Previously data was published three to four months in arrears.
Marine Scotland – Scotland’s coastal waters and seas civil service directorate – is to now publish data sea lice, mortality events and case reports every month.
Salmon farmers in Scotland have been publishing salmon mortality data on a farm-by-farm basis since 2018. This data collection builds on Marine Scotland’s Scotland’s 10 Year Farmed Fish Health Framework on industry reporting on lice numbers to develop a national approach to data-sharing and evidence-gathering.
The figures are published monthly on the SSPO website. For example, October 2018’s industry average lice results were published in Febuary 2019. Salmon survival and mortality data also published on the industry site were in arrears.
A spokesperson for the SSPO emailed SalmonBusiness:
“SSPO is aware of the Marine Scotland decision to publish some data one month in arrears. The SSPO is in discussion with member companies about the timetable for voluntary data reporting but nothing has been decided yet.”
SalmonBusiness contacted Marine Scotland to confirm the reasons for this. A spokesperson emailed writing that: “Publishing the data was simply done in the interests of transparency, as per the core objectives of our farmed fish health framework.”
