The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) is Scotland’s largest and oldest independent marine science organisation, delivering marine science for a productive and sustainably managed marine environment through innovative research, education and engagement with society.

Founded in 1998 and now based near Oban on the Scottish west coast, our marine research and teaching portfolio is diverse in topic and discipline, global in outlook, project locations and relevance, and delivered by a SAMS team with can-do attitude working in partnership with academic, business, government, regulatory, voluntary and civic society colleagues.

SAMS has a long history of study of the environmental impact of aquaculture, regularly collaborating with industrial stakeholders and have collaborated on a range of Harmful Algal Bloom risk assessment based projects.

SAMS also undertakes the regulatory monitoring of biotoxin producing phytoplankton in Scottish waters.

SAMS produces a harmful algal risk assessment for the Shetland Islands and Scotland as a whole. (www.HABreports.org)

SAMS staff Keith Davidson, Callum Whyte, Dmitry Aleynik, Phil Anderson, Steve Gontarek and Euan Paterson contribute to PRIMROSE

SAMS role in PRIMROSE is:

Further development of the Scottish online risk assessment service for aquaculture

Development and dissemination of a “toxin traffic light” method of risk assessment

Development and evaluate of the applicability of airborne drone technology for HAB remote sensing and water sample collection

Leadership of the communications work package