Reputation is everything

Siri Elise Dybdal

Claims connected to salmon lice, escapes and the impact on wild fish are frequently put forward by angling groups and environmentalists in Scotland and have received wide press coverage. The strong media attention on these issues means that the industry’s reputation has somewhat been challenged in recent time. There have been numerous calls for stronger regulations; reduced access to production locations etc. and these demands could potentially end up influencing the future viability of the industry if for example regulations were made significantly tighter.

However, the attempts to tarnish the reputation of farmed salmon have so far not had an effect on demand of salmon; sales figures continue to raise both abroad and in the domestic market where most of this media coverage takes place.

The salmon industry has hit back against none-factual claims and continue to highlight the key factors that have helped build the reputation of Scottish salmon, such as the quality of the fish, the health benefits, the importance of the industry to rural communities, the many standards the industry comply with, the environment the fish is produced in and sustainability.

Takes time to establish a good reputation “Reputation is everything in all businesses,” says Steve Bracken, business support manager at Scotland’s largest salmon farming company Marine Harvest Scotland.

“It takes years to establish a good reputation and it’s something that can be lost in a very short space of time. Maintaining focus on your reputation is key at all levels within a business and it’s not good enough to say you have it; you need others to say it for you,” he points out.

According to Bracken, integrity is vital in building a good reputation: “Leading a business with integrity instils the same in employees and is key in building your reputation. Customers and stakeholders quickly pick up on employee attitudes who at the end of the day are all ambassadors for your business. A skilled and dedicated workforce is the start and with that you can build your reputation producing the very best quality of anything.”

One way of building the reputation of the products are through various quality schemes, something which the Scottish industry were pioneering early on with labels such as Label Rouge. Bracken says Marine Harvest Scotland now adhere to a range of different labels that refer to different aspects of the salmon farming process.

“In salmon farming our customers rightly expect to see the high quality of our salmon maintained at every step of the way. We’re audited under seven different quality schemes including Freedom Food, ISO 14001, ISO 9001, Globalgap, CoGP, Label Rouge and PGI. “In addition we’re the only salmon farming company to hold the Royal Warrant to supply Her Majesty the Queen with Fresh Salmon. In 2013 we announced we would subscribe to the ASC salmon standard and this process is now underway.

“Audits and standards are important to us but more particularly to our customers as it gives assurance on quality, food safety and helps build your reputation as a supplier of high quality salmon,” Bracken emphasises.

Pride, passion and provenance Sales and communications director for the Scottish Salmon Company, Su Cox, also says reputation has been the core value in building a successful company: “To us reputation lies at the core of our business as without a strong and respected track history we would not have become one of Scotland’s leading producers of Scottish farmed salmon. “The elements involved in developing and maintaining a good reputation for us lie in pride, passion and provenance,” she says. She believes caring about the product and taking pride are some of the key factors: “SSC is committed to producing highly nutritious, premium quality Scottish salmon and to providing our customers with an exceptional service. Fundamentally, we care about our salmon and take pride in its quality.

“Fish welfare and our farming practices are of the highest standards. Supply chain integrity and working closely with our customers is a key priority. The result is that our business partners have confidence in our ability to deliver salmon of consistent quality and freshness, meeting their needs and those of their customers.

“We also respect and understand the role our business plays in the environment and the communities in which we operate to ensure a sustainable future for all and have been awarded The Crown Estate Best Marine Aquaculture Company for sustainable practice, business performance, investment, staff management practices and local community engagement. Cox also says being a Scottish salmon producer does make a difference in the marketplace: “Provenance is a key pillar for SSC with the business being based in and operated from Scotland. This helps to ensure our customers remain confident and secure in the knowledge they know where they are buying from.”

Walk the walk Nick Joy, co-founder of the renowned sustainable Scottish salmon producer Loch Duart, also thinks being a Scottish producer is a selling point, which for him includes using Scottish sup-pliers and being part of the local communities where they operate:

“We have been part of these communities for 30 years as well as employing a large number of people here,” he says. In addition the company sources products and services locally in the area and in Scotland as a whole, as much as possible - be it using local shops in the area, buy-ing equipment and boats from Scotland etc. Joy thinks this helps retaining jobs in Scotland which is beneficial for the long term future.

“For us, it is a very simple, logical thing – we wish for these local suppliers to still be there in twenty, thirty years’ time,” he says, “it’s a way of investing in a sustainable infrastructure for the future.”

“Reputation is about customers believing in what you say and do. You need to walk the walk and get it right, and this way they will believe it. Integrity is key. You need to be living it, and then explaining and communicating it,” Joy underlines.

To give the customers understanding of what they offer and stand for, he says they often come to the farm.

“We are one of the smallest salmon farming companies left in Scotland. We can’t compete with Lerøy or Marine Harvest in relation to volume. It is vital for us to maintain a difference. We need to be very good at what we do so the customers want to buy more,” he says and reveals that the situation today is fortunately that they cannot produce enough. “Reputation is based on trust between the food producer and the customer,” he adds.

Not factual allegations As for the criticism against the industry, Joy thinks it has not managed to tarnish its reputa-tion in the way it was intended.

“At the end of the day, groups attacking an industry is never going to be a good thing. They have spent enormous amounts of money on trying to damage the industry. You can ask where salmon farming would be had they not been there but the industry seems to have a strong market.” he says. However, according to Joy, salmon sales have increased enormously be-cause it is highly healthy and easily cooked – “and this wouldn’t have happened if people were listening.”

He also points out that some claims are not factual, but opinions and mentioned that a recent report released had been qualified as “opinion” rather than scientific fact in the last weeks.

“Aggressive criticism is awkward and enervating but to date it has not had an impact on the market and that shows that the mud isn’t sticking,” Joy adds

However, he thinks it is important that the industry is aware of the criticisms and try to listen, learn and work with the other users of the same resource.

Also positive press On the other hand, salmon also receives a lot of positive press coverage in relation to, for example, health benefits and Omega 3. Joy explains that health claims are used to sell all type of food products in the market these days, but the salmon’s health benefits are understated.

“Salmon has a unique quality, unlike other foodstuffs or supplements, in that eating it actually does make you healthier.

“People associate salmon with Omega 3. We have benefited from this. But I think this story is better told by someone else,” he says.

According to Scott Landsburgh, Chief Executive of the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO), they key factors that build the Scottish reputation are provenance, the people and the environment of Scotland. “This is the story we push,” he says.

Landsburgh also points out the health benefits from eating salmon and highlights that there is great social investment and that the industry is sustainable through providing work in rural communities and from an environmental perspective with regulators checking the industry regularly and the fish welfare standard Freedom Food now being a common selling point, with around 70 per cent of production covered by the scheme. To counteract the anti salmon farming lobby, Landsburgh says they must acknowledge the allegations, but dismiss them. He believes it is important to highlight the positives: “We must demonstrate that we are sustainable. We must demonstrate that we are producing healthy nutritious food that we send to around 65 markets around the world - and we are growing in the domestic market. “Whatever they say, it is not showing with the customers,” he says. He admits that it does attract the attention of policy makers, but underlines the consumer confidence in the salmon. “They are paid to give a negative view. “It attracts a lot of media attention and attention from policy makers. But consumers love our product. We are the largest fish category. It is a successful story. It has been going well in recent year. Prices are extremely strong and will be good in the foreseeable future,” he says and points out that this mean that the industry is reinvesting in areas such as plant technology, feeding technology, science and research, breeding cleaner fish against parasites, animal welfare and environmental management. It is important that the producers can keep on impressing their customers, he says.