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Chamber and committees

Question reference: S5W-13432

  • Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
  • Date lodged: 14 December 2017
  • Current status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 9 January 2018

Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many farmed salmon have died in each year since 2012.


Answer

Scottish Government does not record farmed salmon mortalities by year but does maintain and publish the percentage of fish harvested from each year class in the Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey; http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Fish-Shellfish/FHI/surveys. Mortality is included in the number of fish not harvested for human consumption, which also consists of fish which have escaped, have been culled for production reasons, have been removed for sampling purposes, statutory culls or have been selected for broodstock production.

A year class represents all smolts put to sea in any one year. The production cycle of any year class is complete within two years. The following table details the data from the 2010 year class onwards, as these fish will have contributed to mortality in 2012. The latest fin fish production survey was published in September 2017 and the most up to date information available is for the 2014 year class.

Year Class

Percentage of Fish Not Harvested

Number of Fish Not Harvested (millions)

2014

26.7%

12.85

2013

23.7%

9.7

2012

14.6%

6.0

2011

23.0%

9.83

2010

17.2%

6.62

Average

21.04%

9