Welcome

Observant readers may notice we have slightly changed the look of the opening pages of Fish Farmer this month. This is to accommodate even more content as we bring you news of industry developments, industry characters and industry views. In this issue, that includes an update on the boatbuilding sector in Scotland, growing in response to demand from fish and shellfish farmers.

We also go inside Mowi’s impressive new feed plant on Skye, the first visitors invited to tour the factory, which is already delivering most of the company’s feed needs on the west coast of Scotland and beyond.

And we report on an exciting farming innovation, still in the planning stage, from Scottish Sea Farms. Announced earlier this month, the proposal is to build this country’s first open ocean farm, growing fish in deeper, more exposed waters to both expand production and farm more sustainably. The ambitious move was welcomed in the sector, not least by the rural economy minister Fergus Ewing, who described it as ‘exactly the kind of landmark inward investment opportunity that Scotland needs to thrive and grow’.

Ambition is also driving the salmon sector’s new vision for Scotland, yet to be unveiled but apparently far reaching in its goals. Nothing, it seems, can hold back our aquaculture businesses except, of course, Scotland’s regulatory system that somehow refuses to be reformed, and that, according to one leading supplier, ‘prohibits’ innovation. If the industry is to form a consensus about anything it should be this: the status quo is not an option for regulators.