Site Details: Bight of Bellister, Dury Voe
ZE2 9QD
Water type: Seawater
Cumulative mortality over full production cycle
Production cycle end date: Oct 2019
Total losses: 26.2 %
Production cycle end date: Jun 2021
Total losses: 14.2 %
Production cycle end date: Apr 2023
Total losses: 41 %
Fish Health Inspectorate mortality
19/09/22-25/09/22
17,838
4.00%
02/10/22-09/10/22
12,161
2.8%
17/10/22-23/10/22
5,203
1.30%
24/10/22-30/10/22
5,446
1.50%
31/10/22-06/11/22
9,335
2.60%
07/11/22-13/11/22
7,412
2.10%
21/11/22-27/11/22
12,735
3.80%
28/11/22-04/12/22
19,921
6.10%
05/12/22-11/12/22
10,715
3.50%
12/12/22-18/12/22
10,854
3.60%
19/12/22-25/12/22
5,579
1.90%
26/12/22-01/01/23
6,121
2.30%
02/01/23-08/01/23
4,599
1.70%
09/01/23-15/01/23
4,072
1.60%
23/01/23-29/01/23
4,599
1.70%
30/01/23-05/02/23
2,758
3.20%
06/02/23-12/02/23
718
1.10%
13/02/23-19/02/23
792
1.20%
20/02/23-26/02/23
809
1.30%
06/03/23-12/03/23
836
1.60%
13/03/23-19/03/23
750
1.40%
20/03/23-26/03/23
692
1.70%
27/03/23-02/04/23
1,053
3.7%
03/04/23-09/04/23
263
1.80%
19/02/24-25/02/24
7,461
1.8%
Inspection reports
Case Number: 2020-0380
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Weather very calm during site inspection, very good visibility. Fish were shoaling well, deeper in the water. No current issues reported on site. New sea lice procedure, counting 100 fish per cage every week (where possible), also targetting cages for treatment where lice numbers have started to increase, very low level used to trigger treatment. All treatments have given
100% clearance so far. Extremely low trigger for teating, 0.01 adult females per cage.
Fish on site are smaller grade from Swarta Skerry, Dury Voe. Some lumpsuckers on site, but low level and no plans to add more.
No Issues noted on site and fish sampled for VMD appeared in good condition.
No lice skirts installed on site due tides experienced there. SLICE treatment due to begin next week, caligus numbers have increased, but not causing any welfares issue. [Original PDF]
Case Number: 2022-0108
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Remote inspection conducted 19/04/22 by , observed by
Site inspection, collection of movement records and VMD sampling 26/04/22 by , observed by
All cages have double nets installed these have stopped issues with seal predation that had affected previous cycles. There was an increased pressure on site due to predation by cormorants, two cages particularly affected, these had additional top net supports put in place and this alleviated the problem.
Fish were deep in the water, but appeared to be shoaling well, 9 lethargic fish observed across site, attributed to Thermolicer treatment the previous week, varying degrees of physical damage on these fish. Fish sampled for VMD appeared in very good condition.
Site is counting 10 fish per cage and sea lice treatments are targeted at cages with higher numbers, rather than treat the whole site. This was reported to work well and reduces handling on cages were the sea lice numbers are low.
Nets washed by Ocean Farms Services, net washing on-going at time of inspection.
Excellent visibility at time of inspection.
Cages 5 & 6 are most exposed to tides and weather on site, due to this they are currently fallow, cages 1 to 4 were stocked with more fish, that will be split down to cages 5 & 6 in the summer once the fish have acclimatised to conditions on site and are at a size that will cope with the tides. [Original PDF]
Case Number: 2022-0599
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Mortalities are collected by Hendersons and sent to Pelagia for biogas generation.
Pens 1-4 (4 the worst 23,000 since input) have been quite badly affected, pens had a higher stocking density (since split down). 10,11
WK42 - 5203 (1.26%) WK40 12,161 (2.84%) WK38 17838 (3.97%)
WK40 - Treatements - Peroxide treament WK38 (cages 1 and 3) - perxide treatment was abandoned following high mortalites on the treated cages
WK38 - Thermolicer treatment cages 1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 cages 5 and 6 were unstocked, cage four was done with freshwater as fish were thought to be unable to cope with treatment
Health reports - 12/11/2022 - Gill damage was highly variable throughout the site with around 70% of fish having poor GH.
AGD was tested for and found to be present on the site, however there was little evidence of clinical signs.
40% of fish shown to have moderate levels of gill damage, but with a high level of visually healthly gill tissue remaining.
Remainder (30%) were significanlty affected with little healthy tissue on the gills.
Lice levels were relativily high in all stages and treatments were continuing There was little evidence of grazing on the fish's skin.
13/09 - Overall fish appeared to be in good condition, with some lesion/scale damage. Gill health was continuing to decrease at this time, with higher PGD scores. Gills were bleeding in the anaesthetic water
Sea lice - Moderate - high.
Inspection by , observed by
Physical inspection of cages could not be undertaken due to weather. [Original PDF]
Case Number: 2023-0010
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Mortality (recent weeks):
Wk4- 0.34%, 535
Wk3- 1.00%, 1968
Wk2-1.6%, 3992
Wk1- 1.74%, 3924
Wk52- 2.27%, 4794
Wk51-1.88%, 3594
Wk50- 3.55%, 9425
On the day of proposed inspection, inspector informed that 4 seals were in observed in pen 12. Site was due to start harvesting pen 12 on day of site inspection, however due to seal observation, pen is required to be secure prior to the commecement of harvest. Divers were called immediately and inspection of the net was conducted 2.5 hours after seals were seen in pen. Efforts were made to coax seals out of the pen via the pens, however seals did not cooperate.
The stock on site are from Barcaldine Smolt Hatchery (Stofinfiskur).
The site visit was planned following recent weeks eleveated mortality, above the reporting threshold. The main cause of mortality on site was attributed to PGD, CMS and AGD. Most recent health report highlighted that post FW treatment (which concluded 22/12/2022) gills have improved.
All nets on site are Seal Pro nets, dating back to 2017. The mesh size of these nets is 36mm x 36mm squares. The net in pen
12 was last inspected in 16/06/2021, with strength tests highlighting overall satisfaction by Morenot.
Divers arrived on site and conducted a dive survey the net of pen 12. Five holes were identified with the biggest whole being 2 x 2 mesh squares. Divers on 25/01/2023 patched the net using cable ties and net rope. Dive checks usually occur monthly.
The nets after the production cycle are then sent back to Morenot for servicing and repair. Following the service, reports are generated to determine suitability of the net in the next production cycle.
At the start of the cycle, the site operates a double net system, with a smaller inner nylon net that is removed once maximum biomass density allowed by the RSPCA welfare standards is reached. There are plans in place for the nets provider to change to Knox nets for the next production cycle – continuing to be Seal Pro nets. In addition, the double net system will be reintroduced but with a larger and more robust inner net that will not need to be removed during the production cycle. In addition, the pen design will change to have higher poles as well as custom netting that is more durable.
From the size of holes observed from the dive report it was determine that no salmon would have been able to escape, not did a seal enter via this route. The theory is that the seals were able to get in the pen by hauling themselves over the hand rail and under the top nets which were pushed back to allow the site to start harvesting. The site staff, prepare the site for harvest to allow well boat access to the pen. To ensure that seal are not able to access the pen again, bungee cord has been used to tie the skirt of the top net tighter to the pen net. Divers were also present on site on the 26/01/2023 and 27/01/2023 to check the condition of the remaining pens on site which are scheduled for harvest, with the exception of two pens. Two remaining pens will be on site till March 2023 when site fallows. [Original PDF]
Case Number: 2024-0079
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Site inspected in overcast conditions with a flat sea state, visibility of the stocks was good. Fish were observed shoaling well, 2 moribunds (pens 2 and 4) and 2 runts (pen 10) were observed during the inspection. Site staff were conducting lice counts during the time of inspection, fish appeared healthy with clean gills and good body condition, lice counts were low.
1 fish was removed for VMD sampling from cage 8, the fish appeared healthy both internally and externally.
Most recent treatments were with Salmosan on 18/05/2024 and with Slice on 31/03/2024. Both were clear from their withdrawal periods on the date of inspection. The site are currently using MS-222 for anesthetization. [Original PDF]