Site Details: Applecross Hatchery

Applecross
Kishorn
IV54 8XF
Operator: Bakkafrost Scotland
Water type: Freshwater

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Fish Health Inspectorate mortality

Date:
22/08/22-28/08/22
Mortality:
1,576,522
Mortality Rate:
53.33%
Reason given: Water Quality
Water Quality
Senior biologist contacted; Update site number FS1336 and average weight 1g. Fry and parr on site. Only fry effected - no fry remaining on site now. Issue with hydrogen sulphide levels - thought to be due to a dead section in the system not flushing and collecting waste. A similar issue occured at Applecross smolt unit 17/1/22. Feed input has been reduced and PH modified. Biologist on site on the Monday and no issues were apparent. Extensive mortalities were observed on the Thursday. APHA to be informed.
Date:
13/02/23-19/02/23
Mortality:
124,528
Mortality Rate:
3.93%
Reason given: Fungus
Fungus
Treated with formalin, mortality now reduced.
FHI to monitor.
Date:
01/05/23-07/05/23
Mortality:
184,728
Mortality Rate:
5.45%
Reason given: Fungus
Fungus
Aquasen/Cress, Salinity adjustments
Second report this year. Fungal infection is being treated and are reported to have been effective. FHI to monitor.
Date:
08/05/23-14/05/23
Mortality:
797,014
Mortality Rate:
27.73%
Reason given: Water Quality
Water Quality
Remedial action - system/sensor adjustments
This mortality was in parr unit (separate from the fry unit detailed in wk18 mortalities). Issues with pH in water. Lag in between pH buffer added and probe feedback. Changes have been made to probes and protocols for improved real time feedback to reduce lag nd improve response. Mortalities in remaining stock being closely monitored and they may be culled. Discussed with CETA and he will inform APHA.
Date:
15/05/23-21/05/23
Mortality:
216,330
Mortality Rate:
10.42%
Reason given: Water Quality
Water Quality
Remedial action - system/sensor adjustments
Visit with APHA 29/05/23. Remaining stock from previous week has now been culled. Update 8/6/23;FHI visit conducted with APHA. Reported mortality during visit were 53.05% and 27.96% - the miss match in % is due to the fact the reported % for the mortality event spreadsheet are take from the site as a whole which includes the fish in the fry unit. The figures given during the site visit were only for the fish in the parr unit and therefore the % mortality is higher.
Date:
24/07/23-30/07/23
Mortality:
43,432
Mortality Rate:
1.87%
Reason given: Stock Incident
Stock Incident
Remedial works undertaken
Business contacted for further information. The hatchery experienced a power failure, resulting in the loss of light. This was reported to have resulted in some burrowing behaviour from the fish which resulted in the mortality. FHI to monitor
Date:
02/09/24-08/09/24
Mortality:
382,624
Mortality Rate:
16.95%
Reason given: Water Quality
Water Quality
Enhanced sterilisation and water quality monitoring.
Business contacted for further info. Organic material build up in system. Increased ozone and refresh rate to rectify. The issue has been resolved and mortalities have dropped significantly but will still be above threshold in the following week. FHI to monitor. update; FHI visited 18/9/24
Date:
09/09/24-15/09/24
Mortality:
213,558
Mortality Rate:
5.75%
Reason given: Water Quality
Water Quality
Enhanced sterilisation & water quality monitoring
FHI has visited. At the time of visit no clinical signs were observed by the insepctor.

Source

Inspection reports

Case Number: 2020-0095


Download First cycle of fish going through the site.
Surveillance frequency number of movements offsite could not be assessed properly due to being the first cycle of fish and no movements have occurred yet. Estimate of movements off resulted in site being assessed as medium.
Sites thermometer used for biosecurity reasons. [Original PDF]

Case Number: 2021-0551


Download Site inspected to collect information regarding disinfection procedures.
Paperwork completed by supervised by , visit conducted by observed by [Original PDF]

Case Number: 2022-0591


Download Site inspection and paper work conducted by , supervised by .
The site is split into two distinctive sections relating to development stage, a fry section containing 8 45m3 recirculation unit tanks and a separate parr section, consisting of 8 175m3 flow through unit tanks.
Fish in both sections were observed to be in good health, no clinical signs of disease were observed from the physical inspection of the site. Fish were observed shoaling well and responding positively to routine feeding regimes. Mortality has been low in recent months and the fish appear to be progressing well in their development stages.
A mortality event from 22nd - 28th August 2022 is still under internal review following a loss of 53.33% which affected all 8 tanks within the fry section of the site. It is believed that water supplied to the site had become contaminated prior to water intake which lead to a rise in hydrogen sulphide levels leading to significant mortality within the fry section. Following a deep clean of the sites water reserve and facilities, the site was restocked and no further issues have occurred.
The sites own thermometer was used to obtain a water temperature reading for biosecurity reasons. [Original PDF]

Case Number: 2023-0216


Download 13/2/23-19/2/23 3.93% 0.3g fish fungus 124,528 Formalin treatment
1/5/23-7/5/23 6.04% 0.5g fish fungus 184728 aquasen/cress treatment
8/5/23-14/5/23 27.73% 4.5g fry 797,014 fish
15/5/23-21/5/23 10.42% 216330 fish - parr section
From mort report; "This mortality was in parr unit (separate from the fry unit detailed in wk18 mortalities). Issues with pH in water. Lag between pH buffer added and probe feedback. Changes have been made to probes and protocols for improved real time feedback to reduce lag and improve response. Mortalities in remaining stock being closely monitored and they may be culled. Discussed with and he will inform APHA".
Historic mortality event from 22nd - 28th August 2022 a loss of 53.33% which affected all 8 tanks within the fry section of the site. It is believed that water supplied to the site had become contaminated prior to water intake which lead to a rise in hydrogen sulphide levels leading to significant mortality within the fry section. Following a deep clean of the sites water reserve and facilities, the site was restocked and no further issues had occurred.
Currently in the fry section 8 tanks with 1309989 fish @ 0.7g which will be ready to move to the parr section in 6 weeks. Parr section was stocked on 10th-18th April 2023 from the fry section
Peak daily mortality in parr section; 8/5/23 34500 2.52%, 9/5 83768 6.26%, 10/5 134352 10.76%, 11/5, 140576 12.61%, 12/5
148919 15.29%, 13/5 96505 11.7% 14/5, 86693 11.9%, 15/5 107932 16.82%, 16/5 17234 3.23%.
Records checked and adequately maintained; site details, mortality records and health surveillance records.
In the parr section the prob monitoring the PH is placed just after caustic soda or bicarbonate soda is added. This results is the readings from this probe jump up and down so the cut off from this probe has been over-ridden. There are 8 tanks in the cycle but only 4 were stocked at the time of the incident. 10 cycles prior to this one with no issues. 24/5/23 TMS used to cull remaining stock due to compromised (burnt) gills.
Health reports from 15/5/23 from Pharmaq; gills evidence of lamellar surface damage with adhesions, hyperplasia and lamellar fusion. Epithelial cell necrosis/apoptosis and detachment sometimes associated with debris containing filamentous bacteria and lower numbers of large segmented filamentour bacteria like organisms. Hyperplasit filament thickening and clubbing. All fish showed eosinophilic or hyaline globular inclusions within kidney and splenic macrophages. Post acute gill pathology may indicate recent irritant or toxic gill lamellar surface damage.
Poxvirus results from 12/5/23 - PCR 5/5 positive Ct values range 23.5-26.9
Cycle consists of; Tanks-probes- drum filter- biofilter - doser- probes- tanks - Also concrete mixing tank which had a thick biofilm above the water line but below the water lie was stripped clean. Thought combination of caustic soda and bicarbonative soda may have removed the biofilm into the system. [Original PDF]

Case Number: 2024-0056


Download 2023 Fry elevated mortalities: Wk 45 25438 (1.35%) first feeding morts
Fry mortalities for the last 4 weeks wk 10 212 (0.01%), wk 9 2734 (0.17%), wk 8 24822 (1.50%) gut fungus, wk 7 14187
(0.85%)
2023 parr increased mortalities: wk 30 34626 (2.51%) caused by burrowing following a power failure and loss of light.
2023 July parr wk 9 309 (0.02%) wk 8 185 (0.01%)wk 7 140 (0.01%) wk 6 1127 (0.07%)
Gut fungus had caused an increase in fry morts salinity was increased to treat. Salt back ground level increased to 1.3ppt, normally sits at 0.6-0.8 ppt.
Paperwork inspected on the 4th and 5th March 2024, site inspection conducted 5th March 2024
Site thermometer used due to biosecurity protocols. Thermometers are regularly calibrated against a mercury thermometer. [Original PDF]

Source