Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2021

Foreword

The annual production survey of fish farms in Scotland for 2021 was carried out by Marine Scotland Science (MSS). This survey collates annual production data from Scottish fin fish farm sites operated by authorised aquaculture production businesses. These are Official Statistics published in accordance with the Code of Practice for official Statistics, https://gss.civilservice.gov.uk/policy-store/code-of-practice-for-statistics/. The production tonnage obtained is for the wet weight (i.e. weight of live fish) at harvest.

Responses to questionnaires from Scottish fish farming companies covering the period 1^st January to 31^st December 2021 are summarised in this report and returns are consistently received from 100% of companies. The questionnaires are given in Appendix 1a-d. The survey is structured to allow readers to follow industry trends within the rainbow trout, Atlantic salmon and other farmed species sectors. Data from previous years have been reassessed and updated where necessary. To allow direct comparison to data provided in previous surveys, production information by region is presented in defined areas.

Some Tables have been reformatted in this report. Tables 33 and 34 (salmon farm and company sizes) use different size categories compared to those used in earlier reports, reflecting the larger farms and companies involved in modern salmon production. Historic data has been recalculated to these new categories for comparability. The old format data will still be available on the Marine Scotland Data pages, Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey Data | Marine Scotland Data Publications. In addition, Table 40 and Table 42 now exclude production figures for larval stage cleaner fish which may be traded for on-growing at facilities outside of Scotland, shortly after hatching. These tables now refer only to cleaner fish large enough to deploy on salmon farms. Trade in larval stage fish are included in Table 44: Trade in small fish.

The cooperation of the Scottish fish farming industry in completing the questionnaires is gratefully acknowledged. The author also acknowledges Liam Mason, Joanne Murphy, Sandy Murray, Keith Mutch, Ed Noble, Mhairi Sinclair, Ronald Smith, Stuart Wallace and Andrea Warwick for their contributions to the production of this report.

L A Munro

October 2022