Site Details: Meil Bay
Hatston
Kirkwall, Orkney
KW15 1GP
Water type: Seawater
Cumulative mortality over full production cycle
Production cycle end date: Jan 2020
Total losses: 8.6 %
Production cycle end date: Oct 2021
Total losses: 10.4 %
Fish Health Inspectorate mortality
31/10/22-06/11/22
44,781
7.70%
07/11/22-13/11/22
19,302
3.61%
21/11/22-27/11/22
4,527
1.21%
28/11/22-04/12/22
3,844
1.04%
05/12/22-11/12/22
4,461
1.22%
12/12/22-18/12/22
6,806
1.89%
22/01/23-29/01/23
4,797
1.38%
27/02/23-05/03/23
6,513
1.94%
Inspection reports
Case Number: 2021-0294
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Smolts came on from Yetts O'Muckart (FS0371) in April 2020.
Used as a nursery site. Fish will be moved off to Carness and Quanterness.
Deadhaul harvests go to Kirkwall processing plant within the disease management area. No discharge into DMA.
All mortalities are transferred to Doon Bay in sealed bins where they are collected by a Cooke road lorry and transferred to
Pelagia in Bussy, Shetland where they are ensiled.
Seal presence has been noted around the site. Although not causing damage to equipment, the majority of mortalities at the site have been attributed to seal damage.
Site is equipped with both nylon nets and seal blinds on half of the cages and sapphire nets on the other half. Mortalities attributed to seal damage are higher in cages with nylon nets. Site plans to replace the nylon nets with sapphire nets during fallow.
Sites within the FMA are not fallowed synchronously on a single year class basis, but there is a documented risk assessment for this which was made available during the inspection.
Fish were sitting deep in the water so difficult to observe. One moribund observed across the site, removed at the time of inspection and humanely dispatched.
Fish sampled for VMD appeared healthy and demonstrated a strong feeding response. [Original PDF]
Case Number: 2023-0034
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Peaks in mortality 2022 wk 44 44781 (7.73%) wk 45 19302 (3.61%) mainly gill health issues (AGD). Wk 50 6806 1.89% attributed to sea lice (Salmosan) and gill health (AGD). 2023 wk 03 4797 (1.38%) recorded as predator/other (Post treatment morts being eaten by seals likely some gill health related morts).
All morts from Cooke transferred to Kirkwall shorebase, then transferred to Dounby (near Kirkwall) for bulk uplift to Shetland.
Salmosan administered 10,11 and 12th December 2022. No other medicinal treatments administered.
Gill health is under control. Fish may be transferred to Bay of Vady and treat on route.
Inspection of site limited due to high winds. No pens were walked round on safety grounds but seven pens were inspected from the work boat and three from the walkway when moored to collect samples for VMD. Good feeding response to feed.
Three fish were removed for VMD and were in good physical condition, no clinical signs of disease or gross pathology observed. Two leps observed. [Original PDF]
Case Number: 2024-0144
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A visit is being conducted at Meil Bay after receiving notification from the company that a positive BKD result has been found on site through a routine inspection with a Pharmaq vet. One fish was found with clinical signs out of the 4 sampled fish. The other 3 fish had clinical signs of CMS which is a known disease currently on site.
Before receiving the positive BKD result mortalities went to Dounby Yard but would be mixed with other sites mortality. Now mortalities and fish waste will be retrieved by divers as usual but will then be put into specific site mort bins and transferred to
Dounby Yard where they will be kept in a separate area away from other site mortalities. Fish from BKD sites will then be transferred to Dundas Chemicals in a specific tanker which will then be fully disinfected afterward. All divers have separate gear for sites with BKD.
Mortality: Week 19 has no mortality due to bad weather and divers could not retrieve the morts. Week 20's mortality figure is made up of mortality from both week 19 and 20. Site is experiencing a high volume of seal presence on site - trying to grab fish through the nets (Seal Pro). The majority of mortalities on site are currently being attributed to CMS or seal damage.
Treatments: SLICE at the start of April (7th April) - week long treatment. T.M.S for health checks.
Health report: Internal - 29th April 2024 "Fish looked good and feeding well, CMS confirmed through PCR. Signs of CMS observed in some pens. AGD 0-2, non AGD (PGD) 1-3".
Recent in house histo report (from 29th April): 2/2 fish positive for CMS. Internal PCR results for CMS had a mixture of results for CMS but the majority were positive.
Through regular health checks by site staff, no clinical signs of BKD have been seen. Staff are also regularly checking moribunds for clinical signs but none have been seen.
During the physical examination of the site a small number of floating mortalities were observed in six cages (a total of 13 across the whole site). These mortalities were older and had started decomposing. Mortality removal has not occurred on site since the positive BKD result last week. Now that permission has been granted and the mortality removal SOP updated to comply with restrictions placed on site, divers are due on site tomorrow to carry out mortality removal.
Visibility into the pens was reduced due to the dull weather conditions and dark water. Of the fish seen, the majority were observed shoaling beneath the surface and those in pen 5 were observed during feeding and had a good feeding response.
Across the whole site only 5 fish were observed as moribunds but only 3 could be caught using the hand net. All three caught were cut open and examined for any clinical signs of BKD. Two fish appeared healthy internally and so were not sampled. One fish when cut open had clear clinical signs of BKD including granulomas on the kidney and liver and contained bloody ascites in the body cavity. A diagnostic was carried out on this fish. [Original PDF]
Case Number: 2024-0147
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IDN placed following information from business about suspicion of BKD. 16/05/2024. FHI to visit w/c 20/05/2024.
No report issued with this case type [Original PDF]