Scottish Salmon Company and meridian sign up to full scale wrasse farming

The partnership agreement will see over 250,000 commercially farmed wrasse deployed in marine sites over the next 3 years. Numbers will be split equally between The Scottish Salmon Company and Meridian as the potential benefits of introducing the wrasse, or ‘cleaner fish’, for animal welfare and the marine environment will be carefully studied.

This is one of the first full scale operations to farm and deploy wrasse in Scotland, and the initiative, is supported by The Crown Estate. Both companies will introduce the wrasse alongside other husbandry methods that help counter sea lice.

The Scottish Salmon Company, which already successfully pioneered single generation, single loch, synchronised fallow systems as a firewall against the build-up of sea lice, was the first Scottish salmon farming company to engage with the concept of commercially farming wrasse. Working with Viking Fish Farms at Ardtoe three and a half years ago, the company developed the first initial commercial production of Ballan wrasse which was thereafter co-opted into the Ecofish project.

At the same time, Meridian Salmon Group was instrumental in initiating a multi partner funded pilot project at Otter Ferry. The project successfully recruited the necessary broodstock and established the protocols required for commercial production of wrasse. In the course of the project some 15000 juvenile wrasse have been produced demonstrating commercial survival rates.

Findings from the latest SSC/Meridian project will be shared with the wider industry through the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation to ensure that all developments can benefit the Scottish salmon farming sector as a whole as it competes to gain share of domestic and International markets.

Dale Hill, heads up SSC’s international project group on wrasse said:“This is an important step forward, from both an environmental and industry perspective. While sea lice are naturally occurring we have the opportunity to control and manage the situation in salmon pens and with relatively few veterinary treatments available to us, the need to find natural biological solutions is paramount.

William Young, business support director at Meridian Salmon Group added:

"Meridian Salmon Group is delighted to be working alongside Otter Ferry and the Scottish Salmon Company on this exciting project. Having worked closely with Otter Ferry on the original pilot project we were very keen to continue our commitment to this Wrasse Project. Joining forces with Scottish Salmon Company seemed a logical step for us, pulling together a wealth of knowledge and expertise from all three of the companies involved. The excellent work Otter Ferry has been doing in recent years has delivered clear results for Meridian, this new agreement only strengths that position and we look forward with confidence".