Scottish fish farm production survey 2017

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

Production survey information was collected from all 24 companies actively involved in the freshwater production of Atlantic salmon, farming 79 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 2008-2017

Year	No. of companies	No. of sites
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
2017	24	79

In 2017 the number of companies authorised by the Scottish Government for freshwater production of Atlantic salmon decreased by two to 24. A total of 79 sites were actively engaged in commercial production, a decrease of eight from the 2016 figure.

Production and Staffing

Table 13: Number (000’s) of smolts produced, staff employed and smolt productivity during

2007-2017

Year		2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Number (000’s) of smolts produced		38,125	36,450	36,868	36,872	43,626	44,324	40,457	45,004	44,571	42,894	46,152
Staffing	Full-time	217	209	216	233	225	235	237	244	239	252	250
	Part-time	62	54	54	56	68	93	48	65	55	42	41
	Total	279	263	270	289	293	328	285	309	294	294	291
Productivity, 000’s of smolts per person		136.6	138.6	136.5	127.6	148.9	135.1	142.0	145.6	151.6	145.9	158.6

Smolt production in 2017 increased by 8% compared to 2016. The number of staff employed in 2017 decreased by three and productivity increased by 8.7% to a figure of 158.6 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

Table 14: Number of smolts (000’s) produced by type during 2005-2017

Year	S½	S1	S1½	S2	Total
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
2017	28,072	18,080	0	0	46,152

In 2017, there was an increase in the number of S½ smolts (12.0%) and S1 smolts (1.4%) produced. There was no production of S1½ and S2 smolts in 2017.

Production Systems

Table 15: Number and capacity of production systems during 2013-2017

System	No. of sites with system					Total capacity, 000’s cubic metres
Year	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Cages	44	41	38	38	36	372	351	355	400	357
Tanks and Raceways	58	55	49	49	43	64	65	47	46	55
Total	102	96	87	87	79	436	416	402	446	412

The principal types of facility used for the production of smolts in freshwater are cages or tanks and raceways. In 2017, the number of farms using cages decreased by two and the number of farms using tanks and raceways decreased by six. In terms of volume, cage capacity decreased by 43,000 m³ while tank and raceway capacity increased by 9,000 m³. This resulted in a net decrease in volume of 34,000 m³ available for the production of smolts in Scotland during 2017.

Table 16: Number (000’s) of smolts produced and stocking densities by production system during

2013-2017

	Number of smolts produced (000’s)					Stocking densities (smolts/m3)
Year	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Cages	20,910	22,816	18,135	15,884	17,207	56	65	51	40	48
All others	19,547	22,188	26,436	27,010	28,945	305	341	562	587	526
Total	40,457	45,004	44,571	42,894	46,152	-	-	-	-	-

The average stocking densities of cages increased from 40 to 48 smolts per m³ in 2017 compared to 2016, while densities in tanks and raceways decreased from 587 to 526 smolts per m³.

Ova Production

Table 17: Number (000’s) of salmon ova produced during 2010-2017

Year	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
No. of ova	91,655	78,208	57,489	56,904	33,450	11,605	13,689	12,631

In 2017, 12.6 million ova were stripped, a decrease of 8% from the number of ova produced in 2016.

Table 18: Source, number (000’s) and previous year’s estimate of ova laid down to hatch during 2006-2018

Year	In-house broodstock	Out-sourced GB broodstock	GB wild broodstock	Foreign ova	Total	Previous year's estimate
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	6,228	360	0	59,158	65,746	60,673
2018						67,374

The number of ova laid down to hatch was 65.7 million, an increase of 1.4 million (2.2%) on the 2016 figure. The majority of the ova (90.0%) were derived from foreign sources, this being an increase of 0.7 million (1.2%) on the 2016 figure. Supplies derived from GB broodstock increased by 0.7 million, a 11.9% increase on the 2016 figure. No ova from GB wild broodstock were laid down in 2017, 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 2008-2019

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Actual smolts put to sea	36.6	38.5	38.5	42.7	41.1	40.9	48.1	45.5	43.0	46.1
Smolts produced	36.4	36.9	36.9	43.6	44.3	40.5	45.0	44.6	42.9	46.2
Estimated production	34.9	32.6	28.7	35.9	31.3	28.1	39.9	43.4	36.6	39.3	46.1	50.9
Ratio of ova laid down to smolts produced	1.7	1.8	1.9	1.5	1.4	1.6	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.4

The figure for the number of smolts put to sea includes smolts produced in England and smolts imported from elsewhere, whereas smolt production data relate only to those produced in Scotland. Smolt producers estimate putting 46.1 million smolts to sea in 2018. The ratio of ova laid down to hatch to smolts produced in 2017 was less than the ratio in 2016.

Scale of Production

Table 20: Smolt-producing sites grouped by numbers (000’s) of smolts produced during 2004‑2017

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
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
2017	1	0	0	2	6	11	10	15	45	46,152

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 2017 was 45. The number of sites producing less than 101,000 smolts has decreased by two and there has also been a decrease of four 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 three.

Production of Ova and Smolt by Production Area

Table 21: Staffing in 2017, ova laid down to hatch in 2016-2017, smolt production in 2016-2017 and estimated production in 2018-2019 by region

Region	Number of staff employed in 2017		Ova laid down to hatch (000’s)		Smolt production (000’s)		Estimated smolt production (000’s)
	F/T	P/T	2016	2017	2016	2017	2018	2019
North West	133	26	31,637	34,643	23,787	26,316	25,999	30,736
Orkney	2	2	0	159	150	145	130	130
Shetland	28	0	7,834	7,602	3,428	3,055	3,450	3,750
West	53	11	17,363	16,362	10,386	10,675	11,578	11,518
Western Isles	24	2	6,460	6,980	3,785	4,769	4,445	4,270
East and South	10	0	1,052	0	1,358	1,192	540	540
All Scotland	250	41	64,346	65,746	42,894	46,152	46,142	50,944

In 2017, the North West and the West were the main areas where ova were laid down to hatch. The North West and the West 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.

Figure 2: The distribution of active Atlantic salmon smolt sites in 2017

Imports and Exports

Table 22a: Source and number (000’s) of salmon ova, parr and smolts imported during 2005-2017 derived from health certificates

Import Year	Ova						Parr and Smolts
	EU Member States	EFTA		Third Countries		Total	EU Member States/ EFTA - Norway
		Iceland	Norway	Australia	USA
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
2017	7,000	13,883	37,025	0	0	57,908	2,012 0

The numbers of ova imported increased by 17.3%. The number of parr and smolts imported increased from that observed in 2016, with just over 2 million parr and smolts imported from EU member states.

Table 22b: Destination and number (000’s) of salmon ova, parr and smolts exported during 2006-2017 derived from health certificates

Export year	Farmed origin ova				Total	Parr and Smolts
	Chile	EU	Norway	Others
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
2017	0	16	0	323	339	206

In 2017, 339,000 ova were exported. Parr and smolt exports increased by 33,000 fish on the 2016 figure.

Vaccines

Table 23: Number of sites using vaccines and number (millions) of fish vaccinated during 2009-2017

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
No. of sites	68	70	67	63	63	56	55	47	46
No. of fish (millions) vaccinated	39.6	42.6	49.2	48.1	47.5	44.7	48.0	42.6	58.4

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 58.4 million fish were vaccinated across 46 sites.

Escapes

In 2017, there was one incident involving the loss of 163 fish from a site rearing freshwater Atlantic salmon.