Why should vets care about aquaculture?

Did you know that...

• Since 2018, more Atlantic salmon has been produced each year in Scotland than beef?
• Atlantic salmon is Scotland’s second biggest food and drink export, behind whisky?
• The footprint of the entire Scottish salmon aquaculture sector is smaller than the area of Edinburgh Airport?
• BVA recommends all vets should know more about aquaculture?

With the human population rapidly growing, governments around the world are looking to aquaculture systems to help meet requirements for safe, sustainable protein production. In 2013, global aquaculture production overtook wild catch fisheries for the first time. As fish are sentient beings, and with many One Health challenges associated with farming them, it is vital that the veterinary profession understands the role it can play as the sector continues to develop.

Why the interest in aquaculture?

When I graduated in 2000, I’d had roughly four days of fish medicine and surgery throughout my entire veterinary degree. That included some anatomy and physiology, and someone popping down from Stirling to tell us a bit about the aquaculture sector. I certainly hadn’t considered fish medicine as a career opportunity at that point, and sustainability was only beginning to creep into everyday vocabulary.

Fast-forward two decades and I’ve been on an unusual journey, starting with a role in diagnostics and disease surveillance, and ending up in planning, policy, preventative medicine, and fish welfare. I never planned to be a fish vet, yet I’ve been endorsed as a Certified Aquaculture Veterinarian by the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association (WAVMA), managed the Fish Diseases Unit of the Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute, chaired the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE) FishMedPlus Coalition, co-led the organisation of an International Conference on fish and shellfish diseases, and was recently appointed as the WAVMA Director for Europe.

I’ve been fortunate to have a really fulfilling career in a sector I suspect most vets don’t even consider. While I was BVA president, my interest led us to begin thinking about a sustainable aquaculture policy position, which I am now excited to see being launched.

How was the position developed?

With aquaculture being such a broad and complex topic, BVA set up a dedicated working group to develop the position. I’m proud to have chaired the group, and to be joined by experts representing the Fish Veterinary Society, the Institute of Aquaculture at Stirling University, RSPCA, Vet Sustain, British Veterinary Zoological Society, BVA Scottish Branch, Policy Committee, and the Ethics & Welfare Advisory Panel.

We listened to presentations from industry leaders, regulators, representative organisations, innovators, government bodies and scientists, and looked at all aspects of sustainability, ethics, economics and the environment. Safe, affordable food is ultimately what we want to produce, but it’s critical we do so in a way that isn’t detrimental to the environment or compromises wellbeing – a function of health and welfare – of the animals or the people producing them.

We discussed health, welfare and husbandry, and learned how permissions are granted for the siting of new farms based on potential environmental impact. We referred to the availability and use of medicines and vaccines, the control of parasites and the sustainability of feed ingredients. Our considerations of welfare included at the time of slaughter, of ‘cleaner fish’, and of potential or actual predators (including seabirds and seals), recognising the current standards most of the UK’s producers are already signed up to through voluntary schemes. We’ve made recommendations around better understanding of positive welfare outcomes, and recognising technological innovations, we’ve included calls for streamlined, dynamic regulation of new services products and farms that could positively benefit fish wellbeing and the environment.

What's in the position?

The UK aquaculture sector is primarily focused on producing Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout, so these species are the main focus of the new policy position. Following the structure of the BVA policy position on UK sustainable animal agriculture, the paper is intended to provide veterinary professionals with an introduction to the UK aquaculture sector, highlighting some of the opportunities and challenges, doing some myth busting, and making recommendations on how vets can make a positive contribution to the sectors’ sustainability.

In total, we make 49 recommendations, with many of these referring to One Health principles, improved collaboration and communication within and between all of the disciplines within the UK finfish aquaculture sector, to the mutual benefit of people, animals and their shared environment.

A useful resource for members

The important thing for me now is that the BVA policy position on UK Sustainable Finfish Aquaculture provides a resource for all of our members to educate themselves on the sector – whether or not they spend part of their career working in it.

We can all be champions of the wider role vets play in the sustainable production of safe food and we can all be champions for animal and human wellbeing… even when the pasture is blue rather than green.

For more information

• Sean Wensley's blog on Improving sustainability through animal welfare advocacy reminds us of the important role the vet professions play in animal welfare advocacy, and how that interlinks with the ethical aspects of sustainability.
• In Pastures blue: life as a fish vet, Young Vet of the Year 2022 finalist Alison Brough wrote of combining her production animal interests with her relatively new-found passion for fish health and welfare, and how she makes a positive difference to help those working most directly with the fish.
• Read the full BVA position on UK sustainable finfish aquaculture.