AQUACULTURE in Scotland should be promoted as a long-term career choice and an industry that has the potential to grow significantly in the future, particularly in rural areas, according to a new report.

The Skills Review for the Aquaculture Sector in Scotland report, commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) on behalf of the Aquaculture Industry Leadership Group (AILG), highlights the need for people with science, engineering and digital technology qualifications as well as the boat handling, fish husbandry, fish feeding and biology skills traditionally associated with aquaculture.

It also calls for a better gender balance in an industry that has an ageing workforce.

Morven Cameron, HIE’s head of universities, education and skills, said: “To realise the growth potential in Scotland’s aquaculture sector we need to make sure we have a suitably skilled workforce big enough to meet the recruitment needs of industry employers."

Ms Cameron said that public agencies and academic institutions would have to work with the aquaculture industry to ensure it has the skills and workforce necessary to enable Scotland to benefit from its growth potential.

Co-chair of the Industry Leadership Group, Stewart Graham, pointed to the "ever-more sophisticated, science, engineering and digital technology being deployed in fish farming" and stressed the importance of an action plan to to implement the report's recommendations and "bring aquaculture to the fore when people are considering a long-term career choice".

The report, conducted between July 2017 and January 2018, has called for more promotion of Scotland’s aquaculture sector and supply chain as a rewarding long-term career choice, particularly for young people and women.

Mr Graham, who is managing director of aquaculture firm Gael Force, also highlighted the need to encourage more women and young people into aquaculture and "to ensure awareness in our schools and further education institutes is much higher alongside the provision of much more training and learning opportunities to support and develop our workforce”.

The aquaculture sector is worth about £620 million to the Scottish economy and supports jobs in remote island and rural communities in the Highlands and Islands.