Celebrating Modern Apprenticeships in Scottish Aquaculture

Parliamentary Reception hosted by Michael Russell, MSP Tuesday 13th September 2016

Trout farming was introduced to the UK in the 1950s, while salmon was first farmed in Scotland in 1969

More than 2200 people are directly employed in the Scottish salmon industry, mostly in remote rural areas

The Scottish Government is supporting the industry’s ambitious target to grow finfish production by 2020 to 210,000 tonnes

The Scottish Government is supporting the shellfish industry’s ambitions to increase production by 2020 to 13,000 tonnes

Lisa Askham completed a Modern Apprenticeship with The Scottish Salmon Company, supported by Inverness College UHI, and won Lantra’s Learner of the Year Award for Aquaculture in 2016

Scotland produced nearly 8,600 tonnes of trout in 2015, but this is expected to grow to 15-20,000 tonnes over the next decade

North Atlantic Fisheries College aquaculture training team delivers training and education for the maritime and aquaculture industries

Scottish salmon and trout are rich sources of Omega 3 fatty acids, proven to be beneficial for our hearts, joints and brains

The salmon industry has invested over £10m in research into cleanerfish

Hayley Eccles completed a Modern Apprenticeship in aquaculture with Scottish Sea Farms, supported by Inverness College UHI, and has won awards from Lantra and UHI

There are 46 trout farms in Scotland, with the majority in the central and southern parts of the country

Production of farmed Atlantic salmon follows a natural lifecycle, progressing from freshwater eggs, to aelvin, fry, parr and smolt before ending up with adult salmon

An oyster takes three years to reach a suitable size for market

Martin Mladenov of Scottish Sea Farms, supported by North Atlantic Fisheries College, won a CARAS award in Lantra’s Learner of the Year Awards 2016

There are around 100 freshwater salmon farms in Scotland

On average, it takes farmed salmon up to three years to grow to maturity

Matthew Anderson of Dawnfresh Farming Ltd won the Higher Education category at Lantra’s Learner of the Year Awards 2016

The majority of jobs created by Scotland’s salmon and shellfish industries are in the Highlands and Islands

Marcos Garcia of Dawnfresh Farming Ltd won a CARAS award in Lantra’s Learner of the Year Awards 2016

Trout farms in Scotland employ 126 staff, producing an average of 68.2 tonnes of fish per person

The salmon industry provides long-term, high-quality careers, with £63.3m in wages going back into local communities in 2014

The Scottish Salmon Company donated over £42k to local charities in 2015

The industry invests heavily in training its workforce, particularly young people entering it for the first time

Eric MacMillan of Cooke Aquaculture was best North Atlantic Fisheries College Level 2 Modern Apprentice 2015

Farmed salmon is Scotland’s biggest food export

The Scottish Sea Farms Heart of the Community Trust has distributed over £500,000 since 2011

North Atlantic Fisheries College award-winning Modern Apprentices Liam and Keira from Scottish Sea Farms Shetland with their assessors

The salmon farming industry’s Code of Good Practice says sites must be left fallow for four weeks at the end of each production cycle to rest the seabed. Industry average is 20 weeks

Marine Harvest contributes up to £200k annually towards local causes

Scottish farmed salmon is exported to over 50 countries

Salmon companies in Scotland work with 2720 local businesses

69 salmon and trout sector employees completed Modern Apprentices in Aquaculture last year, while 67 candidates were registered

The processing stage of salmon production is independently inspected and audited

Staff and students from North Atlantic Fisheries College celebrating their Modern Apprenticeship aquaculture fishing awards 2015