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”.