Salmon sector in healthy state
ore and more of us are aware of the health benefits of including salmon in our diets. Perhaps less well known are the hugely significant benefits that homegrown salmon is delivering beyond that.
According to the latest estimates, Scottish farmed salmon – in other words, salmon that has been specially grown in sea pens for food, rather than wildcaught by anglers for sport – now contributes as much as £558 million to the country’s economy every year.
Included in this are the 10,000 livelihoods that the sector supports, often in remote and rural communities where every job won or lost is keenly felt, and where onward spend within the area helps keeps local services and businesses running. Many of these livelihoods are supported directly by the sector, but many more are supported indirectly by ongoing investment with Scottish suppliers.
It’s not just Scotland that’s reaping the benefits. With salmon now outselling cod, haddock and trout combined as the UK’S favourite fish, Scottish farmers have invested millions in processes and logistics to ensure there’s fresh, chilled salmon on our supermarket shelves seven days a week..
Not bad for a sector that’s not yet 50 years old and which, were you to combine each and every one of its farms dotted around Scotland’s west coast, would add up to an area no greater than two 18-hole golf courses. This last point is key and, arguably, is where Scottish salmon farming can be of most benefit of all. Because with the UN predicting a global population of 9.7 billion people by 2050, there’s growing concern over how to produce enough protein to feed those extra 2.4bn mouths.
Salmon farming provides one of the single most sustainable protein sources, outperforming beef, chicken and pork in terms of the most efficient use of feed, water and energy consumption, and overall carbon footprint. Here in Scotland, it also provides one of the most responsibly produced protein sources, with the RSPCA, Sepa and Marine Scotland regulations ensuring low stocking densities, low environmental impact, and the highest standards of fish health and welfare.
Helping drive up these standards even further, the country’s salmon farmers are proactively investing millions of pounds every year in new approaches and better ways of doing things. This includes everything from gaining greater control over the challenges presented by the marine environment in which we farm, to reducing the use of medicines, all of which is aimed at meeting growing demand in the most responsible, sustainable way.
Keep on achieving it and this lesser known jewel in Scotland’s crown has a hugely beneficial role to play in terms of helping secure global food supply for generations to come. Jim Gallagher is MD of Scottish Sea Farms and co-chair of the Aquaculture Industry Leadership Group