CONTAINMENT SPECIAL
£200,000 in the sea loch sites. This investment has been directed at the loch sites because this is where most containment breaches have previously occurred. New Standard Operating Practices (SOPs) have also been introduced during the past three years, raising awareness of containment with the staff. This investment has clearly paid off – with no breaches of containment in Loch Earn since the site was fallowed and restructured in 2009, and only one minor breach of less than 60 fish in Loch Awe during 2010, and another of around 40 fish occurring in Loch Etive.
Investment has been spread across all as- pects of the site infrastructure – from mooring upgrades and replacement, to replacing old timber cage frames with new plastic net pens. New nets have been upgraded to a minimum of 70kg strength in freshwater and a minimum of 110kg in sea sites. The business has also invested in new and replacement ADDs. In De- cember new Fusion net pens were purchased and deployed in Loch Etive, and we have plans for more to be purchased for Loch Awe this spring.
FF: How have you found involvement in the ICWG?
Dawnfresh fully supports the Scottish Gov- ernment’s Fresh Start initiative and is actively involved in the Improved Containment Work- ing Group that has been inspired by this initiative. Our involvement in this process has helped raise the awareness of the business to the issues involved in poor containment, and helped galvanise the business to resolving these issues. From a commercial point of view, the biggest advantage from reducing escapes is the ability to rear and market the fish that had previously been escaping. This will help generate the profit from which to re-invest in the infrastructure. We have also engaged with other local stakeholders, fostering a more posi- tive approach to help overcome some difficul- ties and differences. Hopefully this will lead to a better long term working relationship and be mutually advantageous.
FF: Do you think improvements in con- tainment will allow the industry to grow? It is hoped that an industry that is seen to be investing, both financially and in improved operating practices, would engender a positive response from the regulatory authorities and from the NGOs if faced with applications to expand production. We believe that there is scope for the trout industry to expand and we, with the help of the British Trout Association, wish to expand the recognition of trout as a quality product. With this in mind the Dawnfresh business has strengthened both its commercial and NPD teams to ensure the trout category is actively driven. The business has also done more tar- geted promotions, backed by advertisements in the retailer magazines and improved packag- ing concepts, which has lead to growth in sales in the early part of 2011.
www.fishfarmer-magazine.com 87
TROUT
WE HAVE INVESTED HALF A
MILLION IN THE LAST TWO YEARS
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