house badcall bay type private limited company industry salmon farming headquarters scourie sutherland scotland key people alban denton ceo andy bing sales director products farmed salmon revenue 25 million p.a. website www.lochduart.com loch duart is a small independent scottish salmon farming company . it is headquartered in scourie sutherland in north west scotland and has just over 100 employees . the company owns and operates eight sea sites and two hatcheries in sutherland and the outer hebrides . sales marketing and finance departments are located in montrose and a french sales and marketing office in lorient brittany . the company the company markets itself as a sustainable salmon company and harvests approximately 5 000 tonnes of fresh salmon annually . contents 1 background 2 farming system 2.1 husbandry 2.2 feed 2.3 antibiotics 2.4 fallowing 2.5 anti foulants 2.6 sea lice control 3 farming issues 4 markets 5 references 6 external links background edit the company established in 1999 by three founders nick joy alan balfour and andy bing . the company took over some of scotland s oldest sea sites in badcall bay and nearby formerly operated by j. johnston & sons with an initial production capacity of 1 800 tonnes p.a. as of 2016 update the company produces 5 000 tonnes of fresh salmon annually generating annual sales of over 25 million . farming system edit the farming policies of loch duart are based on four guiding principles i respect for the environment ii respect for the fish iii use of natural methods and iv respect for the company s people . loch duart worked with the rspca to develop a freedom food farmed salmon approval scheme becoming the first farm to be approved . 1 from these principles loch duart has developed a proprietary salmon farming system that aims to rear salmon in conditions that mimic the natural cycle as closely as possible within commercial constraints . husbandry edit a lower than standard stocking density for salmon at sea . peak density is 1.5 % fish and 98.5 % water . handling of fish known to cause stress is minimised especially at harvest when humane methods are used . the swimthrough . nets are raised for natural cleansing avoiding the use of anti foulants feed edit proprietary feed formulation with high fish and fish oil content salmon are carnivores from the icelandic capelin fishery and other sustainable sources gm free and rigorously tested for contaminants . antibiotics edit total avoidance of antibiotics and minimal use of other medicines . 2 3 fallowing edit each site is left fallow for a period of 5 to 12 months after each cycle . the pens are removed as are all traces of farming allowing natural regeneration of the seabed . this results in production levels roughly half the capacity possible under more intensive regimes but creates a near pristine environment for the smolt when they are brought to sea . every trace of farming is removed during fallow periods . anti foulants edit no use of chemical anti foulants on pens and nets by using a swim through system . this allows a fouled net to be pulled up while the fish swim through to the next net and allowed to dry so that marine organisms seaweed mussels etc. dry out and fall back into the water . this reduces production capacity by 5 8 % according to site configuration . sea lice control edit a proprietary drum filtering system removes lice and eggs during grading and harvesting . a variety of methods to control sea lice have been researched and implemented including the breeding and deployment of cleaner fish wrasse and lumpfish which feed on sea lice . 4 farming issues edit playthings for young salmon like every sea farm loch duart has had its lessons to learn . there were several escapes during the early years the result of storm damage and seal attacks which have required improvements to moorings and net materials and construction . vulnerability to human activities and nature is unavoidable . this was underlined in 2009 when a massive oil spill in loch carnan resulted in the loss of close to one million fish 5 and in 2014 when a giant shoal of jellyfish got through nets in loch maddy leading to the death of 300 000 young salmon . 6 seal predation caused significant losses for a number of years especially as the seal population grew but where sea currents and pen shape allow a box style anti predator net is deployed . this has had the unexpected secondary effect of creating a safe haven for sea life especially small mackerel saithe and herring which can now be seen in the predator free areas created by the double netting system . fin nipping by young fish the result of boredom and bullying in hatchery tanks has threatened the quality of life of the salmon population and is being solved by the development of artificial reefs and playthings . 7 farmers both at sea and on land refer to this as environment enrichment . the company entered the smoked salmon market by acquiring the salar smokehouse on south uist in the outer hebrides but production problems led to loch duart s withdrawal in 2014 with the smokehouse being returned to local ownership . 8 markets edit a loch duart salmon box the company exports over 60 % of its production to france usa italy germany switzerland holland belgium austria spain dubai singapore and hong kong . loch duart has achieved the unusual feat of establishing a primary and unprocessed food product whole fresh salmon as a premium international brand . celebrity and michelin starred chefs such as gordon ramsay raymond blanc and rick stein have featured the loch duart brand on their menus . loch duart salmon was served at the dinner at buckingham palace following the royal wedding in 2011 and at the queens jubilee luncheon in the city of london . 9 10 in 2014 the company announced a deal to sell waste products to a london based nutrition company . 11 references edit rspca welfare standards for farmed atlantic salmon . rspca . september 2015 . antibiotics in salmon what chile can learn from its peers . intrafish . intrafish media as . subscription required risks of using antifouling biocides in aquaculture . ncbi.nlm.nih.gov . national center for biotechnology information u.s. loch duart develops sea lice filter . seafood source . diversified communications . 25 april 2007 . energy company fined for south uists oil spill . hebrides news today . 18 november 2009 . mass jellyfish invasion wipes out 300 000 salmon worth nearly 1m . stv news . 15 december 2014 . retrieved 8 august 2016 . loch duart salmon welfare breakthroughs . lochduart ltd. david ross 18 july 2015 . salar brand reborn in its island home . herald scotland . herald & times group . queen dines on loch duart salmon . intrafish . intrafish media as . subscription required mark hyman 22 january 2011 . wild farmed what fish should we eat . thehuffingtonpost.com . the huffington post . salmon producer loch duart signs waste deal with nutrition firm . bbc news . 11 july 2014 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title loch duart & oldid 743710384 categories 1999 establishments in scotlandcompanies established in 1999food and drink companies of scotlandhidden categories pages containing links to subscription only contentarticles containing potentially dated statements from 2016all articles containing potentially dated statements navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 20 39 . text is 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