Health Update: Health Update: WellFish Tech rolls out upgraded digital fish health, wellness production tool, mortality forecasting – What Experts Say– What Experts Say.
Since 2021, Paisley, Scotland-headquartered biotechnology firm WellFish Tech has quickly grown from a startup spun out from a project at the University of the West of Scotland to operating three global offices and employing around 30 professionals.
Coinciding with the growth of the company has been rapid expansion of its data capabilities – offered to aquaculture clients in the form of a digital fish health and wellness portal that the firm upgraded in late 2025.
“When I started, it was very much lab-based, so customers would send us a sample, and we would send them back a PDF report. Now, we’ve transitioned into a production tool that includes a portal with health models and mortality forecasts. It’s really exciting how quickly it has changed,” WellFish Tech Business Development Manager for North America Lesley Clark told SeafoodSource at the 2026 Aquaculture America conference, which took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.
The core package WellFish Tech offers its clients starts with a sampling kit and guidance on how to take blood samples in the form of training videos or even on-site counsel.
According to Clark, who works out of the firm’s office in Newfoundland, Canada, aquaculture operators can take lethal samples as early as 20 grams or a non-lethal sample for any fish over 200 grams, with farmers returning the fish right back to the water.
Customers then send the samples back, and once WellFish Tech receives them at any one of its three labs in Canada, Scotland, or Norway, they are tested immediately, with data available on the portal within 24 hours of receipt.
Before upgrading the portal, farmers could view 19 different biomarkers extrapolated from the blood sample they sent in, but now, on their customized profile, they have access to a more streamlined six health models, including tissue integrity, electrolyte levels, and more.
“The data is now very intuitive, so someone who is not very technical doesn’t have to work hard to interpret it,” Clark said.
Based on that data, the portal offers mortality forecasting for the next seven, 14, and 28 days.
Though seven days does not grant farmers the ability to do much besides prepare for a mortality event, 28 days of advanced warning of a possible mortality event allows farmers to potentially intervene, according to Clark, who said that forecasting accuracy has skyrocketed to around 80 to 90 percent.
“That’s what we are giving our customers: time to plan,” Clark said. “The core of what we do is still the blood; that hasn’t changed, but the usage of it has.”
The data is even broken down by individual site, so farmers can determine where to allocate resources such as an oxygenation barge or wellboat. Depending on the package a client buys, farmers can also speak directly with veterinarians on staff at WellFish Tech to receive expert advice.
“If you’re an area manager or a director, you can go in and take a look at the overall health of your farms. But, if you’re a farm manager, you want to know your specific site, so if you see something … you can drill into your reports and our vets can put it into context. The more information you have, the more actions you can carry out,” Clark said. “We’re going to be introducing incredible technologies that actually enable the interpretation of the overwhelming amount of data that farmers have, and this will be an extremely beneficial addition for our customers.”
Those actions aquaculture firms can take using the data include determining when and what to feed their fish, where and when is best to harvest, how to carry out treatments effectively, and how to consistently obtain optimal fillet quality.
“We are very much focused on proactive fish health instead of reactive,” Clark said, highlighting that the data aims to be more prognostic than diagnostic. “We’re taking the guesswork out fish welfare. Previously, if there was a disease or pathogen, that is how [the industry used to] classify if a fish was healthy or not, but that’s not really fair. The real signs show up in the bloodwork weeks before. When you know that, you can do something about it.”
Clark added that the data is useful at nearly every stage of fish farming, but customers have found particular success decreasing the risks associated with transferring their smolts to at-sea cages.
“Transferring from hatchery to cages is a top sticking point. We’ve seen customers who had 15 percent mortality at that stage, and because of our insight, specifically around feed, they dropped it to under 1 percent.” Clark said.
From its origin in salmonid testing in Scotland and Norway, the firm has expanded its client base to include sea bass and sea bream farms, as well as tilapia farmers in Mexico and early stages of testing red drum and catfish, for which the firm has partnered with researchers from the University of Auburn to better understand.
No matter the species, the main goal for WellFish Tech remains the same: ensuring that as many fish as possible are as healthy as possible.
“We take the guesswork out of fish health. We all believe in the benefit of decreasing mortality,” Clark said. “We need to do better, and with tools like WellFish Tech, we can.”