Valued at a combined £1.6 million, the projects have secured nearly £600,000 in funding from SAIC along with additional support from businesses and organisations operating within the Scottish aquaculture sector.
SAIC’s support for these projects is part of a wider strategy through which the organisation aims to sharpen its focus on promoting positive health and welfare outcomes for farmed fish through applied research and knowledge exchange, particularly in response to emerging environmental challenges.
“Over the past ten years, we have prioritised initiatives aimed at enhancing aquaculture’s environmental impact, fish health, and unlocking economic potential. In this current funding call, our sharper focus aligns us even more closely with the sector’s key priorities, fostering collaboration to tackle critical health, welfare, and survivability challenges in fish farming – and each of these projects aims to tackle these areas,” said Sarah Riddle, SAIC innovation and engagement director, in a press release.
Already underway, the first of these projects seeks to explore the development of a holographic imaging system to detect and monitor micro-jellyfish at aquaculture sites. It also aims to implement an automated profiling system for harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the water column, providing real-time data for fish health management.
The second project, also already underway, builds on previous SAIC-funded initiatives that established predictive biomarkers for assessing gill health in Atlantic salmon. Its objective is to refine these biomarkers using machine learning and non-invasive sampling methods, while investigating their effectiveness in predicting responses to micro-jellyfish exposure and different diets.
The third project, which is set to begin in November, will focus on stock management strategies for proliferative kidney disease (PKD) outbreaks in Scotland. The initiative will monitor environmental conditions and immune responses in fish using advanced techniques, aiming to develop predictive models that enhance health management practices and improve vaccine efficacy in aquaculture.
