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Waste Arising from fishing and fish relating industry in Scotland

SEPA 2003

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Introduction

As part of the local priorities identified through the Area Waste Planning process under the National Waste Strategy: Scotland; wastes arising from fish capture, production and processing sectors were identifying as significant issues for the north of Scotland. It was therefore agreed to carry out a desk based study to identify what data on wastes arisings from these industries are available.

With the creation of the Scottish Aquaculture Waste Management group it was subsequently decided to extend the scope of this project to the whole of Scotland and to include information provided by members of the group.

This report summarises those findings and lays out some recommendations for future work.

The industry sectors relevant to this report can be summarised as follows

• Aquaculture - Marine Cage Fish Farming
• Aquaculture - Freshwater Fish Farming
• Aquaculture processing
• Shellfish - Cultivation and Sea-Catch
• Offshore capture and processing

The information in this report is gathered from publicly available data sources and responses to questionnaires issued to members of the Scottish Aquaculture Waste Management Group.

AQUACULTURE

Background to Industry

The Aquaculture industry is mainly situated on the west coast mainland and the islands of Scotland. It has been the fastest growing industry in Scotland over the past 20 years, producing over 150,000 tonnes of produce in 2002. This amounted to 50% of Scotland's total food exports (source: SEERAD) and resulted in a turnover of 500 million. Scotland has ideal conditions for Salmon farming, and the rate of growth of the fish farming industry in Scotland's has exceeded that of large competitors such as Norway. Aquaculture is an important economic resource, with the industry directly employing approximately 1,500 workers, and services supporting the industry employing 5,000 (70% of which are in the Highlands). There are many tough challenges and controversial issues surrounding the industry.

The types of waste arisings identified for the aquaculture, sea fish industry, processing and fish meal industry were:

• Mortalities
• Cull of Infected Fish
• Packaging Waste
• Fish Waste
• Packaging Waste
• Used Nets, Ropes, Tanks and Cages

Waste Arising Figures

The biological wastes arising from both Fresh Water and Marine Cage Fish Farming consist of routine fish mortalities and catastrophic mortalities.

Routine Mortalities within the farming environment are caused by chronic disease events, equipment failure and post-handling trauma.

Marine Cage Fish Farming

Marine Cage Fish Farming makes up the largest output of fish in the aquaculture sector. There are 86 Marine Cage Fish Farm Operators registered with SEERAD, and SEPA have 320 consented sites throughout the Highlands and Islands. SEPA requires all Marine Cage Fish Farm Operators to record and submit information on a monthly basis. The information requested includes the actual biomass, type of sea lice therapeutant and amount used, amount of feed used, and number of mortalities and weight in kilograms.

Fish Mortalities for Scotland from Marine Cage Fish Farms - 2002 - figures from Annual Returns, SEPA

Fish Mortalities in Highlands and Islands from Marine Cage fish Farms - 2002 - figures from Annual Returns, SEPA

(Dingwall North, South, Fort William and Thurso are SEPA geographically divided areas)

Rest of Scotland

Freshwater Salmon and Trout

There is no complete data available for waste arising from the Freshwater Salmon industry. This could be done by questionnaire. This is identified as a data gap. For Salmon, contacting each individual fish farm and requesting the information on the weight of fish removed from the cages due to mortality or culling. This is a large task, however, a competent list of fish farms is available from the work carried out by the recent fish project. This could be carried out by sending a questionnaire to each fish farm. Alternatively, a survey could be carried out. It would be useful before drafting a questionnaire to visit a fish farm and look at the records, discuss waste with operators and officers.

The British Trout Association (BTA) provided Trout waste information which was obtained by the BTA contacting each individual BTA member.

Trout Waste Industry in Highlands - 2003

In comparison to the rest of Scotland, waste arising from trout farms is low. The method of disposal is mainly ensiling, and this is normally carried out on site in a standard plastic drum and stored on site. Some smaller farms will send waste to landfill. The industry has no effective process with dealing with mortalities, and no local infrastructure in place. The Animal By Products (Scotland) Regulations 2003 have raised many issues for the industry which require to be resolved. This requires guidance from the relevant government bodies.

Catastrophic Mortalities are mass fish kills from external impacts, for example jelly fish kills and algal blooms.

The Infectious Salmon Anaemia (ISA) Outbreak in 1998 and 1999, the FRS estimate that 1,000 tonnes of Atlantic Salmon were slaughtered, ensiled and exported under licence to Norway (Source: FRS). This figure can be used as a baseline for any future outbreaks of ISA.

Source: FRS (Unpublished data)

These figures vary significantly from year to year.

A survey carried out within the Aquaculture industry indicated that the estimated cost of waste was 22.5 million, and through the use of simple low cost, or no cost improvements, over 5 million worth of savings could be made. (Source: Envirowise)

SEA CATCH INDUSTRY

The Sea Fish industry is important to the rural economy of Scotland. In the Highlands and Islands, income from fish landings accounted for 6% of the area's Gross Domestic Product. Fisheries provide jobs in rural coastal areas, where there are few alternatives and communities are dependant on fishing.

Main wastes generated within the industry are identified as:

• Fish Processing Waste - Landed and Disposal to Sea
• Used nets and ropes
• Packaging materials
• Surplus or unmarketable fish

Waste Arising

Highlands and Islands

SHELLFISH INDUSTRY

There are 2 categories of shellfish production - this is cultivation and wild sea-catch.

CULTIVATION SHELLFISH INDUSTRY

There is a small but very active cultivated shellfish sector in Scotland. The Shellfish Farming industry in Scotland is on a much smaller scale than other finfish, and is typically to supplement income from other activities, such as fishing, tourism and crofting. Cultivated shellfish in Scotland includes Pacific Oysters, Native Oysters, Mussels, Queens and Scallops.

There are 2 informal classification of shellfish - crustacean [crabs, lobsters, prawns (nephros)] and Mollusca (mussels, oyster, scallops).

In 1998, 3.3 million oysters were produced for table, 4 million scallops and queens, and 1,300 tonnes of mussels. This is a very small volume in comparison with other EU countries, such as Spain and France. Production trends can be rather erratic due to variable market conditions.

Number of companies registered by region and species 2001 (Source FRS - Scottish Shellfish Farm Production Survey 2001)

The information gathered on waste arisings for cultivation (see Appendix *) is based on the information from the Scottish Shellfish Production Survey 2001. Information from Fisheries Research gives the average weight of each shellfish, and details how much of this each shellfish is waste. This gives an estimate of waste arising from shellfish to table, but there is also an on-growing sector. For the on-growing, this only allows the minimum waste arising figure. This does also not identify where the waste arises, as shellfish sold with shells, then this may go into the municipal waste stream, or may end up abroad.

SEA CATCH SHELLFISH

The two species of shellfish which accounts for the majority of shellfish landings by the UK fleet are crabs (19%), nephrops (21%) and scallops (16%). Figures for the amount of shell fish caught in the Highlands. Approximately 52,000 tonnes of shellfish were landed in Scotland in 2001 from UK and Foreign Vessels (Source: Scottish Executive Scottish Fisheries Statistics 2001). There is no breakdown of shellfish landed in the Highlands. From this information, there is no way to identify a breakdown of the species caught, nor the volumes of waste arising.

WASTE ARISING AND WASTE DISPOSAL METHODS

The fate of shellfish waste and volume of waste arising from the industry has not been uncovered by this study. A number of shellfish producers and processors were contacted, but no clear and concise information was established. Two disposal methods mentioned were landfilling of waste and disposal at sea.

A further, in depth study would be required to determine the amount of waste arising from the cultivation and sea catch industries (this may be insignificant amounts), and the methods of disposing of this waste. This would require industry input, or even be industry lead to produce waste solutions, benefits and savings.

Problems that arise from shell fish is that they are sold in two different ways, for table and for on-growing. Table shellfish would result in waste, however on-growing would require information from elsewhere, and this may be abroad. In addition to this, seafood for table is mostly sold live in shells, which would result in waste arising in the municipal (household) and commercial (hotels and restaurants) waste streams, and may arise abroad.

Shells are marketable products, but require cleaning to remove viscera and animal matter.

Future potential uses for shell fish waste are:

• Roadfill and Hardcore (crushed shells)
• Drainage
• Fertiliser
• Reuse for decoration
• Nutritional enhancer for
• Use in Animal feeds such as Hen Feed as Calcium enhancer
• Use of Chitin and Chitosan (food additives, paper strengtheners, skin and hair products, medical purposes.

FISH PROCESSING INDUSTRY

There are 6 Fish Processing Plants in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

It is reported that these plants produce significant amounts of waste.

The information on volume of waste arisings and disposal routes would be relatively easy to collect as accurate records will be held at each location.

Analysis of Data - Gaps Identified

The main gaps in data have been identified as the waste arising from Freshwater fish farming. Fish farms should currently be recording how many fish mortalities have occurred under SEPA consent conditions, and should also have records relating to the other wastes. (see recommendation 1)

There is a gap in the data of waste arising within the fish processing industry. (see recommendation 2).

There remains a gap in data of waste from the Shellfish Industry, both sea catch and cultivation shellfish. There is a requirement for accurate data to develop waste solutions. More assistance is required from the industry (see recommendation 3).

There is currently a gap in data in the volume of ensiled waste which would need to be determined before recommendations and solutions could be determined. (recommendation 4)

Recommendations for future work