Shetland pupils get a taste of salmon sector careers

The aquaculture careers day at the Clickimin Leisure Complex in Lerwick on Wednesday, September 16, brought young people face-to-face with local employers and let them get hands-on trying activities illustrating the science, technology and skills behind salmon farming.
Organised by trade body Salmon Scotland in conjunction with Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Shetland, the event highlighted the opportunities available locally and showed the S2 pupils from the town’s Anderson High School how skills learned at school can lead to rewarding jobs on their doorstep.
Salmon farming offers more than 100 roles, from freshwater and seawater operations, to fish health, environmental regulation, sales and marketing, logistics, finance, IT, and human resources.
Around 12,500 people across Scotland depend on the sector, including 390 directly employed in Shetland, where local farms are at the heart of their communities.
Scottish salmon adds £90 million a year to the Shetland economy and supports around 1,000 jobs.
Salmon farming jobs pay an average of £44,500, around 16 per cent above Scotland’s typical salary.

Salmon Scotland members, Cooke and Scottish Sea Farms, took part in the careers event, alongside aquaculture technology supplier ScaleAQ, underwater robotics company MoROV, Underwater Contracting, Fish for Health, and Skills Development Scotland.
Small groups of pupils moved around 18 stands from different aquaculture companies, taking part in games and skills tests, speaking to workers, and learning about different career paths on offer.
Cooke gave pupils the chance to don personal protective equipment and weigh salmon to make up hypothetical customer orders, and also ran a game to match tasks to job roles.
Underwater Contracting let pupils operate an underwater robot using its mechanical grabber, while MoROV showed how underwater robots are assembled.
ScaleAQ challenged pupils to guess the weight of equipment used on salmon farms, and Biomar ran a nutrient match challenge to pair key nutrients with their functions within the fish.
Shetland-based engineering and fabrication contractor, Malakoff, provided a boat stability demonstration, while Scottish Sea Farms and training organisation Lantra ran a wild salmon survival rates game.
Fish for Health explored the nutritional benefits of salmon and offered tastings, and Salmon Scotland challenged pupils to a memory match game which explored various job titles and what they do, illustrating the careers available across the sector.
The Shetland careers day formed part of Salmon Scotland’s wider careers programme, which has already held similar events in other salmon farming regions across Scotland.

Robin Calder, head teacher at Anderson High School, said:
“I'm really impressed to see what's going on, by all of the different employers that have come, and of the organisation of the event by Developing the Young Workforce and Salmon Scotland.
“Walking around, you get the sense of how engaged the young people are. They're learning about different careers, they're engaging in different types of learning activities, it's very, very interactive and they're really enjoying it.
“It gives them an insight into the world of work and what's available to them. It helps motivate them, inspire them, and it shows the relevance of what they're also doing in school with science subjects and with engineering.
“It's a really, really positive day for us to have this event taking place.”

Emma Chittick, DYW Shetland project lead, said:
“I would just like to say thank you to Salmon Scotland for this event.
“It's been brilliant to be able to work collaboratively with them. They have access to much wider networks than we do, so we're really lucky to have employers that we wouldn't normally have access to.
“Pupils have been really engaged and enjoyed the activities on offer.”

Tavish Scott, chief executive of Salmon Scotland, said:
“This careers event in Shetland was about showing young people the jobs and opportunities that exist on their doorstep.
“Scottish salmon supports around 1,000 jobs across Shetland and contributes £90 million a year to the local economy. There are well-paid roles in everything from fish health and engineering to technology, logistics, and the environment.
“Giving pupils the chance to get hands-on, ask questions, and meet people working in the sector helps bring those jobs to life.
“We hope some of the young people who took part will see a future for themselves in salmon farming and become part of the next generation working in Shetland.”