Scottish salmon output up 27 percent in 2024.
Scottish farmed salmon production rose 27 percent to 192,000 tonnes in 2024, according to the Scottish Fish Farm Production Survey 2024 published on 28 October by the Marine Directorate.
Survival to harvest for the 2022 input year class was 61.8 percent, down from 68.7 percent for the 2021 input class. The survey defines the remaining 38.2 percent as fish not harvested for human consumption. This category includes mortality as well as escapes, production culls, sampling removals, statutory culls and broodstock selection.
Based on the historical series, the 2024 outcome represents the lowest survival since the late 1980s.
The industry’s harvest was concentrated in larger sites. Almost 90 percent of 2024 production came from farms delivering more than 1,000 tonnes per year. Employment decreased by 8 percent in marine grow-out to 1,362 people, while mean productivity rose to 141.0 tonnes per person from 102.0 tonnes in 2023.
Upstream indicators were mixed. Ova laid down to hatch increased to 89.5 million, supported by higher ova imports at 54.9 million. Domestic ova production edged down to 55.7 million. Smolt production fell to 44.6 million, and 45.8 million smolts were transferred to sea, compared with 48.8 million in 2023. Employment in ova and smolt operations declined to 280, and mean productivity decreased to 159,400 smolts per person.
Industry context on survival figures
Following publication of the Scottish Government’s 2024 fish farm production survey, Salmon Scotland has provided context.
Tavish Scott, chief executive of Salmon Scotland, said: “These figures reflect another successful period for our sector, with farm-raised Scottish salmon production up by more than a quarter, demonstrating the incredible hard work of our farmers and the growing demand for our highly nutritious fish. With sales of the UK’s most popular fish increasing at home, and exports approaching £1 billion, we sustain thousands of rural jobs and enable coastal communities to thrive. While salmon face natural challenges in the sea like any fish, our farmers also uphold the highest animal welfare standards anywhere in the world and have invested more than £1 billion in new tech, leading to significantly improved survival rates in 2024 and 2025.”
The organisation notes that the survey’s survival figures relate to fish first put to sea in 2022. Farmed salmon typically spend about 18 months in the sea. It points to widely reported microscopic jellyfish in summer 2022 as a contributor to reduced survival that year. Salmon Scotland says technology-based measures have since been introduced and that more recent data show monthly survival averaging 99.12 percent between January and June 2025. It describes this as the best start to a year since voluntary publication began in 2018.
Additional sector context from Salmon Scotland states that salmon exports from Scotland rose 33 percent to £941 million in the 12 months to June 2025. Retail salmon sales were £1.2 billion in the 12 months to June 2024, accounting for 28 percent of fish purchased in the UK. The group says more than 2,500 people are directly employed in salmon farming with around 10,000 jobs dependent on the sector.
