This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Infectious Salmon Anaemia report
11/01/2005
A report on compliance with the industry's own code of
practice in combating ISA was published today.
Infectious Salmon Anaemia is a highly contagious
notifiable disease which can cause serious damage to farmed
Atlantic salmon in seawater.
Deputy Environment and Rural Development Minister Lewis
Macdonald said:
"The Scottish Executive is committed to supporting an
aquaculture industry that is sustainable, diverse and
competitive. The industry is worth about £500 million a
year to the economy, employing up to 10,000 people either
directly or in support services.
"Scotland's salmon farming is a vital part of the
aquaculture industry and compliance with the provisions of
the Code is crucial to maintaining its high health
status.
"I recognise the achievements in complying with the ISA
Code of Practice. Good progress has been made in the past
year but there is certainly no room for relaxation of
effort."
The Fourth Annual Survey Report on Compliance with the
Code of Practice to Avoid and Minimise the Impact of
Infectious Salmon Anaemia covers the period October 1, 2003
to September 30, 2004.
Its main findings:
- Compliance with the CoP has generally been high
throughout the year and improved on last year's
levels.
- Compliance was greater than 90 per cent for the
majority of the criteria surveyed, with eight of the
criteria seeing 99 per cent or 100 per cent
compliance.
- There has been significant improvement in well boat
disinfection documentation (up from 89-94 per cent),
blood containment at slaughter (up from 97-100 per
cent), siting of fish farms away from processing plants
without effluent disinfection (up from 96-98 per cent),
mortality removal on seawater sites (up from 90-96 per
cent) and ensiling of mortalities on seawater sites (up
from 61-71 per cent).
- The industry needs to achieve greater compliance
with its Code of Practice in other areas, particularly
those of high risk, such as not sending fish to
processing facilities without effluent disinfection (97
per cent compliance, down two per cent on last year)
and avoidance of use of seawater in the freshwater
production cycle (98 per cent compliance, down two per
cent on last year).
The Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs
Department (SEERAD) will shortly be writing to all salmon
industry trade associations and companies on how best to
achieve full compliance with the Code.
The Industry ISA Code of Practice was published in
August 2000, recommending best practice to minimise the
spread of disease within the Scottish fish farming
industry. Copies are available free of charge from The
Crown Estate, 10 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, EH2 4DR.
(ISBN 0 9532838 6 0)
The Code was produced by the industry, based on the
Final Report of the Joint Government/Industry Working Group
on Infectious Salmon Anaemia (ISA) January 2000. This is
available on the Fisheries Research Services Marine
Laboratory Aberdeen web site. www.frs-scotland.gov.uk
The Fisheries Research Services monitoring report will
also be available on the FRS website
www.frs-scotland.gov.uk and can be obtained from The
Library, Fisheries Research Services, PO Box 101 Victoria
Road, Aberdeen, AB11 9DB.
ISA is a highly infectious, potentially fatal disease of
salmon in seawater. The last confirmed case of ISA was in
May 1999.
FRS Fish Health Inspectors are currently investigating
the suspected presence of ISA on a salmon farm on South
Uist. To date laboratory tests have been insufficient to
confirm the presence of the disease.