The only manual handling now involved in returning fish to the pen is to lift them from the water in the bin to the mouth of the pipe. The yellow hose on the right supplies a continuous flow of water down the pipe.

Many happy returns: water slide cuts fish stress during health checks

Editorial team
Published

A simple innovation to minimise fish handling during health checks is being rolled out company-wide by salmon producer Scottish Sea Farms as part of fish welfare improvements.

Instead of fish being manually carried back to their pens from sampling bins on the workboat deck, they are being channelled, in water, through a fish return pipe attached to the edge of the bin.

This eliminates the risk of escapes and reduces stress, SSF said in its staff newsletter, The Source.

Water is fed into the pipe to make the fish's short journey to the pen easier.
A salmon is returned to a pen through the pipe after a health check carried out on a workboat.

In Shetland, local company Ocean Kinetics has manufactured the pipes, working to a design by engineering manager Keith Fraser.

“One of our area managers, John Blance, asked me if I could help him come up with a design and I had an idea based on a system that I put in place on the last Thermolicer we fitted out,” Fraser told The Source.

“The prototype worked well and we are making some small adjustments to the final design before rolling it out across all sites in Shetland.”

Making a difference

Gabriel Cocuti, farm manager at East of Papa Little, said the pipes are adaptable and easy to operate.

“They are much safer for the stocks and make life easier for the team. We had one installed a few weeks ago and it is already making a difference in terms of fish health and welfare.”

The return pipe and its mouth, adapted from equipment made for a Thermolicer.
fish welfare fish return pipe shetland scottish sea farms ocean kinetics news