Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2020

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 78 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 2011-2020

Year	No. of companies	No. of sites
2011	28	98
2012	28	100
2013	27	102
2014	26	96
2015	25	87
2016	26	87
2017	24	79
2018	24	71
2019	23	76
2020	24	78

In 2020, the number of companies authorised by the Scottish Government for freshwater production of Atlantic salmon increased by one to 24. A total of 78 sites were actively engaged in commercial production, an increase of two from the 2019 figure.

Production and Staffing

Table 13: Number (000's) of smolts produced, staff employed and smolt productivity during 2011-2020

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
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
2019	51,430	215	32	247	26	8	34	281	183.0
2020	50,492	233	30	263	23	6	29	292	172.9

Smolt production in 2020 decreased by 2% compared to 2019. The number of staff employed in 2020 increased by 11 and productivity decreased by 6% to a figure of 172,900 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 2011-2020

Year	S½	S1	S1½	Total
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
2019	25,607	25,823	0	51,430
2020	22,872	27,620	0	50,492

In 2020, there was a decrease of 11% in the number of S½ smolts produced and an increase of 7% in the number of S1 smolts produced.

Production Systems

Table 15: Number and capacity of production systems during 2016-2020

System	No. of sites with system					Total capacity, 000's cubic metres
Year	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Cages	38	36	27	27	27	400	357	346	351	379
Tanks and Raceways	49	43	44	49	51	46	55	54	68	62
Total	87	79	71	76	78	446	412	400	419	441

The types of facility used for the production of smolts in freshwater are cages or tanks and raceways. In 2020, the number of farms using cages remained the same as in 2019 and the number of farms using tanks and raceways increased by two. In terms of volume, cage capacity increased by 28,000 m³ and tank and raceway capacity decreased by 6,000 m³. This resulted in a net increase in volume of 22,000 m³ available for the production of smolts in Scotland during 2020.

Table 16: Number (000's) of smolts produced and stocking densities by production system during 2016-2020

	Number of smolts produced (000's)					Stocking densities (smolts/m3)
Year	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Cages	15,884	17,207	21,771	18,964	18,331	40	48	63	54	48
All others	27,010	28,945	25,326	32,466	32,161	587	526	469	477	519
Total	42,894	46,152	47,097	51,430	50,492	-	-	-	-	-

The average stocking densities of cages decreased from 54 to 48 smolts per m³ in 2020 compared to 2019, while densities in tanks and raceways increased from 477 to 519 smolts per m³.

Ova Production

Table 17: Number (000's) of salmon ova produced during 2011-2020

Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
No. of ova	78,208	57,489	56,904	33,450	11,605	13,689	12,631	15,228	11,618	20,021

In 2020, over 20 million ova were stripped, an increase of 72% from the number of ova produced in 2019.

Table 18: Source, number (000's), previous year's estimate of ova laid down to hatch during 2011-2020 and projected production for 2021

Year	In-house broodstock	Out-sourced GB broodstock	GB wild broodstock	Foreign ova	Total	Previous year's estimate
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	5,516	1,724	75	63,931	71,246	71,571
2020	5,195	4,480	258	68,685	78,618	70,598
2021						68,588

The number of ova laid down to hatch was 78.6 million, an increase of 7.4 million (10.3%) on the 2019 figure. The majority of the ova (87.4%) were derived from foreign sources, this being an increase of 4.8 million (7.4%) on the 2019 figure. Supplies derived from GB broodstock (excluding wild origin ova) increased by 2.4 million, a 33.6% increase on the 2019 figure. In 2020, 258,000 ova from GB wild broodstock were laid down to hatch, 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 2011-2022

	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Actual smolts put to sea	42.7	41.1	40.9	48.1	45.5	43.0	46.1	45.5	53.0	52.5
Smolts produced	43.6	44.3	40.5	45.0	44.6	42.9	46.2	47.1	51.4	50.5
Estimated production	35.9	31.3	28.1	39.9	43.4	36.6	39.3	46.1	38.6	52.1	55.6	54.6
Ratio of ova laid down to smolts produced	1.5	1.4	1.6	1.6	1.5	1.5	1.4	1.5	1.4	1.6

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 55.6 million smolts to sea in 2021. The ratio of ova laid down to hatch to smolts produced in 2020 was greater than the ratio in 2019.

Scale of Production

Table 20: Smolt-producing sites grouped by numbers (000's) of smolts produced during 2011‑2020

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
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
2019	1	0	0	2	8	8	10	16	45	51,430
2020	1	1	0	4	4	5	10	16	41	50,492

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 2020 was 41. The number of sites producing less than 101,000 smolts increased by three while the number of sites producing between 101,000 and one million smolts per year decreased by 7. The number of sites producing in excess of one million smolts per year remained at 16 sites.

Production of Ova and Smolt by Production Area

Table 21: Staffing in 2020, ova laid down to hatch in 2019-2020, smolt production in 2019-2020 and estimated production in 2021-2022 by region

Region	Number of staff employed in 2020		Ova laid down to hatch (000's)		Smolt production (000's)		Estimated smolt production (000's)
	F/T	P/T	2019	2020	2019	2020	2021	2022
North West	135	16	34,519	42,702	29,660	26,308	30,529	30,389
Orkney	0	2	0	100	102	97	65	125
Shetland	27	1	6,512	5,948	4,560	3,804	3,030	3,030
West	66	6	23,221	23,810	11,772	16,213	17,409	18,299
Western Isles	31	2	6,952	5,738	4,362	3,247	3,155	2,100
East and South	4	2	42	320	974	823	1,439	700
All Scotland	263	29	71,246	78,618	51,430	50,492	55,627	54,643

In 2020, 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.

© Crown copyright and database rights 2020 OS (100024655)

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 was based on the same rules as are established within the EU regarding compartments and zones declared free from listed diseases. This situation existed until 1^st January 2021 and so covers the period of this report.

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 2011-2020 derived from health certificates

Import Year	Ova				Fry, Parr and Smolts
	EU Member States	EFTA		Total	EU Member States	EFTA - Norway
		Iceland	Norway
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
2019	10,184	26,352	23,673	60,209	297	0
2020	17,746	42,106	220	60,072	1,130	0

The numbers of ova imported decreased by 0.2%. The number of fry, parr and smolts imported increased from that observed in 2019, with over 1.1 million imported from EU member states during 2020.

Table 22b: Destination and number (000's) of salmon ova, fry, parr and smolts exported during 2011-2020 derived from health certificates

Export year	Farmed origin ova			Total	Fry, Parr and Smolts
	EU	Norway	Others
2011	0	0	820	820	183
2012	0	0	0	0	55
2013	650	0	0	650	404
2014	0	0	0	0	259
2015	93	0	2	95	8
2016	335	0	23	358	173
2017	16	0	323	339	206
2018	23	0	0	23	71
2019	0	0	0	0	263
2020	0	0	0	0	389

In 2020, no ova were exported. Fry, parr and smolt exports increased by 126,000 fish on the 2019 figure.

Vaccines

Table 23: Number of sites using vaccines and number (millions) of fish vaccinated during 2011-2020

Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
No. of sites	67	63	63	56	55	47	46	43	46	43
No. of fish (millions) vaccinated	49.2	48.1	47.5	44.7	48.0	42.6	58.4	51.0	52.4	59.2

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, IPN and SAV, with smaller numbers of fish being vaccinated against ERM and vibriosis. A total of 59.2 million fish were vaccinated across 43 sites.

Escapes

In 2020, there was one escape incident involving the loss of 20 fish from sites rearing freshwater Atlantic salmon. There was one additional incident reported where the company confirmed there was no loss of fish.