TThe fish farming industry in Scotland will remain viable for the long term, providing an important source of employment for local communities, according to a three-year study on fish farming, delivered to Brussels today (Mon).
The Aquaculture and Coastal Economic and Social Sustainability (AQCESS) project points to a promising future for acquaculture, although the industry by no means gets a clean bill of health. Neither do the government nor the various public and private industry stakeholders, who are told they “must do better” to improve and promote sustainability.
Led by marine zoologist Professor Dominic Houlihan, of the University of Aberdeen, AQCESS has been funded by the European Community’s Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources programme. The team has examined five main issues surrounding sustainability: community, socio-economic, ecological, institutional and economic.
Looking to the future, the report warns that prospects of further growth are limited, not least by an unwieldy regulatory and approvals process which, while it may reflect society’s environmental concerns, makes starting a new fish farm a costly, bureaucratic nightmare.
“Current environmental regulation is effective and comprehensive but more research is needed so that the regulatory framework can be updated to accommodate the industry’s evolution and development,” said Professor Houlihan, who is also the University’s Vice-Principal responsible for commercialisation. “Probably the most effective way to enhance the sustainability of fish farming in Scotland would be to update and streamline the development approvals process.”
The team has closely studied the importance of fish farms as a source of employment. While the average fish farm employs only four or five people, Professor Houlihan highlights that they are often based within small communities that are short of jobs. “Forty six percent of fish farm workers and 26% of fishermen told us that their main reason for staying in their jobs was that no alternative was available,” he said.
“New employment in fishing is limited to say the least and tourism is still mainly seasonal, so these jobs are important to the individuals, the families and the communities concerned. And we also must not ignore the additional downstream jobs generated by both fishing and fish farming in work such as processing, packaging and transport.”
The team has also pointed to opportunities to create new jobs, such as diversifying into other areas shellfish, such as oysters and mussels for which demand is rising sharply across Europe.
Also under the spotlight is the threat posed to the wild fish population when farmed fish escape; dilution of the wild salmon genotype when the escapees breed; competition for resources; and the risk of disease transfer. New data suggests that interbreeding between wild and farmed salmon can reduce the survival of the offspring.
As far as lice transfer is concerned, the researchers say that, even in the absence of irrefutable data, the issue is clearly a problem. AQCESS also wants more research to find environmentally benign lice treatments. Existing treatments such as the use of cleaner wrasse small fish that pick off parasites which are used successfully in other parts of the world have had only limited success in Scottish aquaculture. The researchers warn that there is no sign of a “magic bullet” to tackle the lice problem.
In terms of the approvals and regulatory regimes, improvements could also help to reduce conflict between the wild fish lobby, shellfish interests and salmon farmers who, in some cases, are competing for resources. One option backed by AQCESS is for more local management of coastal resources, helping to balance the needs of fisheries, aquaculture and other sectors such as tourism and leisure. The team believes that a bottom-up approach could be effective, starting with small-scale local projects which might combine in the longer term.
“Local management cannot only win community support, it can also operate successfully with minimum of bureaucracy,” says Professor Houlihan.
“When we interviewed industry stakeholders more than six out of ten said that red tape was a real threat to the future of the industry. That’s an issue that cannot be ignored.”