Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2015

2. Atlantic Salmon ( Salmo salar) - Ova and Smolts

Production survey information was collected from all 25 companies actively involved in the freshwater production of Atlantic salmon, farming 87 active sites. This figure represents the entire freshwater industry operating in Scotland.

Company and Site Data

Table 12: Number of companies and sites in production during 2006-2015

Year	No. of companies	No. of sites
2006	39	135
2007	37	135
2008	38	130
2009	30	105
2010	31	104
2011	28	98
2012	28	100
2013	27	102
2014	26	96
2015	25	87

In 2015 the number of companies authorised by the Scottish Government for freshwater production of Atlantic salmon decreased by one to 25. A total of 87 sites were actively engaged in commercial production, a decrease of nine sites from the 2014 figure.

Production and Staffing

Table 13: Number (000s) of smolts produced, staff employed and smolt productivity during 2005-2015

Year		2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Number (000s) of smolts produced		36,326	40,827	38,125	36,450	36,868	36,872	43,626	44,324	40,457	45,004	44,571
Staffing	Full-time	200	209	217	209	216	233	225	235	237	244	239
	Part-time	74	62	62	54	54	56	68	93	48	65	55
	Total	274	271	279	263	270	289	293	328	285	309	294
Productivity, 000s of smolts per person		132.6	150.6	136.6	138.6	136.5	127.6	148.9	135.1	142.0	145.6	151.6

Smolt production in 2015 decreased by 1% compared to 2014. The number of staff employed in 2015 decreased by 15 and productivity increased by 4.1% to a figure of 151.6 smolts produced per person. Data for staffing and productivity in 2013 are shown, however, there are uncertainties with these data due to consolidation within the industry.

Smolts by Age Group

Table 14: Number of smolts (000s) produced by type during 2003-2015

Year	S½	S1	S1½	S2	Total
2003	14,907	28,836	671	0	44,414
2004	14,428	24,862	709	0	39,999
2005	12,639	22,197	1,489	1	36,326
2006	16,953	23,172	698	4	40,827
2007	15,431	22,694	0	0	38,125
2008	12,431	24,019	0	0	36,450
2009	13,837	23,031	0	0	36,868
2010	14,116	22,756	0	0	36,872
2011	17,233	26,393	0	0	43,626
2012	18,795	25,239	290	0	44,324
2013	19,024	21,279	154	0	40,457
2014	22,367	22,473	164	0	45,004
2015	23,850	20,711	10	0	44,571

In 2015, there was an increase (6.6%) in the number of S½ smolts produced but a decrease (7.8%) in the number of S1 smolts produced. A small amount of S1½ smolts were produced while there was no production of S2 smolts.

Production Systems

Table 15: Number and capacity of production systems during 2011-2015

System	No. of sites with system					Total capacity, 000s cubic metres
Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Cages	44	43	44	41	38	325	349	372	351	355
Tanks and Raceways	54	57	58	55	49	49	51	64	65	47
Total	98	100	102	96	87	374	400	436	416	402

The principal types of facility used for the production of smolts in freshwater are cages or tanks and raceways. In 2015, the number of farms using cages decreased by three and the number of farms using tanks and raceways decreased by six. In terms of volume, cage capacity increased by 4,000 m³ and tank and raceway capacity decreased by 18,000 m³. This resulted in a net decrease in volume of 14,000 m³ available for the production of smolts in Scotland during 2015.

Table 16: Number (000s) of smolts produced and stocking densities by production system during 2011-2015

	Number of smolts produced (000s)					Stocking densities (smolts/m 3 )
Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Cages	23,135	26,882	20,910	22,816	18,135	71	77	56	65	51
All others	20,491	17,442	19,547	22,188	26,436	418	342	305	341	562
Total	43,626	44,324	40,457	45,004	44,571	-	-	-	-	-

The average stocking densities of cages decreased from 65 to 51 fish per m³ in 2015 compared to 2014 while densities in tanks and raceways increased from 341 to 562 fish per m³.

Ova Production

Table 17: Number (000s) of salmon ova produced during 2008-2015

Year	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
No. of ova	135,230	91,964	91,655	78,208	57,489	56,904	33,450	11,605

In 2015, 11.6 million ova were stripped, a decrease of 65% from the number of ova produced in 2014.

Table 18: Source, number (000s) and previous year's estimate of ova laid down to hatch during 2004-2016

Year	In-house broodstock	Out-sourced GB broodstock	GB wild broodstock	Foreign ova	Total	Previous year's estimate
2004	31,390	20,024	27	19,138	70,579	74,464
2005	43,261	22,465	71	9,896	75,693	65,741
2006	19,063	17,768	63	27,157	64,051	58,385
2007	18,837	14,366	78	42,022	75,303	68,032
2008	19,831	14,261	171	26,409	60,672	75,302
2009	17,148	20,158	65	30,200	67,571	64,693
2010	13,744	26,220	0	29,657	69,621	61,011
2011	15,664	14,630	0	34,322	64,616	54,526
2012	18,556	9,981	0	34,700	63,237	55,723
2013	16,996	8,263	0	41,315	66,573	49,249
2014	14,418	2,725	10	53,684	70,837	48,149
2015	6,479	223	10	61,463	68,175	65,284
2016						59,604

The number of ova laid down to hatch was 68.2 million, a decrease of 2.7 million (3.8%) on the 2014 figure. The majority of the ova (90.2%) were derived from foreign sources, this being an increase of 7.8 million (14.5%) on the 2014 figure. Supplies derived from GB broodstock decreased by 10.4 million, a 60.9% decrease on the 2014 figure. Ten thousand ova from GB wild broodstock were laid down in 2015, however, the ova derived from wild stocks are generally held and hatched for wild stock enhancement by the aquaculture industry in cooperation with wild fisheries managers.

Smolts Produced and Put to Sea

Table 19: Actual and projected smolt production and smolts put to sea (millions) during 2006-2017

	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Actual smolts put to sea	41.1	37.8	36.6	38.5	38.5	42.7	41.1	40.9	48.1	45.5
Smolts produced	40.8	38.1	36.4	36.9	36.9	43.6	44.3	40.5	45.0	44.6
Estimated production	33.2	41.2	34.9	32.6	28.7	35.9	31.3	28.1	39.9	43.4	36.6	48.5
Ratio of ova laid down to smolts produced	1.6	2.0	1.7	1.8	1.9	1.5	1.4	1.6	1.6	1.5

The figure for the number of smolts put to sea includes smolts produced in England and fish imported from elsewhere, whereas smolt production data relate only to those produced in Scotland. Farmers estimate putting 36.6 million smolts to sea in 2016. The ratio of ova laid down to hatch to smolts produced in 2015 was less than the ratio in 2014.

Scale of Production

Table 20: Smolt-producing sites grouped by numbers (000s) of smolts produced during 2002‑2015

Year	Scale of production								No. of sites in production	Total smolts produced
	1-10	11-25	26-50	51-100	101-250	251-500	501-1,000	>1,000
2002	1	1	11	17	29	34	17	10	120	47,161
2003	2	0	7	20	32	31	12	10	114	44,414
2004	3	3	9	14	31	22	18	7	107	39,999
2005	2	1	4	15	25	22	21	4	94	36,326
2006	1	4	2	9	19	21	18	10	84	40,827
2007	2	2	4	7	21	21	14	11	82	38,125
2008	2	1	5	8	21	20	15	9	81	36,450
2009	0	0	3	7	14	18	10	12	64	36,868
2010	1	0	4	4	16	15	10	14	64	36,872
2011	1	0	4	5	11	14	9	17	61	43,626
2012	0	0	1	3	19	14	11	13	61	44,324
2013	1	0	1	7	14	14	7	14	58	40,457
2014	0	0	2	1	11	9	14	13	50	45,004
2015	1	1	2	4	9	11	16	11	55	44,571

Note: These data refer only to sites producing smolts. The sites holding only ova, fry or parr are excluded.

The number of sites producing smolts in 2015 was 55. The number of sites producing less than 101,000 smolts has increased by five and there has also been an increase of two in the number of sites producing between 101,000 and one million smolts. The number of sites producing in excess of one million smolts per year decreased by two.

Production of Ova and Smolt by Production Area

Table 21: Staffing in 2015, ova laid down to hatch in 2014-2015, smolt production in 2014-2015 and estimated production in 2016-2017 by region

Region	Number of staff employed in 2015		Ova laid down to hatch (000s)		Smolt production (000s)		Estimated smolt production (000s)
	F/T	P/T	2014	2015	2014	2015	2016	2017
North West	130	28	35,737	36,668	29,059	24,788	16,750	26,520
Orkney	1	1	105	55	142	142	140	140
Shetland	26	6	7,172	7,473	1,272	3,372	3,950	5,080
West	49	18	16,712	17,433	8,655	9,625	10,740	11,100
Western Isles	24	2	4,535	5,596	4,265	4,823	4,138	4,820
East and South	9	0	6,576	950	1,611	1,821	899	800
All Scotland	239	55	70,837	68,175	45,004	44,571	36,617	48,460

In 2015, the North West and the West were the main areas where ova were laid down to hatch. The North West, the West and the Western Isles were the main smolt producing areas. The greatest number of staff were employed in the North West region.

Figure 2: The distribution of active Atlantic salmon smolt sites in 2015

International Trade in Ova

Since the introduction of the EU single market on 1 ^st January 1993 and the associated Fish Health Regulations common to all EU member states, a trade in live salmon and ova has been established. In addition, the European Economic Area ( EEA) agreement allows trade between the EU and the member states of the European Free Trade Association ( EFTA). Trade is based on the same rules as are established within the EU regarding compartments and zones declared free from listed diseases.

Trade with Third Countries has also been established, but only from sites that have met the same health standards as are established within the EU regarding the approval of farms and zones for listed diseases. Exports to countries outside the EU are subject to the health conditions placed by the importing country. Marine Scotland Science advises potential exporters to ascertain with the importing country any specific health testing requirements that may be a condition of import.

Imports and Exports

Table 22a: Source and number (000s) of salmon ova, parr and smolts imported during 2003-2015 derived from health certificates

Import Year	Ova						Parr and Smolts
	EU Member States	EFTA		Third Countries		Total	EU Member States	EFTA - Norway
		Iceland	Norway	Australia	USA
2003	7,820	9,518	2,900	550	400	21,188	2,570	0
2004	4,450	3,475	6,750	1,860	450	16,985	824	0
2005	2,610	570	13,210	0	450	16,840	150	0
2006	11,575	300	15,940	2,400	0	30,215	375	0
2007	10,511	0	33,555	0	0	44,066	420	0
2008	5,600	0	22,703	0	0	28,303	519	0
2009	5,460	0	29,938	0	0	35,398	328	0
2010	2,150	0	26,533	0	0	28,683	452	0
2011	3,400	0	35,851	0	0	39,251	800	0
2012	10,134	0	23,849	0	0	33,983	0	0
2013	10,700	2,719	35,044	0	0	48,463	55	0
2014	5,218	3,813	49,831	0	0	58,862	1,602	1,748
2015	4,815	8,978	45,926	0	0	59,719	2,118	365

The numbers of ova imported increased by 1.5%. The number of parr and smolts imported decreased from that observed in 2014, with 2.1 million parr and smolts imported from EU member states and almost 0.4 million from Norway.

Table 22b: Destination and number (000s) of salmon ova, parr and smolts exported during 2004-2015 derived from health certificates

Export year	Farmed origin ova				Total	Parr and Smolts
	Chile	EU	Norway	Others
2004	2,215	3,699	0	0	5,914	1,488
2005	8,560	3,130	0	1,566	13,256	1,362
2006	26,930	4,312	0	0	31,242	998
2007	32,150	164	0	0	32,314	2,169
2008	62,185	130	0	15	62,330	551
2009	7,181	317	0	0	7,498	89
2010	0	189	600	0	789	130
2011	0	0	0	820	820	183
2012	0	0	0	0	0	55
2013	0	650	0	0	650	404
2014	0	0	0	0	0	259
2015	0	93	0	2	95	8

In 2015, 95,000 ova were exported. Parr and smolt exports decreased by 97% on the 2014 figure.

Vaccines

Table 23: Number of sites using vaccines and number (millions) of fish vaccinated during 2007-2015

Year	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
No. of sites	73	80	68	70	67	63	63	56	55
No. of fish (millions) vaccinated	41.0	36.7	39.6	42.6	49.2	48.1	47.5	44.7	48.0

Vaccines were used to provide protection against furunculosis, infectious pancreatic necrosis ( IPN), ERM, vibriosis and salmonid alphavirus ( SAV). The majority of fish were vaccinated against furunculosis and IPN, with smaller numbers of fish being vaccinated against ERM, vibriosis and SAV. A total of 48 million fish were vaccinated across 55 sites.

Escapes

In 2015, there was one incident reported where the company confirmed there was no loss of fish.