Aquaculture Awards

Scottish Sea Farms scores hat-trick in Dynamic prize night

All the winners

IT was Scottish Sea Farms’ night at the Aquaculture Awards 2019, with the company picking up three coveted prizes at a special ceremony in Edinburgh on May 29. And the evening also saw Fish Farmer’s William Dowds receive special recognition for his contribution to aquaculture, as his friends in the industry cheered on at the event, held in Dynamic Earth.

First up for Scottish Sea Farms (SSF) was the Applied Research Breakthrough award, which the company shared with Mowi, BioMar, the Institute of Aquaculture at Stirling and SAIC (Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre) for a joint cleaner fish project.

This successfully closed the cycle for captive ballan wrasse breeding for the first time, at Machrihanish hatchery on Scotland’s west coast.

Scottish Sea Farms also scooped the Diversity award, presented to the employer that has done the most to promote diversity in the work place.

The salmon farmer has encouraged increasing numbers of women to reach senior roles in the company.

And SSF regional manager Richard Darbyshire was named the People’s Choice winner, chosen by his industry peers and beating competition from Ace Aquatec’s Nathan Pyne-Carter, among others.

Left: Campbell Morrison of sponsor Europharma presents SSF’s Richard Darbyshire with his People’s Choice award. Opposite - clockwise from top: Rob Fletcher of the Fish Site pays tribute to industry champ William Dowds; Martin Gill of Lloyd’s Register with the Applied Research Breakthrough winners (left to right) Ralph Bickerdike of SSF, Paddy Campbell of BioMar, Gideon Pringle of Mowi, and Stirling’s Herve Migaud; Nathan PyneCarter of Ace Aquatec; guests at the Dynamic Earth event; Mowi boss Ben Hadfield with Technical Innovation prize winners Valerie Robitaille and Mikael Lefebvre of XpertSea. All pictures: Angus Blackburn

Clockwise from above: SFF’s head of human resources Tracy BryantShaw (left), Emma Leyden and Clare Scott are awarded the Diversity prize by Bob Fowler and Robin Shields of sponsor SAIC; Clara McGhee of Mowi was named Most Promising New Entrant; a representative from Cargill collects Hatch’s International Impact award from Paddy Campbell