New charity to support education and research

Scotland’s salmon farmers are to create a charitable organisation to support and enhance the industry’s future development.

The new education and research foundation is to be known as the Scottish Salmon Education and Research Foundation (SSERF).

The key objectives for the new charity will be to:

• Bring a new focus to education and training for people working at every stage in the production and sale of farmed salmon, and help provide funding to establish clear career paths throughout the industry;
• Benefit community projects in Scotland’s salmon farming heartlands - mainly rural communities across the Highlands and Islands, and;
• Enhance environmental performance on salmon farms and help research and develop new production methods which will keep Scottish salmon farming at the forefront of the latest environmentally-responsible practices.

The Chief Executive of the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO), Sid Patten, said: “It’s a sign both of the growing maturity of our industry and the importance members place on the contribution their companies make to the rural economy and Scotland plc, which have led to their decision to create the foundation.”

The Foundation intends to appoint directors from business and higher education to join those from the industry itself to consider applications for assistance. It is hoped that with match funding from other supporting bodies that it will distribute more than £250,000 in 2008.

The initiative has been warmly welcomed by the Scottish Government’s Ministerial Working Group on Aquaculture which brings together a wide range of groups, including the wild salmon organisations, with a collective interest in the future of Scotland’s fish farming industry.

Notes to editors:

1. The new foundation has already been incorporated as a Private Company and found a place on the Scottish Charity Register.

2. Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation aims to represent salmon farming in regulatory and political matters. For the first time, industry members from mainland Scotland, Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland have joined together to ensure that the industry’s contribution to Scotland’s social, economic and commercial landscape is promoted, recognised and rewarded by its stakeholders.

END

For further information contact Ken Hughes, Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation, +44 (0)1738 587006 or 07974 173739.

back to media releases and website news