Marine Scotland Science published the Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2019 that details statistics on the employment and production from Scottish fish farms. It is structured to follow industry trends within the farmed Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout and other species sectors.
The main findings are:
- In 2019, the production of Atlantic salmon increased by 47,856 tons (30.7%) to 203,881 tons. This is the highest ever level of production recorded in Scotland.
- The total number of smolts produced in 2019 increased by 4.3 million (9%) to 51.4 million, this is the highest annual smolt production recorded in Scotland.
- Production tonnage of rainbow trout increased by 15% in 2019 to 7,405 tons.
- Brown and sea trout production increased from 20 tons in 2018 to 25 tons in 2019.
- The total number of staff employed in marine salmon production during 2019 increased by 185 to 1,651 staff.
“The latest figures show record levels of salmon being produced by fish farms with the finfish sector on track to achieve its sustainable growth target of 210,000 tons by 2020,” said Rural Economy Secretary, Fergus Ewing. “I look forward to salmon maintaining its place as Scotland’s biggest food export, as a key contributor to our food and drink success story which in turn is supporting the wider supply chain. With the impact of COVID-19 and threats from Brexit, we will do all we can to support the sector and the benefits it brings, working to drive improvements in research, innovation and regulation to deliver further sustainable growth.”
Download the survey here.
