As awards MC Arlene Stuart commented: “It’s fantastic to be able to highlight the achievements of such a diverse and dynamic range of projects, initiatives and individuals from across the world here in Scotland tonight.”

First up was the Applied Research Breakthrough category, which was won by collaborative project that included input from Mowi, Scottish Sea Farms, the University of Stirling, BioMar and the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) and resulted in successfully closing the breeding cycle for captive ballan wrasse – which are increasingly used to pick sea lice off farmed salmon – for the first time.

The Sustainability Award was presented to Norwegian company Bioretur, for its pioneering method that allows fish waste, a potential polluter, from indoor farming systems to be converted into valuable fuel and fertiliser.