Fish farming leads boom in innovation

Academics and producers finding new solutions

Scotland’s £620million a year aquaculture industry is at the heart of a boom in technical innovation as it tries to tackle some long-standing challenges, a patent expert said yesterday.

Salmon farming, accounting for an estimated 90% of the total gross value added contribution from the wider industry every year, has been plagued by biological problems in recent years.

According to intellectual property (IP) firm Marks and Clerk (M&C), these issues are driving the country’s academics and producers to find new and innovative solutions to fight back. Efforts to control the scourge of sea lice alone are thought to be costing the salmon farming industry in the region of £30million a year.

M&C’s Richard Gibbs said yesterday he was dealing with a growing number of IP aquaculture patents.

The patent attorney added: “As fish farming and aquaculture evolve, the technology employed to overcome problems, and the IP which protects that technology, becomes all the more innovative and important.

“Scotland’s natural resources and farming expertise ensure that Scotland excels in this industry.

“We are now at the forefront of those innovations which are providing solutions to major problems.”

He added: “Scotland is an absolute hub for innovation and research.

“Solutions developed here are being pushed out to famers all over the world – to South America, Asia and Scandinavia.”

SCOURGE: Efforts to control the problem of sea lice cost the salmon farming industry about £30million a year and spur new research