The winning collaboration is a multi-party applied research project being conducted by the Institute of Aquaculture at the University of Stirling, with support from the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre, leading salmon producers Marine Harvest Scotland and Scottish Sea Farms, and feed manufacturer BioMar.
Launched in June 2015, the 42-month project is developing the sustainable farming and deployment of wrasse, a ‘cleaner-fish’ used on salmon farms to control sea lice. SAIC awarded grant funding of £831,530 to the project, leveraging contributions worth £3.01m from industry and academia.
The SE Life Science awards recognise the leading organisations, people and projects in the Scottish life sciences sector. In a globally-renowned sector that employs some 35,000 people and contributes over £3.5bn a year to the Scottish economy, competition for the awards is tough.
“The strength and expertise in Scotland’s life sciences sector is outstanding, so for the project to win this award is huge,” commented Heather Jones, CEO of the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre.
“And given that ‘innovation’ and ‘collaboration’ are probably the two words we most use at SAIC, we’re delighted that the award won was the Innovation Collaboration Award.
“But even more important than winning awards are the long-term impacts this project could achieve, including increased productivity on Scottish salmon farms and reduced use of medicines for sea lice control. These will deliver strong economic benefits for the Scottish salmon industry and Scotland.”
Lead researcher Professor Hervé Migaud said: “We are absolutely delighted to win this prestigious award and have thoroughly enjoyed working with industry to bring the project to life.
“The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre’s support and funding has enabled us to extend this project from proof of concept to the commercial environment. The impact of the research is proving to be considerable in both scientific and economic terms.”
