Supply chain resilience

A ban on imported salmon eggs from Norway led AquaGen to come up with a UK-based solution.

When Scotland banned the import of Norwegian salmon eggs in 2019, due to a perceived risk of infectious salmon anaemia (ISA), AquaGen Scotland immediately stepped up efforts to support the domestic industry by using local salmon populations to duplicate the breeding work of its parent company in Norway. These efforts would not have been possible without continuing support from local salmon farming companies, keen to benefit from the ability to shorten production time in seawater, maximise utilisation of sites, reduce pathogen and sea lice risk and cut costs.

Norwegian Elite eggs, which originate from fish selected for performance and with broad enough genetics to support further multiplication from the long established AquaGen strain, were imported to Scotland between 2018 and 2022. These have been used to produce multiple new Elite populations in each generation, and to produce high genetic merit production eggs for sale into the local market.

View inside Holywood farm

Using locally held genetic material together with genomic and performance data from the wider breeding programme in Norway, we have continued to select for the high performing and robust production traits that are attributed to our highly selected Gain and Shield product lines. Gain stocks are the faster growing fish of the two strains, but both offer high protection against IPN (infectious pancreatic necrosis), CMS (cardiomyopathy syndrome), PD (pancreas disease) and HSMI (heart and skeletal muscle inflammation disease).

One of the major benefits of local broodstock production is the opportunity to develop a strain that copes well with specific local challenges. This is achieved by incorporating feedback from harvest data and gill scores, which are evaluated against individual genotypes, to ensure that the most similar fish from broodstock groups fish are used for further breeding.

Breeding is a long-term business, however, and it is only one of the tools in the toolbox available to farmers. The good news is that the broodstock being managed in Scotland continue to match the performance of the Norwegian programme, and ongoing input from our Norwegian and Chilean colleagues is a major factor in helping us to achieve this.

Power of genetics results showing the effect of the male parent from different generations

The power of genetics
Salmon performance is complex, with multiple variables across life stages, production populations, geographical sites, husbandry, feed regimes and health challenges, making the direct comparison of generations year on year difficult to evaluate, and to appreciate the benefits provided by improved breeding.

To enable us to demonstrate the tangible improvements in performance that can be attributed to developments in the AquaGen strain, we recently undertook a study that looked at how our customers’ fish were performing and assessed what further improvements might mean for future gains in the industry.

The study used eggs from a single female population, fertilised with several different generations of males, whose milt had been cryogenically preserved. The fertilised eggs were mixed and reared together in the same environment, in what is often referred to as a “common garden“ experiment.

The results of the trial can be seen in the graph below, but bear in mind that the benefits shown are limited to the male component only; the combined benefit from both parents could be argued to be close to a three kilo increase in harvest weight across the generations considered in the trial. These beneficial gains are already integrated into our products, and future improvements in selection will continue to have significant impacts on the industry. Primarily these will be around shortening sea water cycles and reducing exposure to health and environmental risks at sea.

AquaGen growout data showing performance improvement across the generations

Profunda and export
AquaGen celebrated the official opening of its Profunda facility near Ålesund in November 2023. This was an important milestone, as the full-cycle, land-based facility offers a separate and highly biosecure section that will allow for export of pathogen-free salmon eggs throughout the year, for delivery across the world.

In this facility, the fish stocks are physically separated from the environment, and grown in fresh and marine groundwater drawn from deep wells in glacial deposits formed during the last ice age.

To enable the export of eggs to the UK, the facility must obtain pathogen free status from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) plus agreement from the Office for Phytosanitary and Sanitary Trade Assurance within DEFRA, which requires a two-year surveillance period. AquaGen is confident that the integrity of the new facilities will enable pathogen free status to be achieved.

Shara Routledge, Quality Management Systems Co-Ordinator

New faces
Shara Routledge joined the team in May 2024, with a background in freshwater rainbow trout production at Selcoth Fisheries Ltd. She brings expertise in systems analysis and quality management systems implementation, with a particular focus on welfare and sustainability.

“After fifteen years at the coalface of rainbow trout production, I am thrilled to have joined a dynamic and forward-thinking company investing in innovative breeding solutions at such an exciting time for sustainable aquaculture,” she said. “Selcoth won Sustainable Aquaculture Business of the Year in 2023, and my ambition is to see if AquaGen can do the same in 2025.”

David Roadknight, Site Manager

David Roadknight joined us in April 2024, making the difficult decision to leave Loch Duart after 15 years as their freshwater manager, working in one of the most remote areas of the country.

“I joined AquaGen Scotland as Site Manager, and having seen the challenges as opportunities over the past few months, I am thoroughly excited to be part of a supportive team with the oldest scientific breeding programs for Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout,” he said.

I look forward to the future working with AquaGen, continuing their mission to preserve the unique starting point for creating a healthy and sustainable aquaculture for future generations.