Taking on the challenges

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Climate change and other factors keep throwing up new threats to fish health, as our expert panel explained in Fish Farmer’s Aqua Agenda webinar. Robert Outram reports THE PANELLISTS  Dr Iain Berrill Head of Technical, Salmon Scotland Dr Iain Berrill has always had an interest in the marine and freshwater environment. He studied a BSc…

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Phased introduction of SEPA’s Sea Lice Framework begins

The first phase of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s new Sea Lice Framework begins this month.   The Framework outlines what SEPA describes as “a proportionate, evidence-based approach to protect young salmon from sea lice”. Built on international best practice and using cutting edge science to triage risk, it will help to support the sustainable development of fish farming in…

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Wild Fisheries Fund invites next round of grant applications

The latest phase of a conservation fund set up by Scotland’s salmon industry has started with a call for funding proposals for this year. The Salmon Scotland Wild Fisheries Fund was created to help save Scotland’s wild salmon by restoring habitats, providing protection from predators, and encouraging river restocking schemes. The fund will see £140,000…

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Gimme shelter

Kelp forests are a cornerstone environmental resource. One seaweed farmer in the west of Scotland is doing its bit to restore them, reports Sandy Neil Highland coastal kelp forests are among seven major environmental projects being supported by Scotland’s salmon farmers to help save iconic wild salmon and sea trout. More than £118,000 has been…

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Aqua Agenda: Fish Health webinar

Thanks to all who attended Fish Farmer’s first Aqua Agenda webinar this week. We had a great panel – Iain Berrill, Head of Technical with Salmon Scotland, Charles Allan, head of the Scottish Fish health Inspectorate and Ronnie Soutar, Head of Veterinary Services with Scottish Sea Farms – addressing the pressing issue of fish health…

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Mapping out the lice threat

Consultation is over and SEPA is getting ready to start enforcing Wild Salmon Protection Zones, reports Robert Outram The Scottish Government is to press forward with the roll-out of Wild Salmon Protection Zones, which will restrict fish farming in areas seen as high risk for wild salmon. The proposed regulatory framework has not, however, been…

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Fish health: your questions please

On Wednesday 24 January at 11.30am GMT, Fish Farmer magazine will be hosting a panel of experts to discuss fish health issues, in the first Aqua Agenda webinar. The discussion will cover the lessons that have been learned since 2022 for salmon farming in Scotland, what the outcomes looked like in 2023 and what the prospects…

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HPMAs: what’s next?

Proposals to bar all commercial activity from 10% of Scotland’s waters have been dropped. Where do we go from here? Sandy Neil finds out The decision, after all the debate, was hardly a surprise. Early in November, the Scottish Government’s Net Zero Secretary, Màiri McAllan MSP, knocked the plan for Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs)…

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The business reset needs to be turbo-charged

Salmon Scotland’s Chief Executive Tavish Scott explains the Scottish Government is saying the right things but needs to act faster After replacing Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister, Humza Yousaf promised to reset the Scottish Government’s relationship with business. The wider private sector had grown increasingly frustrated with several policies emerging from St Andrew’s House, in…

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The Fish Farmer Yearbook is out now online

The Fish Farmer Year Book is out now, and you can read it online here. It will also be available in a hard copy format with the December issue of Fish Farmer. We’re delighted to have a foreword from Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands with the Scottish Government, and a…

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