Salmon farmer tackles gill health with £1.9m workboat
SCOTTISH Sea Farms is improving its response time to gill health issues with a new, purpose built workboat.The £1.9 million Fair Isle will service the salmon farmer’s more northerly regions, delivering veterinary treatment.
The company’s existing workboat, the Sally Ann, will be deployed at Scottish Sea Farms’ mainland operations.
SSF head of welfare Dr Ralph Bickerdike said: ‘Recent years have seen significant investment in the surveillance of fish health and the farming environment, with water quality monitored on a daily basis and gill health routinely assessed by our farmers to detect any challenges and highlight where pre-emptive action is needed.
‘Having a second dedicated workboat takes this ‘prevention over cure’ approach a key step further, enabling us to administer the best veterinary care at the earliest opportunity.’
The Fair Isle is due into service in early 2020 following an 18-month build.