Editor’s Welcome

THIS issue of Fish Farmer - like the whole industry and, in fact, the world - hasn’t gone quite according to plan in the last month. As the UK joined much of Asia and Europe, and then the US, in the coronavirus lockdown, we regrouped (remotely of course) and changed tack. The focus of our coverage this month is inevitably the pandemic’s impact on the aquaculture sector - and how farmers, suppliers, processors, regulators and government have responded.

Although the legacy of this outbreak will be a subject for the future, the immediate effect of the crisis on businesses has been brutal in terms of lost markets - especially for those companies that depend on exports and food service. But as food producers, aquaculture firms have shown great resilience in trying to find new ways of working and alternative routes to market. As Fergus Ewing, Scotland’s rural economy minister, writes on page 28, times of crisis often bring out the best in people and the aquaculture community is no exception.

This comes as no surprise to me, after more than five years editing Fish Farmer and meeting (as we used to do!) so many of those people. I am now moving on and handing over the magazine to Dave Edler, who is returning to the team as acting editor. Heartfelt thanks to all of you for your support and stories, and I hope, post-Covid-19, that our paths will cross again.