30 years of Scottish Aquaculture
MARINE HARVEST
Instead of shore-based tanks, floating marine cages, engi- neered by the early pioneering pen designers, who included Peter Crook and Bob Cumming, began to make an appearance. These became gradually more sophisticated as time went on. Scottish weather helped shape the development of the early pens. Severe frost made the original plastic floats crack, be- cause they were not foam-filled. As a result, in one cold period – which were quite numerous back then, with the loch often freezing over – some pens sank to the bottom. The subsequent ‘Battle Ship’ pens had solid frame side panels and usually had to be beached for cleaning when the tide ebbed. The panel pens introduced by Unilever Research meas- ured 8m by 8m by 4m deep and were solid, but these were eventually replaced by the polystyrene-and-wood net pens, which had the same dimensions and came into use during the early 1970s. There were tremendous advantages in cost and simplifying fish handling in using these new pens. By 1971 the direct transfer of smolts to sea, which had been patented by URL, was sold to the Highlands and Islands Development Board (HIDB), which thereby permitted industry adoption of the proc- ess.
Expansion from Loch Ailort began with the lease of Invergarry Hatchery, which had been a Hydro Board hatchery since 1951. The target output of Invergarry was 100,000 smolts per annum, while Loch Ailort (Inverailort Hatchery) was 20,000 smolts at the time. This was pioneering work, meeting and overcoming every challenge. Fourteen tonnes were produced in the first harvest in 1971 while, by 1976, output had risen to 116 tonnes. Research into diets was ongoing at Loch Ailort, with Max Keith and his team developing a balanced diet for salmon that be- came Fulmar Feed. Marine Harvest had also expanded into the supply of aquaculture feedstuff and this was transferred in 1982 to BOCM Silcock.
New farms soon followed. Callart, in Loch Leven , was the first sea site acquired after Loch Ailort, quickly followed by Ephesus (Loch Ailort) and Cairidh on Skye, then Laudale, in Loch Sunart. Under early freshwater management Alistair Hutchison pro- vided smolts for Angus MacPhie in seawater. Developments in
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both areas happened quickly. In the words of Bob Cumming, ‘everything had to be developed. You forget how quickly the in- dustry progressed from four or five guys playing on the beach!’ ‘Things like hatchery fibreglass tanks were made 12’ in diam- eter and they’d overhang the delivery truck. The move was then to half tanks, then quarters for far better transport.’ In seawater, swivel moorings allowed the pens on a group to hang down- wind and be sheltered, the arrowhead at the front acting as a wave break.
During the early 1970s the biggest secret was in the hus- bandry and in stock selection for breeding programmes. Other companies like BP, Shell, Blue Circle Cement and Fisons were all keen to get involved. Technology was developed that counted fish at sea involving a Mini Traveller loaded with lead acid batteries and a video camera and recorder. The Mini was then pushed out on a raft to the pen side where the fish were recorded swimming through a Perspex-lidded box from one side of the pen to the other. In freshwater a smolt counter called FLASH (Fish Length and Size Histogram), developed by Unilever Research, was probably the earliest fish counter in the industry. Since these early days in Loch Ailort the changes in the in- dustry have been massive. As examples, harvesting is carried out using state-of-the-art well boats that can chill fish down on the way to a harvest station where the fish are automatically stunned and bled. This compares to manually killing fish on a carpet and selling the fish unbled with guts in! For the industry
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‘You forget how quickly the industry progressed from four or five guys playing on the beach!’
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