Tributes have been paid to Guy Mace, the former MD of BioMar and one of the pioneering figures in the Scottish aquaculture industry, who passed away peacefully at his home in Fife last week at the age of 65.

A popular and well-respected figure in the industry, Guy served as MD of BioMar from 2000 until his retirement earlier this year, although his aquaculture career began back in the early 1970s.

After completing a degree in zoology he started working on a recirculation trout project at Ardchattan, near Loch Awe, which he followed up with an MSc at the Unit of Aquatic Pathobiology – the forerunner of the Institute of Aquaculture – at Stirling University.

He then joined Golden Sea Produce (GSP), which had been established by his father. At the time, in 1974, it was only GSP, Marine Harvest and Booker McConnell farming salmon in Scotland.

He became MD of the company after his father’s death, in 1979, by which time they’d built up the business to include growing turbot and Dover sole at Hunterston power station, a shellfish business, a hatchery and a sea life centre, on Loch Creran.

GSP was sold to Norske Hydro in 1983 and focussed heavily on salmon farming, growing around 10,000 tons of salmon per annum under the Hydro Seafood GSP name, and becoming the second largest producer of salmon in the country after Marine Harvest.

In 1998-9 it was the first company to report a suspicion of ISA which resulted in the compulsory slaughter of 50-60% of the stock without any government compensation – a massive financial blow, which ultimately caused Norsk Hydro to exit aquaculture in Scotland and for the business to be sold and rebranded as Scottish Sea Farms, at which point Mace joined BioMar.

He will be missed by his many friends and former colleagues.

Source: Rob Fletcher, FishFarmingExpert. Read the full article here.