Scottish fish farm production survey 2018

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

Production survey information was collected from all 24 companies actively involved in the freshwater production of Atlantic salmon, farming 71 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 2009-2018

Year	No. of companies	No. of sites
2009	30	105
2010	31	104
2011	28	98
2012	28	100
2013	27	102
2014	26	96
2015	25	87
2016	26	87
2017	24	79
2018	24	71

In 2018 the number of companies authorised by the Scottish Government for freshwater production of Atlantic salmon remained at 24. A total of 71 sites were actively engaged in commercial production, a decrease of eight from the 2017 figure.

Production and Staffing

Table 13: Number (000’s) of smolts produced, staff employed and smolt productivity during 2009-2018

Year	Number (000’s) of Smolts produced	Full-time Male	Full-time Female	Total Full-time	Part-time Male	Part-time Female	Total Part-time	Total Staff	Productivity, 000’s smolts per person</th§>
2009	36,868	202	14	216	42	12	54	270	136.5
2010	36,872	213	20	233	42	14	56	289	127.6
2011	43,626	207	18	225	45	23	68	293	148.9
2012	44,324	218	17	235	60	33	93	328	135.1
2013	40,457	226	11	237	29	19	48	285	142.0
2014	45,004	226	18	244	42	23	65	309	145.6
2015	44,571	208	31	239	41	14	55	294	151.6
2016	42,894	225	27	252	35	7	42	294	145.9
2017	46,152	219	31	250	33	8	41	291	158.6
2018	47,097	210	29	239	30	9	39	278	169.4

Smolt production in 2018 increased by 2% compared to 2017. The number of staff employed in 2018 decreased by 13 and productivity increased by 6.8% to a figure of 169,400 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 (000’s) produced by type during 2009-2018

Year	S½	S1	S1½	Total
2009	13,837	23,031	0	36,868
2010	14,116	22,756	0	36,872
2011	17,233	26,393	0	43,626
2012	18,795	25,239	290	44,324
2013	19,024	21,279	154	40,457
2014	22,367	22,473	164	45,004
2015	23,850	20,711	10	44,571
2016	25,072	17,822	0	42,894
2017	28,072	18,080	0	46,152
2018	24,058	23,039	0	47,097

In 2018, there was an increase (27.4%) in the number of S1 smolts produced but a decrease (14.3%) in the number of S½ smolts produced. There was no production of S1½ smolts in 2018 and no S2 smolts produced since 2006.

Production Systems

Table 15: Number and capacity of production systems during 2014-2018

System	No. of sites with system				Total capacity, 000’s cubic metres
Year	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Cages	41	38	38	36	27	351	355	400	357	346
Tanks and Raceways	55	49	49	43	44	65	47	46	55	54
Total	96	87	87	79	71	416	402	446	412	400

The principal types of facility used for the production of smolts in freshwater are cages or tanks and raceways. In 2018, the number of farms using cages decreased by nine and the number of farms using tanks and raceways increased by one. In terms of volume, cage capacity decreased by 11,000 m³ and tank and raceway capacity decreased by 1,000 m³. This resulted in a net decrease in volume of 12,000 m³ available for the production of smolts in Scotland during 2018.

Table 16: Number (000’s) of smolts produced and stocking densities by production system during 2014-2018

	Number of smolts produced (000’s)					Stocking densities (smolts/m³)
Year	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Cages	22,816	18,135	15,884	17,207	21,771	65	51	40	48	63
All others	22,188	26,436	27,010	28,945	25,326	341	562	587	526	469
Total	45,004	44,571	42,894	46,152	47,097	-	-	-	-	-

The average stocking densities of cages increased from 48 to 63 smolts per m³ in 2018 compared to 2017, while densities in tanks and raceways decreased from 526 to 469 smolts per m³.

Ova Production

Table 17: Number (000’s) of salmon ova produced during 2009-2018

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
No. of ova	91,964	91,655	78,208	57,489	56,904	33,450	11,605	13,689	12,631	15,228

In 2018, 15.2 million ova were stripped, an increase of 21% from the number of ova produced in 2017.

Table 18: Source, number (000’s), previous year’s estimate of ova laid down to hatch during 2009-2018 and projection for 2019

Year	In-house broodstock	Out-sourced GB broodstock	GB wild broodstock	Foreign ova	Total	Previous year's estimate
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	5,884	4	0	58,458	64,346	59,604
2017	6,228	360	0	59,158	65,746	60,673
2018	8,780	200	0	61,499	70,479	67,374
2019						71,571

The number of ova laid down to hatch was 70.5 million, an increase of 4.7 million (7.2%) on the 2017 figure. The majority of the ova (87.3%) were derived from foreign sources, this being an increase of 2.3 million (4.0%) on the 2017 figure. Supplies derived from GB broodstock increased by 2.4 million, a 36.3% increase on the 2017 figure. No ova from GB wild broodstock were laid down in 2018, however, in previous years the ova derived from wild stocks were 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 2009-2020

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Actual smolts put to sea	38.5	38.5	42.7	41.1	40.9	48.1	45.5	43.0	46.1	45.4
Smolts produced	36.9	36.9	43.6	44.3	40.5	45.0	44.6	42.9	46.2	47.1
Estimated production	32.6	28.7	35.9	31.3	28.1	39.9	43.4	36.6	39.3	46.1	38.6	43.0
Ratio of ova laid down to smolts produced	1.8	1.9	1.5	1.4	1.6	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.4	1.5

The figure for the number of smolts put to sea includes smolts produced in England and smolts imported from elsewhere, whereas smolt production data relate only to those produced in Scotland. Smolt producers estimate putting 38.6 million smolts to sea in 2019. The ratio of ova laid down to hatch to smolts produced in 2018 was greater than the ratio in 2017.

Scale of Production

Table 20: Smolt-producing sites grouped by numbers (000’s) of smolts produced during 2009‑2018

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
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
2016	1	1	0	3	7	11	13	12	48	42,894
2017	1	0	0	2	6	11	10	15	45	46,152
2018	0	1	0	0	6	9	14	12	42	47,097

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 2018 was 42. The number of sites producing less than 101,000 smolts has decreased by two and there has also been a decrease of three in the number of sites producing in excess of one million smolts per year. The number of sites producing between 101,000 and one million smolts per year increased by two.

Production of Ova and Smolt by Production Area

Table 21: Staffing in 2018, ova laid down to hatch in 2017-2018, smolt production in 2017-2018 and estimated production in 2019-2020 by region

Region	Number of staff employed in 2018		Ova laid down to hatch (000’s)		Smolt production (000’s)		Estimated smolt production (000’s)
	F/T	P/T	2017	2018	2017	2018	2019	2020
North West	129	18	34,643	41,362	26,316	28,975	18,931	23,981
Orkney	1	4	159	0	145	108	140	390
Shetland	26	1	7,602	5,708	3,055	3,287	3,300	4,050
West	53	11	16,362	16,673	10,675	10,451	11,100	9,475
Western Isles	24	2	6,980	6,694	4,769	3,514	4,439	4,360
East and South	6	3	0	42	1,192	762	724	733
All Scotland	239	39	65,746	70,479	46,152	47,097	38,634	42,989

In 2018, the North West and the West were the main areas where ova were laid down to hatch. The North West and the West 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 2018

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 (000’s) of salmon ova, fry, parr and smolts imported during 2009-2018 derived from health certificates

Import year	Ova				Fry, Parr and Smolts
	EU Member States	EFTA		Total	EU Member States	EFTA - Norway
		Iceland	Norway
2009	5,460	0	29,938	35,398	328	0
2010	2,150	0	26,533	28,683	452	0
2011	3,400	0	35,851	39,251	800	0
2012	10,134	0	23,849	33,983	0	0
2013	10,700	2,719	35,044	48,463	55	0
2014	5,218	3,813	49,831	58,862	1,602	1,748
2015	4,815	8,978	45,926	59,719	2,118	365
2016	5,444	5,324	38,602	49,370	1,956	0
2017	7,000	13,883	37,025	57,908	2,012	0
2018	7,250	10,116	48,430	65,796	1,700	0

The numbers of ova imported increased by 13.6%. The number of fry, parr and smolts imported decreased from that observed in 2017, with just 1.7 million fry, parr and smolts imported from EU member states. There have been no imports from Third Countries such as the USA since 2005.

Table 22b: Destination and number (000’s) of salmon ova, fry, parr and smolts exported during 2009-2018 derived from health certificates

Export year	Farmed origin ova				Total	Fry, Parr and Smolts
	Chile	EU	Norway	Others
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
2016	0	335	0	23	358	173
2017	0	16	0	323	339	206
2018	0	23	0	0	23	71

In 2018, 23,000 ova were exported. Fry, parr and smolt exports decreased by 135,000 fish on the 2017 figure.

Vaccines

Table 23: Number of sites using vaccines and number (millions) of fish vaccinated during 2009-2018

Year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
No. of sites	68	70	67	63	63	56	55	47	46	43
No. of fish (millions) vaccinated	39.6	42.6	49.2	48.1	47.5	44.7	48.0	42.6	58.4	51.0

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 51.0 million fish were vaccinated across 43 sites.

Escapes

There were no escape incidents reported from sites rearing freshwater Atlantic salmon during 2018.