Inspection reports

Case Number: 2021-0535

Download Remote and physical inspection conducted by , observed by . Site recently stocked in week 45. Site has had a successful input with low morts. Fish taken for VMD appeared healthy upon internal examination.
Site thermometer used as inspectors thermometer was unavailable. [Original PDF]

Case Number: 2024-0018

Download ROV on shorebase to inspect nets. Not yet used as divers are still visiting.
Water turbid and fish low in the water column. Few fish were observed during the visit.
Fish removed for VMD appeared healthy externally and internally.
Inspection of paperwork and site conducted by , observed by .
VMD sampled by , observed by .
Calibrated site thermometer used to take temperature. Due to sub-zero temperature, temperature was not displayed on inspectors field thermometer. FHI 045 Thermometer fail sheet completed. [Original PDF]

Case Number: 2024-0185

Download Site inspection undertaken to observe vaccination procedures of stock on site, following reports of feral farmed fish being caught in Loch Shin.
Third party, Highland Aqua, are contracted for vaccinations at the site. Vaccination with Microject6 and PD1. Historic stocks on site were vaccinated by hand, however this is the first stock to be machine vaccinated. Training and cleaning and disinfection certificates were inspected and approved prior to access to the site. Divers were on site the week of the handling event to inspect nets for any damage and to complete repair work where required. Dive reports dated 1/7/24 stated that no holes were observed in any of the nets. Vaccination machine was set up in a shipping container that is lifted from the back of a lorry and placed on a raft before being towed out to the site and tethered to the cages.
Nets are lifted one cage at a time to crowd the fish. An inlet pipe is positioned in the crowd and fish are pumped through the pipe and into an anaesthetic bath prior to moving over a de-waterer and into a large steel tray where 4 members of staff (2 at each side) manually position the fish into wells within a conveyor that passes them through the vaccination machine for injection. Following vaccination, the fish are fed into a discharge pipe that transfers them back into the same cage, albeit within the other half which hasnt been crowded and which is separated by the net being raised.
The pipes going into and out of the cage were tied with at least one, but normally two ropes to secure it to the cage. The inlet pipe was also wrapped in netting and was also placed ontop of a catch net to ensure contingency should the pipe fail or come loose. This is in accordance with the sites vaccination SOP. However, there were no catch nets or net tubing used around and under the discharge pipes, including the section located between the vaccination raft, the walkway and the cage. This was raised as a potential weakness with the site manager and the use of a catch net and net tubing was recommended. The SOP was missing information in relation to chapter 3, points 3.66 and 3.76 in the CoGP and should be updated to include these details where a contractor is engaged.
The vaccination machine itself was located inside a shipping container so if any breaches in containment were to occur, the fish would spill onto the deck but would be unlikely to enter the loch due to the distance and number of physical barriers.
However, improvements could be made by bunding the floor of the container to ensure that any breaches would be contained.
Fish were pumped up and into the machine, through the machine and discharged again within a short time. Mortalities at the site were below 200 fish per week and no movements on or off the site had been completed since the last inspection on
Evidence that the recommendations in relation to the case were made for implementation was submitted by 14/10/24. [Original PDF]

Case Number: 2024-0255

Download Site inspection undertaken to observe procedures for transfer of stock onto site, following reports of feral farmed fish being caught in Loch Shin.
Farm containment and escape response procedure, fish intake SOP, smolt transfer SOP, Vaki service report, Dive inspection of nets in place to receive fry intake and net certificates of inspection were all available for inspection.
Nets were serviced on 28/03/24 and 23/05/24 with only minor repairs carried out. Dive report from 1/07/24 details that no holes were observed in any of the nets in advance of the intakes on 2nd, 4th and 6th July. The Vaki counter was serviced in
February 24 when a small fault with the visibility was noted, causing issues with calibration. It was suggested that the mirror should be cleaned regularly.
298, 928 fish were input last crop over 3 inputs (108,593, 110,151 and 80,184) on the 26th, 27th and 28th October 2023 at
47g. Fish are only held on this site for a couple of months before moving off to a SW site for ongrowing. A total of 299,498
(count from wellboat at discharge) fish from last crop were moved off to Vestness (FS1210). However, the Vaki count of fish being loaded onto the lorry was 299,812, a discrepancy of 314 fish between being loaded onto the lorry at site, and being discharged at Vestness. This was attributed to counter inaccuracies.
Total mortality for the site was 3,303 (1.1% total of input). A total discrepancy for fish on and fish off the site was 3,873 (1.3% of the wellboat count). This discrepancy has been attributed to variations in counter accuracies and is deemed acceptable.
Stocking procedure: Cages are not towed and remain in place during stocking. Pipes run from the cages to the shorebase and are visually checked at the cage side and at the shorebase but the floating lines are not inspected at regular intervals. A suggestion for improvement would be to incorporate regular visual inspections of the floating transfer pipes in order to detect any faults or failures and that these be recorded, along with any repair work that is undertaken.
Lorries reverse into shoreabse and the transfer pipe is connected to the outlet of each tank on the lorry in turn. The pipes are not secured to the outlet on the tank, but is placed over the outlet and secured by a rope. Failure of this rope would result in the pipe being forced away from the lorry, resulting in a failure in containment. A suggestion for improvement was made to include the addition of a catch net under the outlet so that if a failure was to occur, any fish that are spilled, would be captured and could be returned to the tank. The valve for each tank is opened and fish are gravity fed into the cages. The lorry driver supervises the discharge from above the tank and confirms when all the fish have been discharged. The pipe is then flushed with water to ensure no fish remain in the transfer pipe, before it is disconnected and moved onto the next tank.
The pipe that discharges into the cage, is secured with a single rope to the cage structure and is placed across the lowered side net and submerged in the water within the cage. Using radios, site staff located at cage side confirm with staff at the shorebase when the discharge pipe is in position and secure before fish are discharged into the cage. Cage side staff supervise the discharge of the fish into the cage and notify shorebase staff when no more fish are coming through and to begin flushing the pipe to ensure any fish remaining in the transfer pipe are flushed out and into the cage before the pipe is
The transfer pipe is made up of several sections of pipe which are attached by secure locks and supported by ratchet straps to ensure contingency if the locks were to fail.
Evidence that the recommendations in relation to the case were made for implementation was submitted by 06/09/24. [Original PDF]

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