The University of Stirling’s National Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Hub consists of three installations:

1) The Niall Bromage Freshwater Research Unit (NBFRU) has 216 m2 of tank space, including flow-through and recirculated systems suitable for genetics, reproductive and nutritional studies on salmonids. The Niall Bromage Freshwater Research Unit at Buckieburn has 185m³ of flow through tank space and a state-of-the-art 18m³ of RAS system (24 tanks, 18m³) tank space and a new purpose-built salmonid ova hatchery, suitable for genetics, reproductive, sterility and nutrition studies on salmonids and other temperate freshwater species.

2) The Marine Environment Research Laboratory (MERL) has ca. 150 tanks providing 375 m2 experimental area; and a marine fish hatchery with live feed production. Species held on-site include salmon, Ballan and goldsinny wrasse. There is a filtered seawater supply and temperature and photoperiod-controlled systems are available. The Marine Environment Research Laboratory at Machrihanish has around 150 tanks from 0.1 to 13 m3 hosting academic and contract trials. The site is primarily flow-through, but bespoke recirculating systems can be built.

3) The Institute of Aquaculture (IoA) Research Aquarium has 303 m2 of floor space organized into 6 independent controlled environment rooms, each containing multiple freshwater RAS systems with extensive temperature (4-32oC) and environmental control capabilities. These systems are suitable for studies across a wide range of tropical and temperate aquatic species. The Stirling campus offers an environmentally controlled facility and can support a wide diversity of aquatic tropical and temperate species. Multiple freshwater RAS systems are available distributed across 6 independent CT rooms ranging from replicated single RAS systems; 6 RAS, each with 500L triplicate tanks in a single CT room to smaller zebrafish-style tank systems providing maximum flexibility for experimental design. This facility is currently under construction and is expected to be complete and in use by September 2024.

The offered research aquaria are part of the National Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Hub, which includes the Institute of Aquaculture, which has around 40 academic staff with full technical and administrative support and a large cohort of PhD students, providing a very supportive and stimulating environment for visiting researchers. The Institute of Aquaculture laboratories cover a wide range of analytical capabilities for water quality and nutritional analysis, advanced imaging and facilities for genomic studies, including access to Illumina MiSeq Next Generation Sequencing. The range and quality of research undertaken at the Institute, together with Collaborative projects include development of commercial and trial vaccines against fish pathogens; development of diagnostic reagents, chemotherapeutants and genetic probes against fish pathogens; selective improvement programmes based on genetic and genomic technologies; development of cloned lines of fish; improved polyunsaturated fatty acid nutrition of marine fish larval feeds and antioxidant protection; fish oil substitutions in salmonid diets; and evaluation of the mechanisms underlying the control of sexual maturation in salmonids and marine finfish.