Aqualife awarded first SAIC research project grant

Aqualife is very pleased to have been awarded one of the first two research project grants to be awarded by the new Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre ( http://scottishaquaculture.com )

Our project will involve collaboration with researchers at the world-renowned Institute of Aquaculture, which is based in the University of Stirling, close to Aqualife’s HQ. We will also work closely with Scottish Sea Farms, with whom we have a long-standing association in vaccine delivery.

The project will define effective, welfare-friendly means of vaccinating lumpfish and one of the wrasse species currently used as Cleaner Fish; it will assess current methodologies and develop innovative new techniques and technology.

Outcomes will be in two forms –

  • protocols for vaccination which are safe, effective and welfare-friendly
  • novel vaccination equipment.

The project will establish the positive and negative aspects of current vaccination techniques then compare these with novel alternatives. The latter will specifically involve potential adaptations to a new salmonid vaccination device under current development by Aqualife.

In reaction to the announcement of this award, Aqualife’s MD said “As an SME, this opportunity to collaborate with academia in a project with direct welfare benefits for farmed fish is particularly exciting. The SAIC has allowed us to participate in world-leading practical research in a way which ties in very well with our strategy of quality-based development”.