Provost presents second Queen’s Award to aquaculture innovator
Dundee-based aquaculture technology supplier Ace Aquatec’s team have paid another visit to the office of the city’s Lord Provost, Ian Borthwick, to receive the firm’s second successive Queen’s Award.
Ace Aquatec received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation for its Humane Stunner Universal (HSU), which uses electricity to immediately render fish unconscious without removing them from the water – something the company says reduces fish stress, improves fish quality, and can double the volume of fish farms can process per hour.
The company already holds a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for the contribution its acoustic predator deterrents made to the Scottish economy, successfully reducing conflict between fish farmers and seals.
Proud to be in Dundee
Ace Aquatec’s sales and marketing chief Mike Forbes and technology specialist Dr Jeff Lines collected the second Queen’s Award at Buckingham Palace in June, but the company got a second bite of the cherry in Dundee.
Forbes said: “The royal ceremony at Buckingham Palace earlier in the year was a great experience but it was just as much of an honour to be recognised in our own community by Dundee’s Lord Provost.
“We manage all our research and development from Dundee and are proud to be one of many innovative companies thriving in the city.”
Scottish Sea Farms was a key collaboration partner throughout the development of the in-water electric stunner and the company’s desire to create the best welfare conditions possible for its fish led to the salmon farmer being an early adopter of the new technology.
The HSU, which also won the Innovation Award at Aqua Nor in Trondheim, Norway in 2017, is now in farms around the world, including Chile, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, Greece, US and Canada.
