Throughout the 1980’s and 90’s, a growing Scottish Industry was supplied many of its new entrants by three well-equipped Aquaculture Colleges. They provided new entrants with Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) qualifications at fish husbandry and site manager level, gained through full time attendance on Aquaculture VET courses. This provision has been lost.

Today, Inverness College and the North Atlantic Fisheries College (NAFC) Shetland provide the work based Modern Apprenticeship (MA) in Aquaculture. This National Qualification is also provided by a Scottish private training provider, Polaris Learning Ltd, based in Aberdeen (North East Scotland). Increasingly the MA Level 2 (SCQF 5) is used as an entry qualification for school leavers after they have gained full time employment with a company. In addition, the salmon farming companies have developed their own in company training schemes aligned to company Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).