The Scottish aquaculture industry sees an increase in marine salmon production for 2017 to 177,202 tonnes, or up from 162,817 t in 2016, judging by a little-known government survey.
Some 15 businesses farming 253 active sites were responsible for the growth. In all, marine salmon production employed 1,486 Scots, nearly all of them full-time.
The report was unusual for quietly printing volumes. Other note reports from industry advocates have focused on exports and production values as cash.
Meanwhile, 2016 saw the first grow-outs of lump sucker and various species of wrasse cultured to fight sea lice. Some 3.3 million lump sucker and 5.2 million wrasse ova being laid to hatch.
The growth in salmon interest has coincided with a drop in interest for trout, including rainbow, brown and sea trout. Although trout numbers are older, from 2015, two dozen businesses operating 44 sites produced 8,096 t of rainbow trout, or about 500 t less than in the year before.
