Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024

3. Atlantic Salmon - Production

Production

Production survey information was collected from all 11 companies actively involved in Atlantic salmon production, farming 215 active sites. This figure represents the entire sector operating in Scotland.

Chart 18: Annual production of Atlantic salmon (tonnes) during 2015-2024.

Data represented by a solid dark blue line in Chart 18 displays annual Atlantic salmon production (in tonnes) over the ten-year period, 2015 to 2024.

The total production of Atlantic salmon during 2024 was 192,000 tonnes, an increase of 41,051 tonnes (27%) on the 2023 total. Total production for 2025 is estimated to be 195,182 tonnes, this value is a sector estimate based on stocks currently being on-grown.

Data Source: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 24.

Chart 19: Total production (tonnes) of year 0, year 1 and year 2 Atlantic salmon harvested during 2015-2024.

Chart 19 illustrates the total production of year 0, year 1 and year 2 Atlantic salmon in Scotland over the period 2015 to 2024. The upper dashed blue line shows production of year 1 Atlantic salmon in tonnes. The lower solid dark blue line shows the year 0 Atlantic salmon production while the dark red dashed line shows the year 2 Atlantic salmon production.

In 2024 174 tonnes of year 0 (2024 input fish) were harvested, with a mean weight 3.4 kg. Also 113,139 tonnnes of year 1 (2023 input fish) mean weight 5.3 kg and 78,687 tonnes of year 2 (2022 input fish) mean weight 5.9 kg were harvested in 2024.

Data Source, additional data detailing the number, production (tonnes) and mean fish weights (kg) of year 0, year 1 and year 2 Atlantic salmon can be found: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 25.

Harvest of year 1 fish was also reported in terms of production of grilse (year 1 fish harvested during January to August) and pre-salmon (year 1 fish harvested during September to December). In 2024 66,995 tonnes of grilse with a mean weight of 5.3 kg were harvested and 46,144 tonnes of pre-salmon, mean weight of 5.2 kg.

Data Source, additional data detailing the number, production (tonnes) and mean weights of grilse and pre-salmon can be found: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 26.

Table 10 shows percentage (by weight) of annual Atlantic salmon harvest by growth stage from 2020 to 2024. Growth stages include input year fish (year 0), grilse, pre-salmon and year 2 salmon.

Data Source: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 27.

Table 11 details the total harvest percentages (survival to harvest) of Atlantic salmon year classes during 2015-2024. The table shows smolt input numbers (in thousands) and the proportion of each year class harvested, for year 0, year 1 and year 2 Atlantic salmon.

In 2022, the last year for which survival can be calculated, the survival rate from smolt input to harvest decreased to 61.8%. Of the 2023 year class, 44.0% of the input has been harvested, 6.4% more than the average harvest of fish one year after input in the 2022 year class. In 2024, 0.1% of the fish were harvested from the 2024 input. This was a small increase compared with the proportion of fish harvested from the same year class in 2023.

Further details of fish numbers and tonnes harvested can be found in the: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 28.

Smolts to Sea

Table 12 details number of smolts (in thousands) put to sea from 2015 to 2024, catergorised by smolt typre: S½, S1 and S1½.

Table 13 shows the number and origin of smolts put to sea from 2015 to 2024. The table presents annual totals and the percentage from Scottish, English and Other sources.

The total number of smolts put to sea in 2024 was 45.8 million. This smolt input comprised S½s (54%) and S1s (46%). No S1½s were produced in 2024. Three percent of the smolts stocked to Scottish salmon farms were sourced from outwith Scotland, with 2% coming from sources outwith GB in 2024. This was a small increase compared with the proportion observed in 2023.

Data Source: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 29.

Survival to harvest and production in smolt year classes by production area

Table 14: Number (in thousands) of smolts put to sea and year class survival to harvest by area during 2020-2024.

Table 14 presents the number of smolts put to sea and year class survival to harvest by region from 2020 to 2024. Data are shown for the five production areas, North West, Orkney, Shetland, South West and Western Isles.

Further details of fish numbers harvested can be found in the: Scottish Fish farm production survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 30.

Chart 20: Total percentage of year class harvested (survival to harvest) by area.

Bar chart 20 presents the total percentage of the 2022 year class harvested (survival to harvest) across the five production regions, North West, Orkney, Shetland, South West and Western Isles.

Note: Data shown is for 2022, the last year for which survival to harvest can be calculated.

In the 2022 year class, the North West production area recorded the highest survival to harvest rate of the five production areas, reaching 69.2%. This was an increase in survival to harvest over the North West’s 2021 year class figure. In contrast, all other production areas experienced a decline in survival compared with the 2021 year class, reduction in survival was greatest in the South West. Average survival to harvest across all production areas was 61.8% in the 2022 year class. Notably, North West, Shetland and Orkney exceeded this average, while the Western Isles and South West were below the average in the 2022 year class.

Further details of fish numbers harvested can be found in the: Scottish Fish farm production survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 30.

Staffing

Chart 21: Total number of staff employed in Atlantic salmon production 2015-2024.

Chart 21 shows total number of staff employed in Atlantic salmon production over the ten-year period from 2015 to 2024. The data are represented by a dark blue line which shows the combined total of full-time and part-time staff each year.

Chart 22: Number of full-time and part-time staff employed in Atlantic salmon production 2024, by gender.

Chart 22 displays the number of staff employed in Atlantic salmon production by gender and employment status (full-time and part-time). The data are represented using dark blue bars for each category.

Note: FT = Full-time and PT = Part-time

In 2024, the total number of staff employed in salmon production was 1,362, a decrease of 118 employees (8%) compared with 2023. Out of 1,362 staff, 1,217 were male (89%) and 145 were female (11%). The staffing figures collected refer specifically to the production of Atlantic salmon and do not include figures for staff involved with processing or marketing activities. Productivity increased from 102.0 to 141.0 tonnes produced per person.

Data Source: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 31.

Production Methods

Table 15 presents a comparison of seawater production systems (tanks and pens) in 2023 and 2024, detailing the number of operational sites, the total cubic capacity, annual production in tonnes and production efficiency in seawater pens measured in kg/m³.

In 2024, the majority of fish were produced in seawater pens. There was no production from seawater tank sites in 2024. This reflects the high installation and running costs incurred in operating seawater tank systems. Most seawater tank capacity has been re-deployed for the production of other species of marine finfish or salmon broodstock.

Seawater pen capacity increased by 461,000 m³ during 2024 and the number of seawater pen sites in production increased by two. Production efficiency in seawater pens, measured as the ratio of fish weight in kilograms produced per cubic metre, increased from 5.8 kg/m³ in 2023 to 7.3 kg/m³ in 2024.

Data Source: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 32.

Scale of Production by Site

Chart 23: Number of sites shown in relation to their production grouping 2015-2024.

Bar chart 23 shows the number of sites that fall into their production grouping. The seven categories were 0 tonnes, 1-500 tonnes, 501-1,000 tonnes, 1,001-2,000 tonnes, 2,001-3,000 tonnes, 3,001-4,000 and over 4,000 tonnes.

In 2024, the number of sites with no production increased by nine while the number of sites producing 1 to 1,000 tonnes decreased by 21. The number of sites producing 1,000 to 4,000 tonnes increased by 13 and sites producing over 4,000 tonnes increased by one. The trend towards production in larger sites continued, with 89% of production being derived from sites producing over 1,000 tonnes.

Data Source: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 33.

The greatest productivity of 158 tonnes per person was achieved in the companies producing over 10,000 tonnes. The least productivity of zero tonnes per person was from the companies producing between 0-1,000 tonnes. In comparison with 2023, the average company productivity increased from 102 to 141 tonnes per person. Overall, production was dominated by four companies in 2024 which between them accounted for 96% of Scotland’s farmed Atlantic salmon production.

Data Source: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 34.

Staff and Production by Production Area

Chart 24: Total production (tonnes) by area 2015-2024.

Chart 24 shows total tonnes of Atlantic salmon production across different areas in Scotland during 2015-2024. The production data are represented using different coloured lines for each area, North West (solid dark grey line), Shetland (solid purple line), Westen Isles (solid orange line), South West (green dashed line) and Orkney (dark blue dashed line).

Chart 25: Total staff employed in Atlantic salmon production by area 2015-2024.

Bar chart showing total staff employed in Atlantic salmon production by area in 2024, with dark blue bars for Western Isles, South West, North West, Orkney, Shetland and All Scotland. Each bar is labelled with the number of staff in the category.

Further details of year class harvest, mean weight (kg) of fish and estimated production for 2025 by area can be found in the: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 35

Company and Site Data

Chart 26: Number of companies engaged in Atlantic salmon production during 2015-2024, split by producing and non-producing.

Line chart 26 shows the total number of Atlantic salmon companies operating in Scotland over the ten-year period, 2015-2024. The upper dashed blue line shows the total number of companies. The dark blue dashed line shows the number of businesses actively producing while the solid dark grey line shows the number of non-producing companies.

Chart 27: Number of sites engaged in Atlantic salmon production during 2015-2024, split by producing and non-producing.

Chart 27 shows the total number of Atlantic salmon sites operating in Scotland over the ten-year period, 2015-2024. The upper solid purple line shows the total number of sites. The orange solid line shows the number of sites actively producing while the solid green line shows the number of non-producing sites.

The number of companies authorised and actively producing Atlantic salmon in 2024 decreased by one to seven. Four companies were active and authorised, although not producing salmon for harvest in 2024. These 11 companies had 215 registered active sites, although not all these sites produced fish for harvest in 2024.

Data Source: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 36

Fallowing

Chart 28: Number of seawater pen sites employing a fallow period 2024.

Chart 28 shows the number of seawater pens and the fallow period durations they employed in 2024. Fallow period categories are 0 weeks, 1-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-26 weeks, 27-51 weeks and 52 weeks.

Of the 214 seawater pen sites recorded as being active in 2024, 43 sites were fallow for the entire year whilst 131 sites were fallow for a variable period. There were 40 sites that did not fallow in 2024. The normal production cycle in seawater varies in length between 12 months and two years. A fallow period at the end of production can break the cycle of disease or parasitic infections.

Data Source: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 37.

Broodstock Sites

In 2024, the number of freshwater and seawater sites holding broodstock increased to six sites. A total of 7,875 fish were stripped, yielding 55.7 million ova, giving an average yield of 7,067 ova per fish.

Data Source: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 17 and Table 38.

Organic Production

Chart 29: Organic production of Atlantic salmon during 2015-2024.

Data represented by a solid dark blue line in Chart 29 displays annual organic Atlantic salmon production (in tonnes) over the ten-year period, 2015 to 2024.

Of the 214 active Atlantic salmon seawater pen sites in 2024, 12 were certified as organic, producing 18,441 tonnes. Organic production accounts for almost 10% of the total annual Atlantic salmon production.

Data Source: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 39.

Escapes

There was one incident involving the loss of one fish from a seawater Atlantic salmon production site in 2024. There were 11 additional incidents reported where the companies confirmed there was no loss of fish.

Escapes data from previous annual survey reports are available: Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024, Supplementary Tables, Table 46.