Out and about

This issue went to press a week after Britain voted to leave the European Union, a decision that will affect the aquaculture industry here - though how, we don’t yet know. We hope to bring more of an insight into the changed landscape in the months ahead, but a few brave individuals, including our regular columnists Phil Thomas and Nick Joy, were prepared to share their initial thoughts as events unfolded.

Someone else who is not lost for words is our pioneer this month, Marine Harvest’s David Corrigan. The manager of Ardnish research site may be retiring from his day job, but he will still be promoting fish farming, as he has done throughout his 32-year career, and would like to see the sector do more to raise its profile.

This was also a theme at the AquaVision conference, which attracted aquaculture leaders from around the world to Stavanger in June. Another was the importance of disease control in growth and expansion. We take up this subject in our health feature, with experts from some of the biggest salmon companies discussing the current challenges to fish health, and possible solutions.

Perhaps the most over used word at AquaVision was ‘collaboration’ but the message was clear: the industry must work together to become more competitive. And that is exactly what Scotland’s farmers and researchers are now doing, pooling both intellectual and financial resources in the latest cleaner fish initiative. We wish them every success.