No country for old men: the SSPO report features young workers from its six salmon farming members, including Marine Harvest farm manager Farquhar MacAskill, right. Montage: FFE/SSPO

Salmon farming’s young workforce in the spotlight

The Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO) has today published a report showing that more than 700 young people between the ages of 17 and 30 are employed in the salmon farming sector. The majority work in Highlands and Islands communities and represent about a third of the workforce.

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While many are employed on the farms, there is also a wide range of jobs including engineering, veterinary, processing, sales and marketing, HR, laboratories and research.

In the introduction to the report, SSPO chief executive Julie Hesketh-Laird writes that the young people a “vital employees” for the industry, keeping the workforce growing and embracing new ideas and new technologies.

Julie Hesketh-Laird: Young people can work where they grew up.

Sustainable career

“Young people join salmon farming companies straight from school, after college or as graduates. For them, their work offers a well-paid, sustainable career path through on-the-job skills training, Modern Apprenticeships, National Progression Awards and graduate training,” adds Hesketh-Laird.

“The chance for young people to live and work in the rural areas they were brought up in is very important. As a result, salmon farming companies often have several generations from the same family as loyal employees.

“Salmon farming companies have become house builders and telecoms advocates, supporting local community initiatives and schools to help all their workers, especially the young, find suitable modern facilities in the remote areas where they work.”

Development opportunities

The SSPO said the sector works closely with many organisations such as Lantra, Skills Development Scotland, North Atlantic Fisheries College, Inverness College, Stirling University’s Institute of Aquaculture and others to offer as many development opportunities as possible to young people interested in a career in aquaculture.

Matilda Lomas-MacKenzie: Fish farming enabled her to return to the Western Isles.

The report features case studies of some of the young people employed in the sector who describe their jobs and the opportunities that working in salmon farming offers them.

These include 28-year-old Matilda Lomas-MacKenzie, biology co-ordinator for the Scottish Salmon Company on the Isle of Harris, who left home to study at university in Glasgow.

She writes: “Employment opportunities are sparse in isolated places like Isle of Harris so it must not be underestimated how vital fish farming is for island people. I am very lucky to have a great job in the place I love the most. I wouldn’t have been able to return to the Western Isles without it.”

‘Massive variety’

Another young person featured is Farquhar MacAskill, 24, a farm manager for Marine Harvest at Loch Greshornish.

He writes: “I enjoy the massive variety of tasks that are required within my role. This keeps my job interesting and means I have to learn all the time. I’m excited about how fish farming is always adapting, evolving and improving constantly.”

The other young people featured are:

  • Sarah Smee, 28, fish health assistant, Cooke Aquaculture;
  • Lewis Bennett, 27, cleaner fish manager, Loch Duart Ltd, Sutherland;
  • Angus Foote, 21, seawater assistant, Wester Ross Salmon, Corry;
  • Keira Tulloch, 28, fish health support technician, Scottish Sea Farms, Shetland;
  • Jake Young, 18, husbandry operator, Hendrix Genetics, Ormsary.

Read the report here.