The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) is co-funding on two research project which aim to improve biodiversity and fish health in farming.

SAIC, is one of eight Innovation Centres established by the Scottish Government in 2013-2014 with the aim of bringing together industry and academia to work on industry-relevant collaboration projects.

It will invest £94,457 in what is expected to be a £242,470 investment in a year-long project being led by Kames Fish Farming Ltd in partnership with the University of West Scotland, Marine Harvest, Randox Food Diagnostics and Europharma, which aims to re-purpose diagnostic technologies designed for humans to assessing fish health faster and with grater accuracy.

The project will re-purpose diagnostic technologies designed for humans which can rapidly test biomarker responses in the liver, kidney and cardiac function for various diseases.

The researchers believe these automated technologies will allow farmers to test large numbers of salmon and rainbow trout using a non-lethal method.

The test will initially be focused on the impact of sea lice treatments, and the processes developed will then be used to scan for a wide range of health issues in fish.

Dr Brian Quinn, Reader in ecotoxicology at the University of West Scotland, said: “The measurement of biomarker response in clinical chemistry is the cornerstone of human health management.

“Our project harnesses these principles and technologies, and applies them to fish health practices.

“It empowers fish farmers to make faster, more effective decisions for the good of their stock allowing them to take a more pro-active approach to fish health management.”

A second, 18-month long project will see SIAC contribute £154,248 of a total of £274,375 investment being led by Marine Harvest Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Association for Marine Sciences (SAMS), UHI Inverness College, Rivers and Lochs Institute and the Scottish Environmental Agency (SEPA).

The consortium aims to develop a more efficient method to monitor the diversity of organisms living in the seabed around fish cages, which is a legal requirement of fish farm consent-compliance.

The current approach to assessing environmental conditions is time consuming and is estimated to cost the industry around £1 million per year.

The research project will develop a method of testing seabed diversity using ‘metagenomics’, a technique which takes DNA samples directly from the environment to determine what species are present.

Dr Tom Wilding, lecturer in benthic ecology at SAMS, said: “Not only will we see an improvement in the timeliness of the data that can be collected, working with a regulator like SEPA allows us to build in protocols that help the farmers to become more compliant and for SEPA to have a clearer picture of the industry at any one time.”

Commenting on SAIC's latest investments, chief executive Heather Jones said: “The Scottish Aquaculture2030 Vision for Growth group aims to double aquaculture’s contribution to the economy by 2030.

“In order to deliver such ambitious growth, the industry needs to develop new, innovative technologies which change the way in which we work.

“Working with our project partners, we can harness existing concepts – such as rapid diagnostics or new research methods like metagenomics and apply them to our industry.

“All of this is made possible by bringing partners together from across the sector, from farmers to feed experts, researchers to MDs and, for the first time, regulators such as SEPA.

“Together we can develop sustainable practices and support the growth of one of Scotland’s most important industries.”