FEATURE

UK Aquaculture
Planning on the move in

by Roy Palmer, Aquaculture Without Frontiers, Australia

That aquaculture has a

philosophical base in
the East and a scientific
base in the West has farreaching implications.
In the East, it is culture, it
is life: culture to improve
life by providing food
and employment. It is
embedded in the social and
economic infrastructure.
All that science can and
must do is to make this
culture more effective.
In the West, aquaculture
is science and technology,
embodied in industry and
providing profits: money. It
has no social infrastructure.
In this, the West has much
to learn from the East

Elizabeth Mann Borgese

(1918-2002), Seafarm, The
Story of Aquaculture, 1980

Nothing explains the differences between

Asian countries and Western countries and
the way they interact with aquaculture better
than this quote.
Looking at Aquaculture in UK these points
come through very strongly because whilst
there can be no doubting that governance is
important you get to appreciate how complex
it can make business. It is like the wagon has
put itself ahead of the horse and, of course,
the more complicated you make things the
harder it is for people to achieve.
Aquaculture policy in the UK is a devolved
matter, with the separate administrations
of Wales, England, Northern Ireland and
Scotland responsible for its collective oversight. This governance arrangement means
that the elements of the UK approach reflected in the Multiannual National Plan will vary
to reflect differences in priorities and policy
approaches.
The UK Department for Environment,
Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) created the
United Kingdom Multiannual National Plan for
the Development of Sustainable Aquaculture
last year. This plan identifies that Aquaculture
is one of the UKs key strategic food production sectors acknowledging that it helps to
underpin sustainable economic growth, both
in rural and coastal communities and in the
wider economy. It highlights that the UK is
committed to continue supporting industryled sustainable growth of aquaculture.
Additionally to this Plan Seafish Authority
have commenced an aquaculture review to
investigate the services provided by Seafish
in relation to the UK aquaculture market to
show how the role of Seafish has changed and
14 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | May-June 2015

developed over the years, to make recommendations on where Seafish should/could

be focusing on aquaculture (both domestic
and imported); make recommendations on
how Seafish could most appropriately invest in
aquaculture technical and information needs
and assess potential gains from such investments.
The outcomes are to be fed into the discussions on the new Seafish Corporate Plan,
which will run from April 2015 to March 2018,
and will detail how the Seafish levy should
be spent. The Seafish panels agreed that
aquaculture should be included in the new
Corporate Plan and the review has highlighted
that most of the levy for this sector comes
from imported warm water prawns. It was
also identified that Seafish should focus on the
development of the domestic sector through
supporting national strategies.
Seafish has now just appointed an aquaculture manager, Lee Cocker, to help support
the growth of the industry in the UK.
Aquaculture within England, Northern
Ireland and Wales differs significantly from
Scotland both in terms of scale of production
and species cultivated. Scotland is undoubtedly
the major player in the production of farmed
Atlantic salmon (over 95 percent) which
dominates the UK finfish production figures.
Although primarily marine based, Scotlands
industry also incorporates a significant freshwater production sector. Collectively the
English, Northern Irish and Welsh industries
place greater emphasis on shellfish and trout
production.

England

Department for Environment, Food and

Rural Affairs (Defra) is the UK government
department responsible for policy and regula-

FEATURE

the lead on aquaculture development, there

is no lead in England and no reference point.
Additionally, the industry has been complaining about the aquaculture regulatory
burdens. The industry regards itself as overregulated and the fact that certain reports
have not been published restricts the implementation of an English development plan;

tions on the environment, food and rural

affairs and hence is the major agency for
aquaculture.
Industry have had concerns for some time
that agreed plans have not been acted upon
and this is holding back potential for aquaculture growth in England. The issue here is that
unlike Scotland, where Government does take

the regulatory background is fundamental

and if this is seen to be onerous it will limit
investment. It has been mentioned that this
regulatory burden exercise is more to do with
allowing those who want to engage with the
regulator to do so as there is no clear route
for engagement.
Whilst volumes are not large by world

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FEATURE
standards the main species grown in
England are Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout,
Salmon, Carp, Tilapia, Catfish, Turbot,
Native Oysters, Pacific Oysters, Mussels,
Clams and Cockles.

Scotland

Marine Scotland is the directorate of

Scottish Government responsible for marine
and fisheries issues in Scotland.
Aquaculture is a major employer and one
of Scotland's most important exporters with
industry worth being more than 430 million
to the Scottish economy.
The Crown Estate manage virtually all
the seabed around the UK out to the 12nm
limit, so fish farming operations specifically
require a Crown Estate lease. They manage
the seabed, but are not a regulator of and
have no statutory function in relation to the
fish farming industry but they take much
interest in Scotland because of the volume of
business. The Crown Estate also continued to
work with government to create a detailed
and up-to-date web-based overview of the
Scottish industry for the general public and
stakeholders.
The bulk of marine aquaculture is in
Scotland and is mainly salmon and shellfish,
chiefly mussel production. Experimental cultivation of farmed salmon began in 1969
and has since developed into a substantial
rural industry, with an estimated 8,000 jobs
provided by salmon farming and related support industries, mainly in remote locations
where alternative sources of employment are
scarce. Virtually all production takes place in
the inshore waters of the west coast and the
Western and Northern Isles, where the most
favourable conditions for aquaculture are to
be found. Alternative species, such as cod
and halibut, are being grown in commercial
quantities and organic farming is also on the
increase.
There is also commercial potential in
seaweed around Scotland and research in line
with the Scottish Government's draft National
Marine Plan is aligned to a commercial production pilot project. A macro-algae forum
has been established to assist co-ordination
and dissemination of information on all macro-algae related work to industry and other
key stakeholders.
The Scottish Government supports
Scotlands aquaculture industry to achieve
sustainable growth targets, with due regard to
the marine environment, by 2020. The targets
are to increase:
Marine finfish production sustainably to
210,000 tonnes (In 2013, it was 165,256
tonnes - 163,234 salmon, 1,964 Marine rainbow trout, 56 Halibut an 2 Sea trout)
Shellfish production (especially mussels) to
13,000 tonnes (In 2013, it was 6,757 tonnes).

Wales

The Welsh Assembly Government is

responsible for the licensing of fish farms in
Wales.
Wales has invested in regionally distinct,
sustainable aquaculture technologies with
positive commercial outcomes according to
Government presentations. This has involved
a structured discussion between stakeholders
and government over a circa 10 year period,
involving the production of several strategy
documents. Sizeable public (EU) investments
have been required to kick start new aquaculture developments in Wales via Fisheries
instruments and Structural funding.
In a quick snapshot of the Welsh
Aquaculture Industry it is recognised as
having a long established traditional fish
farming sector (trout for table / stocking
/ recreational fisheries) and seabed shellfish cultivation. Recent industry growth via
companies engaged in systems design and
manufacture; land-based production of high
value marine species; extensive cultivation
of blue mussels (largest such industry in the
UK); development and production of specialty aqua-feeds; breeding technologies for
warm water finfish and specialist consultancy
services

Northern Ireland

The Department of Agriculture and Rural

Development Northern Ireland Fisheries
Division is responsible for the licensing of fish
farms in Northern Ireland.
The Aquaculture Industry in Northern
Ireland continues to develop and at present
there are 80 licensed fish farms (covering 90
sites), of which 48 are licensed for the cultivation of shellfish (47 marine and 1 land-based)
and 32 for the cultivation of finfish (30 inland
and 2 marine).
The main shellfish species cultivated are
mussels (Mytilus edulis) and Pacific Oysters
(Crassostrea gigas) although a small quantity
of Native oysters (Ostrea edulis) and clams
(Venerupis semi-decussata) are also grown.
The main finfish species cultivated are salmon
(Salmo salar), rainbow trout (Oncorhyncus
gorbuscha) and brown trout (Salmo trutta).
In 2012 the aquaculture sector produced
4920 tonnes of shellfish valued at 4.53 million and over 946 tonnes of finfish valued at
4.12 million. In total the aquaculture sector
directly employs 73 full time and 40 part time
employees.
A lot of time and effort has been going into
research on Oysters as since the 1990s, massive mortalities of Crassostrea gigas (Pacific
oyster) were related to a combination of
environmental factors, such as the state of the
oyster and the presence of pathogens in the
sea. The recently detected variant OsHV-1
var is the major pathogen associated with
16 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | May-June 2015

the massive mortalities that have hit oysters

since 2008.
Characteristics that differentiate these
mortalities from previous summer mortalities
are their recurrence in the last five years,
ubiquitously around the French coast, and
at a high degree of intensity. Mortalities also
affect seed more than juveniles and to a lesser
degree, adults. They occur in waves during the
summer, following the south - north temperature increase and begin once temperatures
reach 16C. Mortalities were also reported in
many other production countries. The Island
of Ireland and the UK are also affected, but to
a far lesser extent.
It is suspected that these differences in
mortality are caused by colder sea temperatures, a lower degree of intensification
of oyster farming and the implementation of
appropriate sanitary measures to contain the
spread of OsHV-1 var. International research
into the causes of these massive mortalities
allowed a better understanding of the virus
and how it affects the oysters.
It has been suggested that remote setting
techniques could be developed in Northern
Ireland, to locally produce seed on artificial
collectors, this would have the advantage of
reducing shellfish movements and the spread
of diseases. More specific to the Island of
Ireland, this technique could compensate for
the shortage of hatchery seed experienced by
producers situated in disease free compartment areas. This is seen as a massive market
opportunity to grow market sized oysters for
the French market and also to produce oyster
seed and juveniles at the best cost rate in the
disease free compartments. For these reasons, this may be the right time for Northern
Ireland to further develop and invest in the
oyster industry.
The market for bulk oysters is also very
good as a result of French production losses
averaging 50,000 tonnes. The only commercial hatcheries situated in disease free
compartment are situated in the UK and
are running under capacity so they cannot
supply every oyster farmers situated in bays
with similar sanitary status. A report has
been created to give a good understanding
to Northern Irish oyster farmers about the
French situation. An overview of research
carried out about the disease in France has
also been given, following a path of progression from the first records of mortalities, the
summer mortalities and the massive mortality
outbreak since 2008. Then, from what was
learned in France, the report looks at what
practices or aquaculture technology can be
used to reduce the impact of mortalities in
Northern Ireland.
As is often the case that as one market
struggles another prospers from the same issue.
References available on request

May-June 2015 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 17