Scottish fish farm production survey 2018

1. Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Production survey information was collected from all 23 companies actively involved in rainbow trout production, farming 53 active sites. This figure represents the entire industry operating in Scotland.

Production

Table 1a: Annual production (tonnes) of rainbow trout during 2004-2018 and projected production in 2019

Year	Tonnes	Year	Tonnes
2004	6,352	2012	5,670
2005	6,989	2013	5,611
2006	7,492	2014	5,882
2007	7,414	2015	8,588
2008	7,670	2016	8,096
2009	6,766	2017	7,637
2010	5,139	2018	6,413
2011	4,619	2019	8,379*

* Industry estimate based on stocks currently being on-grown.

Production decreased in 2018 by 1,224 tonnes, a decrease of 16%, to 6,413 tonnes.

Table 1b: Production (tonnes) for the table trade during 2009-2018 according to weight category

Year	<450 g <1 lb	450-900 g 1-2 lbs	>900 g >2 lbs	Total Tonnes
2009	2,232	1,143	2,620	5,995
2010	2,125	727	1,606	4,458
2011	1,421	1,004	1,433	3,858
2012	1,195	1,655	2,209	5,059
2013	1,908	825	2,268	5,001
2014	2,334	290	2,704	5,328
2015	2,299	258	5,476	8,033
2016	2,393	234	4,810	7,437
2017	2,000	544	4,453	6,997
2018	803	223	4,848	5,874

Production for the table in 2018 was 5,874 tonnes, a decrease of 1,123 tonnes (16%) on the 2017 total. This accounted for 92% of the total rainbow trout production, the same proportion as was produced in 2017. Also, an increase in the number of fish in the large size range and decreases in the number of fish in the small and medium size ranges were highlighted.

Table 1c: Production (tonnes) for the restocking trade during 2009-2018 according to weight category

Year	<450 g <1 lb	450-900 g 1-2 lbs	>900 g >2 lbs	Total Tonnes
2009	32	294	444	770
2010	19	201	461	681
2011	8	419	334	761
2012	22	266	323	611
2013	24	221	365	610
2014	28	256	270	554
2015	15	158	382	555
2016	35	183	441	659
2017	10	150	480	640
2018	14	143	382	539

In 2018, production for the restocking of angling waters decreased to 539 tonnes representing a decrease of 101 tonnes (16%) on the 2017 total. This accounted for 8% of total rainbow trout production in 2018. These figures represent the tonnage of fish supplied to angling waters for restocking purposes; they do not account for the catch taken by anglers. The production of medium and large sized fish showed decreases while there was an increase in the production of small sized fish.

Production by Site

Table 2: Numbers of sites grouped by tonnage produced during 2009-2018

Year	Number of sites per production tonnage				Total number of sites
	<1-25	26-100	101-200	>200
2009	10	11	7	11	39
2010	7	13	9	7	36
2011	9	10	6	8	33
2012	10	10	6	8	34
2013	6	11	5	8	30
2014	6	11	5	9	31
2015	4	10	5	11	30
2016	6	10	3	13	32
2017	4	8	5	11	28
2018	5	10	3	11	29

Production was reported from 29 of the 53 active sites. The number of producers in the <1-25 tonnes and 26-100 tonnes size brackets increased while those in the 101-200 tonnes size bracket decreased. The numbers of producers in the >200 tonnes size bracket remained the same as in 2017. These figures do not include those sites specialising in the production of ova or young fish for on-growing.

Production by Method

Table 3: Grouping of rainbow trout sites by production tonnages, main methods of production in 2018 and comparison with production in 2017

Production method	Production grouping (tonnes) in 2018					Total tonnage and (%) by method		Number of sites
	<10	10-25	26-50	51-100	>100	2017	2018	2017	2018
FW cages	1	0	0	0	5	2,592 (34.0%)	1,838 (28,7%)	6	6
FW ponds and raceways	1	1	6	2	4	1,484 (19.4%)	1,142 (17.8%)	13	14
FW tanks and hatcheries	2	0	0	1	0	79 (1.0%)	70 (1.1%)	3	3
SW cages	0	0	0	1	5	3,482 (45.6%)	3,363 (52.4%)	6	6
SW tanks	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	4	1	6	4	14	7,637	6,413	28	29

Seawater production accounted for 3,363 tonnes (52.4%) and freshwater production the remaining 3,050 tonnes (47.6%). Production from freshwater cages, freshwater ponds and raceways, freshwater tanks and hatcheries and seawater cages all decreased during 2018.

Company and Site Data

Table 4: Number of companies and sites in production during 2009-2018

Year	No. of companies	No. of sites
2009	27	56
2010	25	51
2011	23	48
2012	25	48
2013	24	46
2014	24	46
2015	24	45
2016	24	44
2017	23	44
2018	23	53

In 2018 the number of companies authorised by the Scottish Government and actively engaged in rainbow trout production was 23. The number of sites registered and in production was 53.

Staffing and Productivity

Table 5: Number of staff employed and productivity per person during 2009-2018

Year	Full-time Male	Full-time Female	Total Full-time	Part-time Male	Part-time Female	Total Part-time	Total Staff	Productivity (tonnes/person)
2009	107	4	111	22	5	27	138	49.0
2010	95	3	98	24	7	31	129	39.8
2011	90	5	95	16	7	23	118	39.1
2012	74	5	79	23	5	28	107	53.0
2013	85	4	89	16	5	21	110	51.0
2014	86	7	93	13	7	20	113	52.1
2015	100	10	110	10	6	16	126	68.2
2016	90	10	100	15	6	21	121	66.9
2017	98	12	110	15	7	22	132	57.9
2018	103	8	111	17	8	25	136	47.2

The overall number of staff employed in 2018 increased by four to 136. The number of full-time staff increased by one while the number of part-time staff increased by three. Productivity, measured as tonnes produced per person, decreased by 18.5% in 2018 with no distinction between full and part-time employees being made for this calculation.

Production by Area

Table 6: Production and staffing by area in 2018

Area	No. of sites	Table production (tonnes)	Restocking production (tonnes)	Mean tonnes per site	Staffing			Productivity (tonnes/person)
					F/T	P/T	Total
North*	13	57	25	6.3	5	5	10	8.2
East	13	1,048	268	101.2	32	8	40	32.9
West	16	4,250	28	267.4	59	4	63	67.9
South	11	519	218	67.0	15	8	23	32.0
All	53	5,874	539	121.0	111	25	136	47.2

*From 2018, the North area also included production and staff from the Western Isles

Productivity was greatest in the West at 267.4 tonnes per site and 67.9 tonnes per person.

Figure 1: The distribution of active rainbow trout sites in 2018

Type of Ova Laid Down

Table 7: Number (000’s) and proportions (%) of eyed ova types laid down to hatch during 2009-2018

Year	All female diploid no. (%)	Triploid no. (%)	Mixed sex diploid no. (%)	Total ova
2009	15,469 (87)	2,341 (13)	35 (<1)	17,845
2010	13,352 (89)	1,052 (7)	675 (4)	15,079
2011	12,673 (84)	2,254 (15)	215 (1)	15,142
2012	10,967 (85)	2,005 (15)	7 (<1)	12,979
2013	7,857 (80)	1,955 (20)	77 (<1)	9,889
2014	8,321 (75)	2,710 (25)	9 (<1)	11,040
2015	10,245 (85)	1,800 (15)	76 (<1)	12,121
2016	7,986 (80)	1,943 (20)	5 (<1)	9,934
2017	2,366 (34)	4,670 (66)	5 (<1)	7,041
2018	1,460 (23)	4,843 (77)	15 (<1)	6,318

Source of Ova Laid Down

Table 8: Number (000’s) and sources of eyed ova laid down to hatch in 2009-2018

Year	Ova produced in Great Britain (GB)			Total Imported ova		Total
	Own stock	Other stock	Total	Northern hemisphere
2009	603	220	823	17,022	17,845
2010	415	50	465	14,614	15,079
2011	215	189	404	14,738	15,142
2012	14	230	244	12,735	12,979
2013	77	537	614	9,275	9,889
2014	9	655	664	10,376	11,040
2015	6	888	894	11,227	12,121
2016	35	349	384	9,550	9,934
2017	20	547	567	6,474	7,041
2018	15	495	510	5,808	6,318

In 2018, the total number of eyed ova laid down to hatch decreased by 0.7 million (10%) on the 2017 figure. All ova were imported from the Northern hemisphere; no ova have been imported from the Southern hemisphere since 2007. The proportion of ova from GB broodstock remained the same as in 2017 (8.1% of the total) and the rainbow trout industry remained reliant on imported ova. Data on the importation of ova into Scotland are also available from the health certificates and are shown in Table 9a. Any discrepancy between the figures in Tables 8 and 9a is due to data being obtained from two independent sources.

Imports from Official Import Health Certificates

Table 9a: Number (000’s) and sources of ova imported into Scotland from outwith GB during 2009-2018

Source	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Denmark	4,070	1,715	5,250	1,950	1,315	2,500	2,330	5,535	3,518	3,728
Isle of Man	290	1,400	520	300	800	1,000	175	20	300	0
N. Ireland	10,090	9,247	7,320	8,332	5,125	4,780	6,535	3,040	1,240	1,085
Norway	750	200	130	300	175	710	670	500	774	0
USA	2,240	2,340	1,580	1,800	2,350	1,700	1,675	750	0	855
Totals	17,440	14,902	14,800	12,682	9,765	10,690	11,385	9,845	5,832	5,668

Table 9b: Seasonal variation in numbers (000’s) and sources of ova imported into Scotland from outwith GB during 2018

Month	Denmark	N. Ireland	USA
January	0	200	0
February	1000	135	0
March	370	0	0
April	0	100	175
May	950	0	0
June	0	0	205
July	0	100	205
August	0	100	0
September	0	450	230
October	400	0	40
November	320	0	0
December	688	0	0
Totals	3,728	1,085	855

Table 9c: Number (000’s) and sources of fish imported into Scotland from outwith GB during 2009-2018

Source	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
N. Ireland	0	<1	72	155	537	674	746	592	486	391
Republic of Ireland	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Suppliers within the European Union (EU) accounted for 84.9% of ova imported into Scotland during 2018 with the USA accounting for the remaining 15.1%. In recent years there has been a trend for producers to import part grown rainbow trout into Scotland from outwith GB.

Trade in Fry and Fingerlings

Table 10: Number (000’s) of fry and fingerlings traded during 2009-2018

Year	Fry and fingerlings bought			Total number bought	Total number sold
	All female diploid no. (%)	Triploid no. (%)	Mixed sex diploid no. (%)
2009	21,113 (94)	1,358 (6)	0	22,471	20,597
2010	15,539 (95)	585 (4)	141 (1)	16,265	14,686
2011	16,288 (88.5)	1,970 (10.7)	138 (0.8)	18,396	16,612
2012	12,543 (91)	1,226 (9)	0	13,769	12,088
2013	6,734 (84)	1,239 (16)	0	7,973	6,749
2014	5,911 (81)	1,423 (19)	0	7,334	6,719
2015	6,104 (87)	598 (9)	290 (4)	6,992	6,971
2016	6,452 (85)	1,125 (15)	0	7,577	6,779
2017	3,989 (73)	1,446 (27)	0	5,435	4,145
2018	979 (42)	1,361 (58)	0	2,340	2,383

The established trade between hatcheries and on-growing farms continued in 2018. Some companies specialised in fry and fingerling production. The total number of fry and fingerlings bought decreased by 56.9% while the number sold decreased by 42.5%. The disparity between supply and demand is due to trade with England and Wales.

Use of Vaccines

Table 11: Number of sites rearing fish vaccinated against enteric redmouth disease (ERM) and number of fish vaccinated (millions) during 2009-2018

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
No. of sites	31	27	26	24	19	21	17	18	18	17
No. of fish	27.5	20.0	20.3	20.4	9.9	10.0	8.3	7.3	5.4	3.4

Vaccines continued to be used as a preventative treatment against enteric redmouth disease (ERM), a potentially serious bacterial infection, caused by Yersinia ruckeri. Vaccination is generally carried out as a bath treatment at the fingerling stage, although some vaccines are administered by intra-peritoneal injection. A total of 3.4 million fish were vaccinated on 17 sites.

Organic Production

Of the 53 sites recorded as being active in rainbow trout production in 2018, none were certified as organic.

Escapes

There were two incidents involving the loss of 5,575 fish from rainbow trout sites in 2018.