
2015	1	1	2	4	9	11	16	11	55	44,571
2016	1	1	0	3	7	11	13	12	48	42,894

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 in 2016 was 48. The number of sites producing less than 101,000 smolts has decreased by three and there has also been a decrease of five in the number of sites producing between 101,000 and one million smolts. The number of sites producing in excess of one million smolts per year increased by one.

Production of Ova and Smolt by Production Area

Region	Number of staff employed in 2016		Ova laid down to hatch (000's)		Smolt production (000's)		Estimated smolt production (000's)
	F/T	P/T	2015	2016	2015	2016	2017	2018
North West	132	29	36,668	31,637	24,788	23,787	17,036	21,531
Orkney	1	3	55	0	142	150	150	150
Shetland	26	0	7,473	7,834	3,372	3,428	5,300	5,300
West	63	8	17,433	17,363	9,625	10,386	11,289	11,160
Western Isles	22	2	5,596	6,460	4,823	3,785	4,382	4,450
East and South	8	0	950	1,052	1,821	1,358	1,127	720
All Scotland	252	42	68,175	64,346	44,571	42,894	39,284	43,311

In 2016, the North West and the West were the main areas where ova were laid down to hatch. The North West, the West and the Western Isles were the main smolt producing areas. The greatest number of staff were employed in the North West region.

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). Trade is based on the same rules as are established within the EU regarding compartments and zones declared free from listed diseases.

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.

Imports and Exports

Import Year	Ova						Parr and Smolts
	EU Member States	EFTA		Third Countries		Total	EU Member States	EFTA - Norway
		Iceland	Norway	Australia	USA
2004	4,450	3,475	6,750	1,860	450	16,985	824	0
2005	2,610	570	13,210	0	450	16,840	150	0
2006	11,575	300	15,940	2,400	0	30,215	375	0
2007	10,511	0	33,555	0	0	44,066	420	0
2008	5,600	0	22,703	0	0	28,303	519	0
2009	5,460	0	29,938	0	0	35,398	328	0
2010	2,150	0	26,533	0	0	28,683	452	0
2011	3,400	0	35,851	0	0	39,251	800	0
2012	10,134	0	23,849	0	0	33,983	0	0
2013	10,700	2,719	35,044	0	0	48,463	55	0
2014	5,218	3,813	49,831	0	0	58,862	1,602	1,748
2015	4,815	8,978	45,926	0	0	59,719	2,118	365
2016	5,444	5,324	38,602	0	0	49,370	1,956	0

The numbers of ova imported decreased by 17.3%. The number of parr and smolts imported decreased from that observed in 2015, with only 1.9 million parr and smolts imported from EU member states.

Export year	Farmed origin ova				Total	Parr and Smolts
	Chile	EU	Norway	Others
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	0	0	820	820	183
2012	0	0	0	0	0	55
2013	0	650	0	0	650	404
2014	0	0	0	0	0	259
2015	0	93	0	2	95	8
2016	0	335	0	23	361	173

In 2016, 361,000 ova were exported. Parr and smolt exports increased by 165,000 fish on the 2015 figure.

Vaccines

Year	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
No. of sites	80	68	70	67	63	63	56	55	47
No. of fish (millions) vaccinated	36.7	39.6	42.6	49.2	48.1	47.5	44.7	48.0	42.6

Vaccines were used to provide protection against furunculosis, infectious pancreatic necrosis ( IPN), ERM, vibriosis and salmonid alphavirus ( SAV). The majority of fish were vaccinated against furunculosis and IPN, with smaller numbers of fish being vaccinated against ERM, vibriosis and SAV. A total of 42.6 million fish were vaccinated across 47 sites.

Escapes

In 2016, there were no reported escapes from sites rearing freshwater Atlantic salmon.