Last month, I joined along for an Ectosan^® Vet treatment for the first time in my new role as Commercial Lead, along with my colleagues Catrine Smørås and Silje Borge, who are Technical Specialists in fish health and maritime/vessels respectively. The three of us flew up to Harstad, where we spent the night, before joining up with the customer the day after to head out to their site via boat. Arriving at the site we went aboard the wellboat where we would spend the rest of our time during the treatment.

In this case, neither wellboat nor the customer had previously used Ectosan^® Vet or CleanTreat^®, and our main goal for the trip was to ensure all parties received the training and support needed for a successful treatment.

For Benchmark, training like this is a normal part of our onboarding process for new customers. We also support our longstanding customers whenever needed, for example, if there is a new crew on the wellboat, or if more technical support is required. The training can be delivered quite efficiently, meaning usually we only need to be physically present during the first day and then can support the customer remotely afterward.

Being present during the training delivered by Catrine and Silje, and then witnessing the wellboat crews and farmers implementing the learnings when starting the treatment operation only a few moments later was impressive. Catrine and Silje have a great understanding of the experience levels of the wellboat teams, meaning they’re able to deliver valuable training. Their guidance covered a range of elements, from operational management to health and safety and correct storage procedures. There are a lot of moving pieces, and all-in-all an operation like this can involve more than 20 people all working together – it’s quite an operation when you think about it!

After three months on the job, I’m very excited to have joined Benchmark Animal Health, especially during a period of such rapid growth. Ectosan^® Vet and CleanTreat^® have recently passed the first year of commercial deployment, so it is great to see how fish farmers have already come to rely on the treatment and the positive role it can play in our customers’ overall sea lice management strategy. In the coming weeks and months, I’m excited to continue the commercial work we have started and to play my part in #SolvingSeaLice.