Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2019

1. Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Production survey information was collected from all 22 companies actively involved in rainbow trout production, farming 52 active sites. This figure represents the entire industry operating in Scotland.

Production

Table 1a: Annual production (tonnes) of rainbow trout during 2005-2019 and projected production in 2020

Year	Tonnes	Percentage difference	Year	Tonnes	Percentage difference
2005	6,989	10	2013	5,611	-1
2006	7,492	7	2014	5,882	5
2007	7,414	-1	2015	8,588	46
2008	7,670	3	2016	8,096	-6
2009	6,766	-12	2017	7,637	-6
2010	5,139	-24	2018	6,413	-16
2011	4,619	-10	2019	7,405	15
2012	5,670	23	2020	10,011*

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

Production increased in 2019 by 992 tonnes, an increase of 15%, to 7,405 tonnes.

Table 1b: Production (tonnes) for the table trade during 2010-2019 according to weight category

Year	<450 g	450-900 g	>900 g	Total
	<1 lb	1-2 lbs	>2 lbs	Tonnes
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
2019	343	228	6,335	6,906

Production for the table in 2019 was 6,906 tonnes, an increase of 1,032 tonnes (18%) on the 2018 total. This accounted for 93% of the total rainbow trout production, an increase on the proportion to that produced in 2018. Also, an increase in the number of fish in the large and medium size ranges and a decrease in the number of fish in the small size range were highlighted.

Table 1c: Production (tonnes) for the restocking trade during 2010-2019 according to weight category

Year	<450 g	450-900 g	>900 g	Total
	<1 lb	1-2 lbs	>2 lbs	Tonnes
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
2019	16	113	370	499

In 2019, production for the restocking of angling waters decreased to 499 tonnes representing a decrease of 40 tonnes (7%) on the 2018 total. This accounted for 7% of total rainbow trout production in 2019. 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: Number of sites grouped by tonnage produced during 2010-2019

Year	Number of sites per production tonnage				Total number of sites
	<1-25	26-100	101-200	>200
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
2019	5	9	4	10	28

Production was reported from 28 of the 52 active sites. The number of producers in the 101-200 tonnes size bracket increased while those in the 26-100 and >200 tonnes size brackets decreased. The number of producers in the <1-25 tonnes size bracket remained the same as in 2018. 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 2019 and comparison with production in 2018

Production method	Production grouping (tonnes) in 2019						Total tonnage and (%) by method			Number of sites
	<10	10-25	26-50	51-100	>100		2018	2019		2018	2019
FW cages	1	0	0	0	5		1,838 (28.7%)	2,273 (30.7%)		6	6
FW ponds and raceways	0	1	5	3	3		1,142 (17.8%)	971 (13.1%)		14	12
FW tanks and hatcheries	3	0	0	1	0		70 (1.1%)	78 (1.1%)		3	4
SW cages	0	0	0	0	6		3,363 (52.4%)	4,083 (55.1%)		6	6
SW tanks	0	0	0	0	0		0	0		0	0
Total	4	1	5	4	14		6,413	7,405		29	28

Seawater production accounted for 4,083 tonnes (55.1%) and freshwater production the remaining 3,322 tonnes (44.9%). Production from freshwater cages, freshwater tanks and hatcheries and seawater cages all increased during 2019 while production from freshwater ponds and raceways decreased.

Company and Site Data

Table 4: Number of companies and sites in production during 2010-2019

Year	No. of companies	No. of sites
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
2019	22	52

In 2019, the number of companies authorised by the Scottish Government and actively engaged in rainbow trout production was 22. The number of sites registered and in production was 52.

Staffing and Productivity

Table 5: Number of staff employed and productivity per person during 2010-2019

Year	Full-time Male		Full-time Female		Total> Full-time		Part-time Male	Part-time Female	Total Part-time	Total Staff	Productivity (tonnes/person)
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
2019	103	11		114		21		9	30	144	51.4

The overall number of staff employed in 2019 increased by eight to 144. The number of full-time staff increased by three while the number of part-time staff increased by five. Productivity, measured as tonnes produced per person, increased by 8.9% in 2019 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 2019

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	122	29		11.6		5		7		12		12.6
East	13	1,030	232		97.1		33		10		43		29.3
West	16	5,312	18		333.1		62		4		66		80.8
South	10	442	220		66.2		14		9		23		28.8
All	52	6,906	499		142.4		114		30		144		51.4

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

Productivity was greatest in the West at 333.1 tonnes per site and 80.8 tonnes per person.

© Crown copyright and database rights 2020 OS (100024655)

Type of Ova Laid Down

Table 7: Number (000’s) and proportions (%) of eyed ova types laid down to hatch during 2010-2019

Year	All female diploid no. (%)	Triploid no. (%)	Mixed sex diploid no. (%)	Total ova
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
2019	1,077 (16)	5,369 (82)	105 (2)	6,551

Source of Ova Laid Down

Table 8: Number (000’s) and sources of eyed ova laid down to hatch in 2010-2019

Year	Ova produced in Great Britain (GB)				Total Imported ova		Total
	Own stock	Other stock	Total		Northern hemisphere
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
2019	10	22	32		6,519	6,551

In 2019, the total number of eyed ova laid down to hatch increased by 0.2 million (4%) on the 2018 figure. All ova were imported from the Northern hemisphere. The proportion of ova from GB broodstock decreased (0.5% 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 2010-2019

Source	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Denmark	1,715	5,250	1,950	1,315	2,500	2,330	5,535	3,518	3,728	5,567
Isle of Man	1,400	520	300	800	1,000	175	20	300	0	0
N. Ireland	9,247	7,320	8,332	5,125	4,780	6,535	3,040	1,240	1,085	380
Norway	200	130	300	175	710	670	500	774	0	0
Spain	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	60
USA	2,340	1,580	1,800	2,350	1,700	1,675	750	0	855	430
Totals	14,902	14,800	12,682	9,765	10,690	11,385	9,845	5,832	5,668	6,437

Table 9b: Seasonal variation in numbers (000’s) and sources of ova imported into Scotland from outwith GB during 2019

Month	Denmark	N. Ireland	Spain	USA
January	805	0	0	0
February	558	0	0	0
March	1,099	30	0	0
April	595	0	0	150
May	870	0	0	0
June	0	0	0	150
July	0	50	0	0
August	0	300	0	0
September	0	0	0	130
October	980	0	0	0
November	660	0	60	0
December	0	0	0	0
Totals	5,567	380	60	430

Table 9c: Number (000’s) and sources of fish imported into Scotland from outwith GB during 2010-2019

Source	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
N. Ireland	<1	72	155	537	674	746	592	486	391	935
Republic of Ireland	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Suppliers within the European Union (EU) accounted for 93.3% of ova imported into Scotland during 2019 with the USA accounting for the remaining 6.7%. 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 2010-2019

Year	Fry and fingerlings bought			Total number bought	Total number sold
	All female diploid no. (%)	Triploid no. (%)	Mixed sex diploid no. (%)
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
2019	861 (25)	2,532 (75)	0	3,393	2,832

The established trade between hatcheries and on-growing farms continued in 2019. Some companies specialised in fry and fingerling production. The total number of fry and fingerlings bought increased by 45.0% while the number sold increased by 18.8%. 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 2010-2019

Year	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
No. of sites	27	26	24	19	21	17	18	18	17	21
No. of fish	20.0	20.3	20.4	9.9	10.0	8.3	7.3	5.4	3.4	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 21 sites.

Organic Production

Of the 52 sites recorded as being active in rainbow trout production in 2019, none were certified as organic.

Escapes

There were three incidents involving the loss of 37,372 fish from rainbow trout sites in 2019.