Happy New Year!

Avery happy New Year from everyone at Fish Farmer. We have been looking at the calendar for the next twelve months and planning how much time we can afford to spend out of the office, with all the industry shows and conferences lined up for this year. Fortunately, two of the biggest ones are close to home, starting with Aquaculture UK 2016, which returns to Aviemore from May 25-26. Later in the year, Aquaculture Europe 2016 is heading to Edinburgh, and hopefully many of you will be too.

In the meantime, we will keep up to date with all the most exciting developments in the sector, and where better to begin than with feed. In this issue, some of the researchers and companies spearheading innovation in fish diets present their findings and latest products. Just as we were putting this feature together, Marine Harvest announced its intention to build a feed factory in Scotland, a move the whole salmon industry will be watching with interest.

Another subject that concerns all salmon farmers is the challenge of controlling sea lice, so when the SSPO organised a conference last month to discuss cleaner fish initiatives, the industry response was enthusiastic. The SSPO’s Iain Berrill and Ardtoe’s Jim Treasurer were among those at the meeting and give their accounts of the progress being made in farming these new species.

Our industry pioneer for January is John Howard of Boris Nets, the Fleetwood based company that has played a major role in the expansion of salmon farming. John has seen many ups and downs during his decades in the business but says he always manages to bounce back. On that positive note, we look forward to the hectic year ahead.