Looking back, thinking ahead: Simon Maguire
Fish Farming Expert has asked well-known figures in the Scottish salmon farming industry about their high and low points of 2019, and what they hope for in 2020.Today we conclude the series with the thoughts of Simon Maguire, interim managing director of salmon farmer Loch Duart.
What was your best moment / occasion of 2019?
Seeing the imagination and purpose applied by a great team at Loch Duart to produce a genuine health innovation in a short period of time. Our fresh water and oxygenated water innovations for better gill health are genuinely outstanding.
And what was the worst?
Loch Duart wants the cleanest sea water and seabeds. However, we strongly believe the push for a ‘feed cap’ (feed use to determine biomass) from our regulator thee Scottish Environment Protection Agency needed to be challenged in the best interests of the environment and the industry.
What's the one thing you'd most like to see happen to benefit salmon farming in 2020?
Getting to grips with the biological challenges to gill health though rising water temperature. The inventiveness and perseverance of this great industry will prevail, but hopefully next year and not the year after!
