Calum Stephen

As an environmental analyst, I examine current environmental developments. I look at interactions with sensitive environments, but also the water column. It might not necessarily be individual species that we examine, but just the general environment. The outputs from a salmon farm are mostly fish faeces, and extra feed but also sometimes parasites that latch onto the fish, for example, sea lice. I analyze those three main outputs and how they interact with the environment. We then minimise the impacts of those three outputs on the external environment. We do this in a number of ways including modelling the outputs before the salmon farm opens. We’ll try and see what it looks like in situ. We'll then arrange the farm in a certain way, or limit the amount of fish in the water to minimise the output. 

Once we’re done with the scientific approach, we take that information and present it to the local community. We talk to them about what it would bring to the area, and give the local community an opportunity to discuss their concerns with us. We take these opinions and ideas and put them into our investment plans for local infrastructure.

Salmon farming employs people in communities that, if there was not a salmon farm, there wouldn’t really be a community there. There's low demand to live in these areas, so investing in local infrastructure makes it a more desirable place to live and work. For example, near one of our salmon farms, we have a “shore base” which is also home to a GP and the post office. This is because the next nearest town to these things is more than 20 miles away. Another example is that we have set up broadband and trained local communities on how to use the internet and things like that.

The most enjoyable thing is talking to people. Data gathering and analysis is fun, but taking that information and talking to people is better. That environment is probably the most rewarding part because you speak to a lot of people who have a prejudice about salmon farming, for example, they may have read some negative rhetoric online that it’s bad for the environment, so when we go and speak to them we get an opportunity to discuss their concerns. 

Just a few days ago, I was at a public consultation event, where a member of the public said they had seen information online about how fish are treated. They also said that salmon farms pump chemicals into the water. During a ten or fifteen-minute conversation with them, I explained that we treat the fish with only freshwater, and explained how that works to them. We wash the fish with fresh water, which kills all the salt-water sea lice on them and then they are put back into salt water. So the main output is fresh water. Having these conversations is so rewarding. You can go into a consultation with someone who is angry, or negative towards the industry and leave feeling that you’ve had a positive impact and conversation.

Interestingly, it’s probably the same thing as my favourite because when you speak to people who are stuck in a particular mindset, and they feel like you’re trying to pull the wool over their eyes with scientific information, it can be frustrating as the communication channels can break down and become ineffective. I don’t think we can really change that, but we can express our message as an aquaculture industry. I think because the industry has worked for so long without talking to the public and now we’ve moved to the other side and are trying to engage so much that I understand that some people would be sceptical. 

Prior to this role, and immediately after graduation, I worked for Salmon Scotland, the trade body for salmon farmers. My previous role was much more policy-based than science-based. This meant I did policy consultation and advised on environmental impact assessments. However, I felt like I wasn’t getting my hands dirty with science. I worked there for a year. It was an excellent opportunity to learn what working in the sector looked like versus what it looked like in academia. 

I would definitely say that the best advice I could give would be to find your niche subject in your programme, and really hone in on doing that as a dissertation project or build expertise in that niche subject because if you find something you really enjoy, you can find something in the industry that you really enjoy.

For aquaculture, I would say there are so many different ways you can put yourself out there to get a job after graduation. One of the events is the Aquaculture UK conference, which is a huge event that anyone can attend. It has lots of different employers and networking opportunities available, and it’s a great way to get your name out there. There’s definitely a demand for more young people in aquaculture.

Another example is that I currently support two students with their dissertation projects. This means you can contact employers and people within the industry and build your network that way.

Before I came to Edinburgh to do my postgraduate degree, I had just finished my undergraduate degree at Heriot-Watt. I did a BSc in Marine Biology where I focused more on fish and the marine environment. I did a dissertation on flat fish biology.

After this, I wanted to dive more into marine development and marine policy and governance. Edinburgh's Marine Systems and Policies course was really the only programme in Scotland that dived into governance. I also personally really liked The University of Edinburgh. I had friends that studied at Edinburgh. They recommended it highly even though it could be an academically challenging environment, but I definitely wanted a challenge. I thought if the programme was challenging, it would better prepare me for a job afterwards. I got a scholarship from the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre and they were happy for it to be used for the MSc in Marine Systems and Policies at Edinburgh.

I made some really meaningful friends throughout the course. Although we were studying during the second Scottish Covid-19 lockdown, when legally we still had to meet up outside in small groups, we all prioritized making friends and getting outside together. Our programme director encouraged it too. Lea-Anne encouraged us to get out and enjoy the weather after online classes.

I think that the lecturing staff dealt with online learning really well, and ensured we had real diversity in our teaching. It wasn’t all sitting in online lectures. We broke off into smaller discussion groups and ran a fully interactive online field trip.

The support from the general lecturing staff on the course was great. It made you feel so much more secure in what you were learning and created a better environment to learn in as well.

There were many highlights. I would probably say the virtual field course was one of them. It was probably the most fun and engaging virtual field course you could ever have. We split off on the shoreline, and we got our own segment of the shoreline to analyse and do some zonation patterns, and I really enjoyed that. Afterwards, we ventured out for some drinks as we were allowed to do that. It was just a continuation of the fun during the field course. It’s funny as it was an assessment, and it’s probably the most fun I’ve had during an assessment.

Confide in your classmates as much as possible, because everyone’s in the same situation as you. So in my experience, talking to everyone else on the course was the most helpful thing. This got us all through it because we were a collective mind. So like when everyone’s deadline with an issue or something that you’re confused about, there’s 100% someone else in the class that’s in exactly the same situation as you or has the same question. No question is silly. When you chat and work together, you’ll make life-long friends.