Scottish Sea Farms has confirmed it will take its first delivery of salmon eggs bred from fish grown at its own marine farms early next year.
Scottish Sea Farms has been working with AquaGen for the past year to select the best-performing fish from its own farms and to produce offspring from them, it said in a press release.
The Stirling, U.K. -headquartered company said the move was “a key milestone” in its collaboration with breeding specialists AquaGen, which is “aimed at future-proofing farmed fish welfare in the face of climate change.”
“Ultimately, we’re seeking to match the right stock to the right conditions in order to maximize fish welfare. As climate conditions continue to change – and with it, the marine environment – we’re acting now to help ensure future stocks can withstand those changes,” Scottish Sea Farms Head of Fish Welfare Ralph Bickerdike said.
The producer said that thanks to its new GBP 58 million (USD 80.1 million, EUR 68.8 million) hatchery at Barcaldine, near Oban, it has already reduced the time its fish require at sea by two months. This latest initiative aims to maximize fish welfare once at sea by improving overall robustness to Scottish marine conditions and increasing resistance to the health challenges that the changing environment can give rise to, including gill health, the company said. The first eggs bred from Scottish Sea Farms’ salmon will be transferred from the hatchery to the company’s marine farms around Scotland’s west coast and Northern Isles from the first quarter of 2023, SSF estimated.
“Climate change presents challenges to livestock farmers of all kinds. For salmon farmers, this summer’s record high temperatures and lower than average rainfall have given rise to increased incidence of gill health issues,” Bickerdike said. “At some farms, fish stocks have been able to overcome such challenges and bounce back to full health. At other individual farms, we’ve seen significant losses, indicating that some salmon are naturally more resistant than others. Helping determine which genetic selection might offer the greatest resistance is an integral element of the breeding program.”
AquaGen Scotland Managing Director Andrew Reeve said that stock selection is an “ongoing process,” and also that climate change shifts necessitate adjustments to best breeding protocols.
“Having selected the best performing fish from Scottish Sea Farms marine farms, we’re now able to apply the latest technologies and approaches to identify the key traits that have helped these superior grade fish continue to thrive in the Scottish marine environment,” he said.
While their work is at an early stage, the partners hope to have robust genomic data within three years, reeve said, with that timescale potentially getting shortened if knowledge exchange from other research projects in this area proves fruitful.
A main goal of the project is to share insights into breeding for improved resistance to gill health challenges with other producers of farmed salmon in Scotland and overseas, the companies said.
Photo courtesy of Scottish Sea Farms
