SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT DEBATE ON SALMON FARMING

Scottish Parliament debate on salmon farming. SAIC looks forward to this afternoon’s Scottish Parliament debate on the Rural Economy and Connectivity committee’s (RECC) report on salmon farming.

Heather Jones, Chief Executive of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre, said: “The Scottish Parliament’s Rural Economy and Connectivity committee’s (RECC) report into salmon farming reinforced SAIC’s view that everyone connected to Scottish aquaculture can agree on the need for the industry to be stable, well-regulated, animal-friendly, and scientifically robust. That’s why we welcomed its publication and focus on how aquaculture can deliver benefits to the Scottish economy and local communities.

“Innovation will be a critical part of how we take salmon farming forward and deliver on these ambitions. A great deal of work and investment is already being put into solving aquaculture’s challenges, from scaling up the use of cleaner fish to remove sea lice and improving fish vaccines, to developing new diagnostic techniques to assess fish wellbeing. SAIC has facilitated a total applied R&D investment of £39 million from public and industry sources, with more to come.

“Scotland is a pioneer in global aquaculture – that’s a position we want to maintain. The industry provides thousands of highly-skilled jobs to rural communities and produces a premium global export product to very high standards of environmental protection and fish husbandry. We look forward to the parliamentary debate as another step forward for aquaculture in Scotland.”

SAIC

SAIC’s mission is to transform Scottish aquaculture by unlocking sustainable growth through innovation excellence. We invest in collaborative research projects in the areas of fish health and welfare, nutrition, shellfish production, capacity and sustainable industry growth. We also help grow the industry’s talent pool by supporting MSc and PhD places, internships and training programmes.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is an economic and community development agency implementing Scotland’s Economic Strategy across a region that covers more than half the country. With around 300 staff, HIE supports hundreds of client businesses and social enterprises; strengthens communities, particularly in fragile areas; develops growth sectors, and invests in infrastructure to create a more competitive and low carbon region

Scottish Enterprise

Scottish Enterprise is Scotland’s main economic development agency and aims to deliver a significant, lasting effect on the Scottish economy. Its role is to help identify and exploit the best opportunities for economic growth. Scottish Enterprise supports ambitious Scottish companies to compete within the global marketplace and help build Scotland’s globally competitive sectors. It also works with a range of partners in the public and private sectors to attract new investment to Scotland and to help create a world-class business environment.

The Scottish Funding Council

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) is helping to make Scotland the best place in the world to educate, to research and to innovate. Investing around £1.8 billion of public money each year, SFC’s funding enables Scotland’s colleges and universities to provide life-changing opportunities for over half a million people and to help create a prosperous future economy.

The Scottish Innovation Centre programme

The Scottish Innovation Centre programme, which was launched in 2013, brings together a network of Innovation Centres focused on different industry sectors or cross-cutting areas of innovation. Each Centre works to establish bonds between Scotland’s universities, colleges and research institutes and industry sectors, translating academic knowledge and expertise into commercially valuable skills and improvements that benefit individual companies as well as Scotland’s overall economy.

https://www.innovationcentres.scot/