Don’t scrap seafood taskforce, says SSPO

The working group set up to help Scotland’s seafood businesses mitigate the twin impacts of Brexit and Covid-19 should not be disbanded, according to the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation. The Scottish Seafood Exports Taskforce was set up as a joint body with representation from the UK and Scottish governments, as well as the seafood industry.…

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Offshore harvest

A seaweed nursery in Argyll is set for growth after securing investment funding of up to £75,000 investment from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). The £150,000 project aims to expand and commercialise the nursery at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS). The nursery will be operated by SAMS Enterprise, the wholly owned commercial subsidiary…

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Virus may be solution to winter ulcers

Fish health company STIM aims to help fish farmers tackle the problem of winter ulcers, using a virus that targets the bacteria that causes them. STIM’s new biocontrol product was launched at the company’s annual fish health and aquaculture conference in Lofoten last week. It uses a “bacteriophage”, a virus that attacks the bacteria Moritella…

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Samherji signs major RAS deal

A £263m deal to build Iceland’s largest land-based salmon plant was announced last night. It will be located on the coast at Reyjanes, just a few miles south of the capital, Reykjavik and will use the power of Iceland’s hot springs. Samherji, the country’s main integrated fishing company announced it had entered into agreement with…

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Russian Aquaculture sees margins hit in Q1

Russian Aquaculture saw a year-on-year increase in sales volume and revenue for the first quarter of 2021, but earnings took a hit thanks to lower market prices. The company is one of Russia’s leading producers of Atlantic salmon and trout. Q1 saw increased production volumes, with sales totalling 7,800 tonnes, up 28% on the same…

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Måsøval hits fund-raising target

Måsøval, the family-owned Norwegian fish farmer seeking to list on Oslo’s EuroNext Growth market, has succeeded in raising the NOK 825m (£70m) it needs to fund its growth ambitions – less than a week after unveiling its plan. The issue price was set at NOK 32.90 per share and this values the business at NOK…

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Fish health experts warned as IHN cases mount

The Norwegian Veterinary Institute is staging a special webinar today on the viral disease Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis (IHN), as the number of cases continues to spread throughout Denmark. Six Danish fish farms and a Danish unit handling rainbow trout are now infected – more than twice the number of a few days ago. Denmark has…

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GAA hails year of growth despite pandemic

Despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) grew the number of certified operators under its Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) scheme by a tenth through 2020. The GAA’s annual report for 2020 shows that the number of BAP-certified processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills increased 10.7 percent, to 2,918, between…

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The feed conundrum

There have been great strides forward in aquafeed, but the industry will need to continue looking for even better solutions. When I was first in the industry, feed was pelletised not extruded. It sank like a stone in the pens. The pellets were so hard that you couldn’t break them, though they still seemed to…

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BioMar pledges to cut its carbon footprint

Aquafeed giant BioMar has committed to reducing the carbon footprint of its feed by one-third by 2030. The pledge is part of the group’s “2030 Ambitions”, set out alongside BioMar’s 2020 Sustainability Report, also published today. BioMar is specifically promising action on three fronts: Climate Action – BioMar aims to achieve “net zero” greenhouse gas…

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