Scottish Sea Farms has scooped a farming award for its pioneering seaweed scheme.
The salmon farmer has been recognised at the M&S Select Farm Awards 2023 for its trial encouraging seaweed to settle in salmon pens, removing the need for artificial cleaner fish hides.
“We’ve always been very open to trialling new technologies,” said farm manager, Michael Keenan, “but particularly so this latest kelp initiative because of the potential benefits for the cleaner fish and wider marine environment.”
The pilot, at Scallastle in the Sound of Mull, involved replacing plastic kelp hides with natural kelp, resulting in improved health and welfare for the cleaner fish and salmon.
“We had one pen with real kelp only, one with plastic hides, and one with both artificial and real kelp and we noticed a difference quite quickly. The cleaner fish, which we use as a biological control for sea lice, showed a clear preference for the natural kelp,” continued Keenan.
“What’s more, this was the only crop we’ve had where we’ve required no sea lice interventions involving thermo-delousing,” he added.
The plan is to now encourage seaweed in all 16 of the pens at Scallastle as well as launching the scheme at neighbouring farm Bloody Bay.
Scottish Sea Farms, the exclusive supplier of M&S Select Farms Scottish salmon, was one of four winners of the awards scheme, which celebrates leading UK food producers. The company has won 12 M&S Awards in total over the years, including four Innovation Awards.
