FFHF Climate change working group project – SOP. Towards a standardised phytoplankton monitoring operating procedure for the finfish sector.

The objective of this framework is to provide a set of guidelines for Scotland’s finfish industry to use in collecting marine phytoplankton data and related environmental parameters. This will help track climate change impacts on phytoplankton community trends, and the resultant effects this has on farmed fish health and welfare, because the presence of marine phytoplankton can adversely affect gill health, growth and performance. The project was undertaken through a series of collaborative processes: SAIC facilitated a follow-on workshop between relevant industry partners, Salmon Scotland, British Trout Association, SEPA, and academic experts to build on the last FFHF HAB workshop hosted by SAIC in July 2021. This was followed by dialogue and input on the draft outputs of the workshop, and consultation and editing of the final outputs.