The University of Stirling has secured more than £1.4m in funding for a research project focused on reducing mortality in farmed salmon linked to gill and skin health.
The project, led by Dr Rose Ruiz Daniels, Lecturer in Aquaculture Genomics at the university’s Institute of Aquaculture, is funded by the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). It also includes £120,000 of in-kind support from aquaculture breeding company Benchmark Genetics.
Scottish salmon farming generates around £750m in export revenues annually, but industry data cited by the university puts smolt mortality at between 15% and 20%, with gill and skin conditions identified as major contributing factors.
The study will focus on smoltification, the period when juvenile salmon transition from freshwater to seawater, triggering extensive physiological and cellular remodelling. The research aims to understand how effectively fish repair and strengthen tissues during this process, and whether that capacity is genetically determined.
“When smoltification fails to proceed normally, the fish become more vulnerable to stress and disease,” Ruiz Daniels said. “By examining smoltification as a biological remodelling event, we can identify how salmon repair tissues, resist disease, and adapt to changing environments.”
She said the findings are intended to support practical changes in breeding and health management. “Recognising remodelling as a selectable trait will support breeding strategies that enhance survival and welfare across aquaculture,” she added.
The project has three core objectives: to develop phenotyping tools that measure tissue repair during smoltification; to assess whether healing capacity has a genetic basis that could inform breeding programmes; and to identify the cellular and molecular processes underpinning tissue repair and long-term health.
Andrew Preston, Lead Trait Development and Land Based at Benchmark Genetics, said the work could complement existing approaches to health selection. “Developing new health traits that complement existing gill health traits marks an important step toward improving salmon welfare at critical stages of production, including during smoltification,” he said.
“By broadening our understanding of the biological processes behind cell repair, our goal is to harness this knowledge to enhance robustness in salmon farming.”
The announcement comes as work nears completion on the University of Stirling’s National Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Hub (NATIH), backed by £17m of UK government funding through the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal, alongside a £1m grant from the Wolfson Foundation.
