Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2015

1. Rainbow Trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Production survey information was collected from all 24 companies actively involved in rainbow trout production, farming 45 active sites. This figure represents the entire industry operating in Scotland.

Production

Table 1a: Annual production (tonnes) of rainbow trout during 2001-2015 and projected production in 2016

Year	Tonnes	Year	Tonnes
2001	5,466	2009	6,766
2002	6,659	2010	5,139
2003	7,085	2011	4,619
2004	6,352	2012	5,670
2005	6,989	2013	5,611
2006	7,492	2014	5,882
2007	7,414	2015	8,588
2008	7,670	2016	7,415*

* Industry estimate based on stocks currently being on-grown.

Production increased in 2015 by 2,706 tonnes, an increase of 46%, to 8,588 tonnes. This was the highest ever level of rainbow trout production recorded is Scotland.

Table 1b: Production (tonnes) for the table trade during 2005-2015 according to weight category

Year	<450 g <1 lb	450-900 g 1-2 lbs	>900 g >2 lbs	Total Tonnes
2005	2,856	1,203	2,111	6,170
2006	2,182	1,810	2,636	6,628
2007	2,499	1,663	2,407	6,569
2008	2,375	1,950	2,487	6,812
2009	2,232	1,143	2,620	5,995
2010	2,125	727	1,606	4,458
2011	1,421	1,004	1,433	3,858
2012	1,195	1,655	2,209	5,059
2013	1,908	825	2,268	5,001
2014	2,334	290	2,704	5,328
2015	2,299	258	5,476	8,033

Production for the table in 2015 was 8,033 tonnes, an increase of 2,705 tonnes (51%) on the 2014 total, and accounted for 94% of the total rainbow trout production, an increase on the proportion to that produced in 2014. Also an increase in the number of fish in the large size range and a decrease in the number of fish in the small and medium size ranges were highlighted.

Table 1c: Production (tonnes) for the restocking trade during 2005-2015 according to weight category

Year	<450 g <1 lb	450-900 g 1-2 lbs	>900 g >2 lbs	Total Tonnes
2005	21	390	408	819
2006	36	357	471	864
2007	24	413	408	845
2008	27	351	480	858
2009	32	294	444	770
2010	19	201	461	681
2011	8	419	334	761
2012	22	266	323	611
2013	24	221	365	610
2014	28	256	270	554
2015	15	158	382	555

In 2015, production for the restocking of angling waters increased to 555 tonnes representing an increase of one tonne (0.2%) on the 2014 total. This accounted for 6% of total rainbow trout production in 2015. These figures represent the tonnage of fish supplied to angling waters for restocking purposes; they do not account for the catch taken by anglers. The production of large sized fish showed an increase, while there was a decrease for small and medium sized fish.

Production by Site

Table 2: Numbers of sites grouped by tonnage produced during 2005-2015

Year	Number of sites per production tonnage				Total number of sites
	<1-25	26-100	101-200	>200
2005	18	12	6	11	47
2006	16	15	6	13	50
2007	14	15	3	16	48
2008	8	15	7	14	44
2009	10	11	7	11	39
2010	7	13	9	7	36
2011	9	10	6	8	33
2012	10	10	6	8	34
2013	6	11	5	8	30
2014	6	11	5	9	31
2015	4	10	5	11	30

Production was reported from 30 of the 45 active sites. The number of producers in the size brackets <1-25 tonnes, 26-100 tonnes decreased while those producers in the 101-200 tonnes bracket remained the same and those in the >200 tonnes size bracket increased. These figures do not include those sites specialising in the production of ova or young fish for on-growing.

Production by Method

Table 3: Grouping of rainbow trout sites by production tonnages, main methods of production in 2015 and comparison with production in 2014

Production method	Production grouping (tonnes) in 2015					Total tonnage and (%) by method		Number of sites
	<10	10-25	26-50	51-100	>100	2014	2015	2014	2015
FW cages	1	0	0	0	5	2,611 (44.4%)	2,433 (28.3%)	5	6
FW ponds and raceways	0	0	8	1	5	1,291 (21.9%)	1,405 (16.4%)	17	14
FW tanks and hatcheries	3	0	0	1	0	71 (1.2%)	72 (0.8%)	4	4
SW cages	0	0	0	0	6	1,909 (32.5%)	4,678 (54.5%)	5	6
SW tanks	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	4	0	8	2	16	5,882	8,588	31	30

Freshwater production accounted for 3,910 tonnes (45.5%) and seawater production for the remaining 4,678 tonnes (54.5%). Production from seawater cages increased whilst there was a decrease in production from freshwater cages.

Company and Site Data

Table 4: Number of companies and sites in production during 2002-2015

Year	No. of companies	No. of sites
2002	39	57
2003	37	56
2004	38	62
2005	42	70
2006	36	66
2007	38	70
2008	31	66
2009	27	56
2010	25	51
2011	23	48
2012	25	48
2013	24	46
2014	24	46
2015	24	45

In 2015 the number of companies authorised by the Scottish Government and actively engaged in rainbow trout production was 24. The number of sites registered and in production was 45.

Staffing and Productivity

Table 5: Number of staff employed and productivity per person during 2002-2015

Year	Full-time	Part-time	Total	Productivity (tonnes/person)
2002	114	46	160	41.6
2003	107	41	148	47.9
2004	115	37	152	41.8
2005	108	35	143	48.9
2006	112	35	147	51.0
2007	111	32	143	51.8
2008	107	34	141	54.4
2009	111	27	138	49.0
2010	98	31	129	39.8
2011	95	23	118	39.1
2012	79	28	107	53.0
2013	89	21	110	51.0
2014	93	20	113	52.1
2015	110	16	126	68.2

The overall number of staff employed in 2015 increased by 13 to 126. The number of full-time staff increased by 17 while the number of part-time staff decreased by four. Productivity, measured as tonnes produced per person, increased by 31% in 2015 with no distinction between full and part-time employees being made for this calculation.

Production by Area

Table 6: Production and staffing by area in 2015

Area	No. of sites	Table production (tonnes)	Restocking production (tonnes)	Mean tonnes per site	Staffing			Productivity (tonnes/person)
					F/T	P/T	Total
North	6	2	26	4.7	7	2	9	3.1
East	12	962	255	101.4	38	5	43	28.3
West	13	6,115	40	473.5	46	3	49	125.6
South	14	954	234	84.9	19	6	25	47.5
All	45	8,033	555	190.8	110	16	126	68.2

Productivity was greatest in the West at 473.5 tonnes per site and 125.6 tonnes per person.

Figure 1: The distribution of active Rainbow trout sites in 2015

Type of Ova Laid Down

Table 7: Number (000s) and proportions (%) of eyed ova types laid down to hatch during 2004-2015

Year	All female diploid no. (%)	Triploid no. (%)	Mixed sex diploid no. (%)	Total ova
2004	29,272 (90)	3,146 (10)	138 (<1)	32,556
2005	16,773 (83)	1,729 (8)	1,745 (9)	20,247
2006	22,378 (84)	2,804 (10)	1,626 (6)	26,808
2007	23,630 (83)	2,531 (9)	2,140 (8)	28,301
2008	22,978 (88)	2,526 (9)	725 (3)	26,229
2009	15,469 (87)	2,341 (13)	35 (<1)	17,845
2010	13,352 (89)	1,052 (7)	675 (4)	15,079
2011	12,673 (84)	2,254 (15)	215 (1)	15,142
2012	10,967 (85)	2,005 (15)	7 (<1)	12,979
2013	7,857 (80)	1,955 (20)	77 (<1)	9,889
2014	8,321 (75)	2,710 (25)	9 (<1)	11,040
2015	10,245 (85)	1,800 (15)	76 (<1)	12,121

Source of Ova Laid Down

Table 8: Number (000s) and sources of eyed ova laid down to hatch in 2004-2015

Year	Ova produced in Great Britain ( GB)			Imported ova			Total
	Own stock	Other stock	Total	Northern hemisphere	Southern hemisphere	Total
2004	330	320	650	31,906	0	31,906	32,556
2005	281	105	386	16,977	2,884	19,861	20,247
2006	541	2,169	2,710	22,588	1,510	24,098	26,808
2007	936	230	1,166	26,650	485	27,135	28,301
2008	582	487	1,069	25,160	0	25,160	26,229
2009	603	220	823	17,022	0	17,022	17,845
2010	415	50	465	14,614	0	14,614	15,079
2011	215	189	404	14,738	0	14,738	15,142
2012	14	230	244	12,735	0	12,735	12,979
2013	77	537	614	9,275	0	9,275	9,889
2014	9	655	664	10,376	0	10,376	11,040
2015	6	888	894	11,227	0	11,227	12,121

In 2015, the total number of eyed ova laid down to hatch increased by just under 1.1 million (9.8%) on the 2014 figure. The proportion of ova from GB broodstock increased to 7.4% of the total and the rainbow trout industry remained reliant on imported ova. Data on the importation of ova into Scotland are also available from the health certificates and are shown in Table 9a. Any discrepancy between the figures in Tables 8 and 9a is due to data being obtained from two independent sources.

Imports from Official Import Health Certificates

Table 9a: Number (000s) and sources of ova imported into Scotland from outwith GB during 2008-2015

Source	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Denmark	5,530	4,070	1,715	5,250	1,950	1,315	2,500	2,330
Isle of Man	775	290	1,400	520	300	800	1,000	175
N. Ireland	16,130	10,090	9,247	7,320	8,332	5,125	4,780	6,535
Norway	1,500	750	200	130	300	175	710	670
USA	1,490	2,240	2,340	1,580	1,800	2,350	1,700	1,675
Totals	25,425	17,440	14,902	14,800	12,682	9,765	10,690	11,385

Table 9b: Seasonal variation in numbers (000s) and sources of ova imported into Scotland from outwith GB during 2015

Month	Denmark	Isle of Man	N. Ireland	Norway	USA
January	60	0	1,150	220	0
February	0	0	0	0	0
March	100	0	750	350	0
April	0	175	665	100	0
May	970	0	0	0	0
June	0	0	0	0	1,325
July	0	0	320	0	175
August	75	0	1,370	0	0
September	200	0	1,230	0	175
October	0	0	1,050	0	0
November	0	0	0	0	0
December	925	0	0	0	0
Totals	2,330	175	6,535	670	1,675

Table 9c: Number (000s) and sources of fish imported into Scotland from outwith GB during 2008-2015

Source	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
N. Ireland	33	0	<1	72	155	537	674	746
Republic of Ireland	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0

Suppliers within the European Union ( EU) accounted for 79.4% of ova imported into Scotland during 2015 with the USA and Norway accounting for 14.7% and 5.9% respectively. To maintain their ability to regulate production throughout the year and produce a constant supply of fish for their markets, producers have to rely upon supplies of out of season ova. In recent years there has been an increasing trend for producers to import part grown rainbow trout into Scotland from outwith GB.

Trade in Fry and Fingerlings

Table 10: Number (000s) of fry and fingerlings traded during 2004-2015

Year	Fry and fingerlings bought			Total number bought	Total number sold
	All female diploid no. (%)	Triploid no. (%)	Mixed sex diploid no. (%)
2004	18,859 (91)	1,536 (7)	364 (2)	20,759	19,166
2005	14,618 (83)	1,532 (9)	1,480 (8)	17,630	16,919
2006	19,731 (89)	1,675 (7)	790 (4)	22,196	20,460
2007	14,830 (89)	1,140 (7)	675 (4)	16,645	23,631
2008	24,298 (95)	1,082 (4)	118 (0.5)	25,498	31,036
2009	21,113 (94)	1,358 (6)	0	22,471	20,597
2010	15,539 (95)	585 (4)	141 (1)	16,265	14,686
2011	16,288 (88.5)	1,970 (10.7)	138 (0.8)	18,396	16,612
2012	12,543 (91)	1,226 (9)	0	13,769	12,088
2013	6,734 (84)	1,239 (16)	0	7,973	6,749
2014	5,911 (81)	1,423 (19)	0	7,334	6,719
2015	6,104 (87)	598 (9)	290 (4)	6,992	6,971

The established trade between hatcheries and on-growing farms continued in 2015. Some companies specialised in the production of fry and fingerlings. The total number of fry and fingerlings sold increased by 3.8% while the number bought decreased by 4.7%. The disparity between supply and demand is due to trade with England and Wales.

Use of Vaccines

Table 11: Number of sites rearing fish vaccinated against enteric redmouth disease ( ERM) and number of fish vaccinated (millions) during 2004-2015

Year	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
No. of sites	42	37	31	28	28	31	27	26	24	19	21	17
No. of fish	30.6	30.0	36.4	41.4	29.1	27.5	20.0	20.3	20.4	9.9	10.0	8.3

Vaccines continued to be used as a preventative treatment against enteric redmouth disease ( ERM), a potentially serious bacterial infection, caused by Yersinia ruckeri. Vaccination is generally carried out as a bath treatment at the fingerling stage, although some vaccines are administered by intra-peritoneal injection. A total of 8.3 million fish were vaccinated on 17 sites.

Organic Production

Of the 45 sites recorded as being active in rainbow trout production in 2015, none were certified as organic.

Escapes

There was one incident involving the loss of 2,091 fish from a rainbow trout site in 2015.