STIM Scotland becomes exclusive UK distributor of Benchmark lice treatment

Aquaculture biotech company Benchmark Animal Health has appointed STIM Scotland Ltd as the exclusive UK distributor of salmon lice treatment Salmosan Vet.

The agreement was signed on 28 March and will take immediate effect with the stock now transferred to STIM’s Glasgow warehouse ahead of distribution, Benchmark said in a press release.

Salmosan Vet is a market leading azamethiphos treatment used throughout the global salmon industry for the control of pre-adult to adult stages of sea lice.

Increased support

Benchmark said the agreement with STIM Scotland will increase the technical support available for UK customers, providing them with additional resources with both Benchmark and STIM on hand to support their sea lice management. Benchmark will retain the UK marketing authorisation for the medicine.

John Marshall, head of Benchmark Animal Health, said: “Our exclusive agreement with STIM Scotland offers us the opportunity to further support our customers in their use of Salmosan Vet. I am confident this will have a positive impact on our customers’ operations.”

Campbell Morrison, key account manager at STIM Scotland, said that STIM strived to supply a complete range of the most important fish health products available in Scotland, as well as in Norway and Chile.

“Salmosan Vet is certainly one of those and we are pleased to add the product to our growing product catalogue,” said Morrison.

£40m-a-year problem

Managing sea lice costs Scottish salmon farmers approximately £40 million a year in Scotland.

Benchmark produces two lice treatment medicines, Salmosan Vet and Ectosan Vet, which uses the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid as its active ingredient.

Ectosan Vet must be used in conjunction with Benchmark’s CleanTreat water filtration system, which removes medicine residues and organic matter such as lice egg strings from treatment water. The medicine has proved effective in Norway but is not yet licensed for use in Scotland.

Scotland’s biggest salmon farmer, Mowi, is looking to scale up the use of CleanTreat technology to remove residues from water used in Salmosan bath treatments after completing a successful small-scale trial last year.