Changing perceptions

This has been a busy time for the aquaculture industry, in Scotland and in Europe, which recently saw another successful European Aquaculture Society conference, this year held in the beautiful Croatian city of Dubrovnik. We bring you reports from there - on oysters, bluefin tuna, and how fish farming can help save the human race, no less.

Closer to home, we have updates on containment challenges, from the suppliers’ and the producers’ perspective. But the big issue once again is health on salmon farms. Farmers continue to invest heavily in sea lice and disease mitigation, and the sector appears to be in good shape, certainly in business terms, as Scott Landsburgh from the SSPO reports on page 19. But changing perceptions is proving to be a tougher battle, and it has now become a priority of the Aquaculture Industry Leadership Group, set up a year ago to drive growth, to address this (see page 16). We welcome comment from across the industry and this month we launch a platform for you to have your say. Nikos Steiropoulos of Europharma writes about meeting production targets, and we hope to publish regular opinions from the front line of farming, academia and even government in the future.

Finally, we’re delighted to announce that Fish Farmer has been shortlisted in the Scottish PPA magazine awards, taking place later this month. Wish us luck!