The Institute of Aquaculture The Institute of Aquaculture, founded in 1971, is the leading international centre in its field and the largest of its kind in the world. It brings together cross-disciplinary, world class researchers to meet the wide range of challenges faced as aquaculture grows to meet global demand. Our research focuses on critical questions relating to strategies for sustainable aquaculture, whether in modern commercial markets or in supporting communities in developing countries. Fundamental research on reproduction, genetics, aquatic animal health and welfare, nutrition, production systems, environments, markets, and social and economic impacts all play significant roles. The Institute has grown steadily to its present size of over 100 staff and over 90, largely postgraduate, students. We have built up a first class international reputation in research, teaching, training and consultancy, and have an annual operating budget of some £5 million. Funding for our work is attracted from a wide range of sponsors, including the Scottish Funding Council, UK Research Councils, UK Government departments, the European Community, national and international research organisations, foundations and trusts and industry. We have collaborative research and training partnerships and links with many other academic institutions throughout Europe and further afield including Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Malawi, South Africa, Mexico, USA and Canada. We have considerable direct involvement with the aquaculture industry and provide disease, nutritional analytical and environmental management services to industry as well as project design, development and management through Stirling Aquaculture.
Research The Institute has research groups in Health and Welfare, Genetics and Reproduction, Nutrition, and Sustainable Aquaculture. The groups serve to focus core activities and resources whilst encouraging cross-disciplinary co-operation.
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Health and Welfare Research in fish health and welfare ranges from fundamental work on pathogenesis to more applied development of improved diagnostic technologies and control methods, through new therapeutants and vaccines and changes in management practice. Dedicated research staff exist for virology, microbiology, parasitology, immunology and in pathology and welfare. Recently, new posts have been established in epidemiology with co-funding from the Scottish Fisheries Research Service. We play a central role in the development and standardisation of pathogen identification tests used by government agencies in the UK and overseas. Epidemiological studies are leading to successful control strategies for a variety of important pathogens including Gyrodactylus salaris. A multidisciplinary approach is making significant advances in the aetiology and pathogenesis of a complex of viral related conditions in salmonids. Progress has also been made in the development of immunodiagnostic methods and monoclonal antibodies have been developed to a large number of significant fish pathogens. We support strategic health and welfare control through involvement in national and international governmental and non-governmental bodies, including the development of industry-based codes of practice.
Genetics and Reproduction This is a multidisciplinary group that combines reproductive physiology, endocrinology and the latest molecular genetic and genomic technologies to better understand the biological mechanisms underlying major life-cycle traits. The knowledge gained is improving the reproductive and commercial performance of farmed aquatic organisms and supporting sustainable management. The group is involved in the development of “new” aquaculture species. We have developed novel approaches to genetic management and improvement using microsatellite loci for parentage assignment in marine species (cod, halibut, seabream, seabass, sea urchins). New genomic tools have been developed for the genetic management and improvement of species including tilapia, seabass, salmon and carp, while in the more established species advances have been made in QTL mapping of disease resistance, growth performance and flesh quality traits. The control of puberty is a major issue in fish and sexual maturation control and integrates all of the skills of the group. Research into the perception and sensitivity of fish to light and its spectral characteristics, and its impact on physiological function is both fundamental in terms of understanding the mechanisms behind biological effects and applied in order to improve production techniques for commercially important species.
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Nutrition Feed comprises 40-60% of the production costs of farmed fish and escalating prices for marine fish meals and oils have focussed their efforts on producing more sustainable cost-effective feed formulations. These meet the macro and micronutrient requirements of farmed fish, whilst maximising the beneficial effects of fish for human health. A recent major achievement has been the full growth cycle culture of salmon, trout, sea bass and sea bream on diets with a 60-100% replacement of fish oils with blended vegetable oils, using a feeding strategy that maintained nutritional value without reducing growth performance or health and welfare of the fish. This research has been used widely by industry in changing to new sustainable aquafeed formulations that will help ensure continued growth of production. Diets have also been formulated for a range of new aquaculture species from developing countries, which use low-cost and sustainable local feed ingredients.
Sustainable Aquaculture The group is in the forefront of strategic thinking and practical application to develop sustained benefit from the sector, developing and applying a range of multidisciplinary approaches. In UK and international sectors, these link biotechnical, environmental, socioeconomic and institutional factors to develop new production options, provide practical and strategic guidance, and shape international policy. The group will continue to shape the development framework for the sector, develop tools for negotiating and accessing resources, improve production technologies, link with changing consumer expectations and producer needs, and identify further ways in which aquatic resources can support food security, income and equitable economic development. An understanding of the management of aquaculture within the environment as part of the wider aquatic ecosystem, is a critical element for environmental and economic sustainability. A key area in this research is identifying environmental indicators of sustainability in single and multi-trophic (seaweeds/molluscs/fish) coastal aquaculture in Europe, SE Asia and China. We have developed a spatial model to plot the distribution of waste from fish cages in Chinese coastal waters, the first time this has been achieved for such a complex low technology fish cage production system. Computer-based waste dispersion and coastal management models have been developed within a GIS framework to aid in the selection of aquaculture sites for optimal sustainability in Scotland. These models operate on a local or far-field multi-site scale to predict the most suitable sites on the basis of physical and biotic factors, system and management issues and land-water interactions within the environment. Effects on biodiversity and future development are taken into account to underpin longer term management strategies.
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Research facilities The Institute has excellent facilities covering the complete range of its research activities. There are well equipped laboratories dedicated to Fish Health (vaccine development, virology, microbiology, parasitology, pathology, immunology) and Environment (ecotoxicology, water chemistry, Geographical Information Systems). There have been major improvements in infrastructure since 2003 using £4m of Strategic Research Infrastructure Funds. New laboratories for proteomics, transcriptomics, genomics and nutritional research have been built and major equipment upgrades have provided enhanced facilities for bioinformatics, automatic DNA sequencers, qPCR, DNA microarray hybridisation and imaging, proteomics, GC/MS, and electron microscopy (TEM & SEM). Wellcome Trust funding has allowed the purchase of a confocal microscope. We have excellent on-site temperate and tropical freshwater and marine fish facilities that enable us to work on many different fish and crustacean species, as well as secure disease challenge facilities for research into disease processes. There are off-campus commercial scale research facilities for temperate freshwater fish at Buckieburn and a large scale marine fish holding site at Machrihanish, Kintyre. The Institute also has close contacts with a number of aquaculture companies in the UK and overseas whose facilities are also made available for field scale trials.
Training and Teaching Programmes The Institute offers a comprehensive training in the subject at postgraduate and undergraduate levels, with specific emphasis on the promotion of sustainable aquaculture across the globe. The Institute offers Doctoral and Masters projects supervised by experienced staff in all of its subject areas. Research projects are selected to provide as wide a training as possible in methodologies, including statistics, experimental design, the use of information technologies, safety issues, financial management, written and verbal communication, and a range of other transferable skills.
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The innovative programmes are designed to support both full-time, flexible and distance learning and are constructed from discrete modules, also available as short professional courses for Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Ppostgraduate programmes are offered at Certificate, Diploma and MSc levels in: •
Sustainable Aquaculture
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Aquaculture Systems Aquaculture and the Environment Aquaculture Nutrition Aquaculture Business Management Aquaculture and Development Aquatic Veterinary Studies Aquatic Pathobiology Aquatic Animal Health Aquatic Resources Development
• • • • • • • •
They also offer undergraduate programmes in Aquaculture, Freshwater Science and Marine Biology.
Industrial Services The Institute receives substantial income, in excess of £1 million annual turnover, from the supply of industrial services and contract research. Services include disease diagnosis, water quality analysis and environmental impact studies, nutritional analysis of diets and fish and Ω3 and Ω6 lipid levels in human blood. The consultancy service, Stirling Aquaculture, utilises the research expertise of Institute staff on a range of projects throughout the world. On and off-campus research facilities are GLP and GCP compliant, enabling us to undertake contract work for pharmaceutical and feed companies.
The Institute also owns a brown trout hatchery and ongrowing farm providing fish for restocking, and a salmon hatchery at Howietoun together with smolt production sites that supply salmon smolts to grow-out farms. There is also a commercial scale marine fish hatchery and nursery unit available for contract rearing or research. These facilities are particularly useful in demonstrating to the industry and other contractors, credibility as far as commercial-scale aquaculture studies are concerned, and in providing a basis for research projects.
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Industrial Services provide valuable income to the Institute. This additional income enables us to retain higher technical staffing levels and helps to subsidise the maintenance and replacement of analytical equipment to the general benefit of the Institute’s research activities. However the principal function of their Industrial Services is to promote continuing contact and opportunities for collaborative research with industry. In addition to providing an awareness of current problems in the industry and their requirements for R & D support, many of their contacts develop into formal research projects and contracts involving industry including CASE studentships, SARF projects and EU-supported research programmes. Their services also provide an important means of disseminating research to industry.
For more information please visit
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