Scottish Sea Farms has been awarded Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification for the first time in Orkney.
Lober Rock, at the south-easterly corner of Scapa Flow, joins Summer Isles on the west coast of Scotland which was ASC-approved earlier in the year.
Orkney regional manager Duane Coetzer said other farms in Orkney are now being considered for accreditation. “For Lober Rock to be the second farm to be ASC accredited, and do it quite flawlessly, is a fantastic achievement for the farm team,” he said.
“It also fuels appetite across the region to see more Orkney farms work towards, and achieve, certification.”
Scottish Sea Farms aquaculture technical lead for ASC, Anna Price, agreed. “The aim is now to have at least another two farms in the region accredited within the next 12 months – along with our wider farming estate, because the more we go through the certification process, the more we learn and the greater the opportunities for real and positive change across the company.”
Lober Rock, which became operational just three years ago, has had an excellent start with 91% superior grade fish and a survival rate of 88% for its first generation.
Lober Rock farm manager Andrew Park said the process was ‘daunting’. “The audits were even more detailed than we’d anticipated but the team got stuck in and coped ably, successfully demonstrating that our processes and practices rank up there with salmon farming elite, not just in Scotland but internationally,” he said.
