Scotland’s salmon farmers can look back on a record 12 months but they must wait until the New Year for government to give the green light for growth, writes Jenny Hjul in this month’s round-up of industry news

Scotland’s salmon farmers end the year on a high note, with the best survival rates in four years, as reported last month, and on course for record exports when the final figures are calculated in the New Year.

International sales of Scotland’s biggest food export were up 11 per cent to £191 million between the start of July and the end of September, compared to the same quarter last year, taking the nine-month total in 2024 to £622 million – a 30 per cent year-on-year rise.

The domestic market, meanwhile, is valued at £1.2 billion a year, and the sector’s economic contribution is worth £766 million for the Scottish and UK economies, the Scotsman reported.

‘The popularity of Scottish salmon continues to soar at home and abroad, and we are heading for a record-breaking year of success,’ said Tavish Scott, chief executive of trade body Salmon Scotland.

But demand continues to outstrip supply and businesses have called on government, both devolved and in Westminster, to help the sector grow so Scotland can increase its share of the global market.

Salmon Scotland’s James Park told the Scottish Affairs committee’s one-day inquiry into salmon farming this month: ‘We’ve gone in 10 years from 10 per cent of global production to five and a half per cent. In that time, Norway has added a whole of Scotland to their volumes and there has also been strong growth in Iceland and the Faroes.’

Mowi Scotland boss Ben Hadfield urged MPs to support salmon farmers: ‘We need to back ourselves and set about producing more, keeping more of that wealth creation in Scotland, and governments need to seriously think, how do we help this industry to succeed.’

Also appearing before the Commons committee, Scottish Sea Farms Head of Sustainability and Development Anne Anderson said climate change and warming sea temperatures posed the biggest challenge to the sector, but the remedy, moving farms to more suitable locations, required regulatory reform.

Anderson and Hadfield both stressed the need for a nimbler applications process that enabled a transformation of the sector from its more traditional sheltered locations to higher energy sites.

Salmon leaders have already rehearsed these arguments with MSPs in Holyrood’s Rural Affairs and Islands committee (RAIC) inquiry, which finished taking evidence in November.

The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Mairi Gougeon, backed farmers, telling the committee that that they were doing everything they could to maximise survival and should not be prevented from growing sustainably.

Salmon companies had hoped the RAIC report would be delivered before Christmas but the committee is still deliberating and is not expected to publish its findings now until January.

Offshore ambitions

Growing interest from the Scottish aquaculture sector in exploring offshore farming, which has been successfully established in parts of Norway, has prompted a review of marine planning rules.

The Scottish government recently completed a consultation over its proposals to extend planning zones, currently restricted to three nautical miles, out to 12 nautical miles.

But ocean scientists have said local councils should not be given jurisdiction over the new offshore licensing system because they lack the necessary resources. Instead, the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) has called on the government to set up a regional organisation to manage Scotland’s west coast waters from the Mull of Kintyre to Cape Wrath, integrating fish farms with industries such as offshore renewable energy, Fish Farming Expert reported.

They say a more coordinated, science-based approach is needed to make the most of Scotland’s waters and ensure sustainable development.

Development of a different nature is also being held up by planning obstacles, as the pioneer behind Scotland’s first semi-closed containment farm waits a decision on its future.

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority’s planning board refused permission for Loch Long Salmon’s 3,400-tonne farm at Beinn Reithe, Loch Long, in October 2022, and that decision was appealed in February 2023. A government planning inquiry was held more than a year ago but the company remains in limbo.

Loch Long Salmon project director Mark Shotter told Fish Farming Expert the £40 million project ‘will deliver economic benefits to the local and national economy while creating jobs and advancing Scotland’s aquaculture targets’.

The plans include four floating 140m circumference impermeable enclosures, which will reduce sea lice numbers as water will be pumped in from below the layer of the water column where sea lice are normally found.

AquaBounty’s end

Across the pond, a pioneering fully closed containment enterprise, raising genetically modified organism (GMO) salmon, appears to have come to an end. AquaBounty Technologies announced on December 11 it was closing its last farming operation in Canada’s Prince Edward Island.

Retired fisheries scientist John Martell told Undercurrent News the company’s failure was more an RAS (recirculating aquaculture system) issue than a GMO one.

‘The decision to produce a fast-growing fish in land-based systems is well thought out, but land-based technologies are still in their infancy,’ he said.

More successful is a closed farming concept tested in Norway, which has proved to be a promising alternative to conventional open pen production.

Bluegreen, the developer of the Marine Donut, said results from its first full-scale trial, conducted with 195,000 salmon, achieved a low mortality rate of just 0.8 per cent, according to Salmon Business.

The floating flow-through facility constructed from high-density polyethylene, and operated by SalMar, is licensed under a development permit from Norway’s Directorate of Fisheries, which allows the testing of innovative farming solutions.

Bluegreen said there were no escapes, no lice treatments, and no use of medication during the test period.

Sea lice solutions

Norway experienced unprecedented high levels of sea lice this year, with ‘never before seen’ levels of sea lice at its salmon farms in the far north, attributed to unusually high seawater temperatures.

Now, separate research projects have offered hope for salmon farmers trying to tackle the problem. Nofima, the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research, has shown how salmon secrete a chemical substance that attracts larval lice, a finding that could lead to breeding salmon with enhanced resistance.

The CrispResist project, bringing together scientists from Norway, the UK, the US, Canada, Sweden, and Australia, is investigating why certain Pacific salmon species exhibit natural resistance to sea lice while Atlantic salmon remain highly susceptible.

In another study, electric fence technology was deployed on salmon pens to reduce lice infestations. The BioSeaLice project, led by the NORCE Norwegian Research Centre in collaboration with electric fence developer Harbor, has been tested in large-scale trials on commercial salmon farms and has shown promising results.

The fence will not only protect farmed salmon from sea lice but will also help reduce the spread of larvae from infested farmed fish into the marine environment, where they could potentially infect wild migrating smolts, said Helena Hauss, research manager at NORCE Marine Ecology.

No impact

However, the impact of salmon farms on sea lice levels in wild salmon populations is minimal, according to research from Canada. New data from British Columbia’s Broughton Archipelago wild juvenile salmon monitoring programme show that sea lice levels on wild Pacific salmon have remained consistent, even after the removal of salmon farms in the area, Salmon Business reported.

Further research from the Salmon Coast Research Station, released in early December, indicated minimal variation in sea lice levels, with infections increasing only slightly from 0.0584 lice per fish in 2023 to 0.0658 in 2024.

Despite this evidence, and studies in Norway which also demonstrate that sea lice infections on salmon farms are not linked to measurable impacts on wild Atlantic salmon, the Canadian government is pressing ahead with its proposed ban on open net pen farming in BC by 2029 – a measure that will cost Canadian taxpayers $9 billion (£5bn), claimed the BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA).

‘These decisions made by the Trudeau government seem to have been co-opted by well-funded anti-salmon farming activists who have spent years pushing the false narrative that salmon farms significantly threaten wild Pacific salmon when peer-reviewed science says it does not,’ said BCSFA executive director Brian Kingzett.

Scotland’s salmon farmers have also blamed ‘niche activism’ for exerting undue influence on politicians, who react by increasing the already ‘onerous’ regulation of the industry. Businesses will hope for a more judicious approach in 2025, with a long overdue streamlining of the planning process enabling the sector to fulfil its vast potential.

Keep up to date with the industry’s top stories, all in our next news review.