Aquaculture and Fisheries

BC&A Innovation

R&D Spotlight

Aquaculture and fisheries play an essential role in the UK’s food production and coastal economies. As demand for sustainable seafood increases, businesses in this sector are under growing pressure to improve breeding, health management, environmental impact, and operational efficiency. Whether you’re developing new fish farming methods, improving water management, or enhancing fish health and welfare, your business could be carrying out research and development (R&D) that qualifies for valuable tax relief.

R&D tax relief supports businesses that seek to achieve scientific or technological advancements by overcoming technical uncertainties. In aquaculture and fisheries, this could mean finding new ways to improve fish growth rates, reduce disease, manage environmental conditions, or optimise feed efficiency — all while meeting regulatory and sustainability requirements.

Qualifying R&D in this sector isn’t limited to scientific laboratories. Practical, on-farm trials and applied research on fish farms, hatcheries, and fisheries management projects can all qualify, provided they involve overcoming technical challenges that go beyond standard practice.

Here are some examples of activities that could qualify for R&D tax relief in aquaculture and fisheries:

Improving Fish Breeding and Genetic Selection

Developing selective breeding programmes to improve traits such as disease resistance, growth rates, or feed conversion efficiency, particularly where the outcomes require experimentation and testing over multiple generations.

Enhancing Fish Health and Disease Management

Researching and trialling new methods for preventing or controlling disease, including the development of vaccines, treatments, or biosecurity measures tailored to specific species or environmental conditions.

Developing Sustainable or Alternative Feeds

Creating or testing new feed formulations that reduce reliance on wild fish stocks, improve fish health, or lower environmental impact, such as insect protein or plant-based alternatives.

Optimising Water Quality and Environmental Control

Designing and trialling systems to improve oxygenation, waste management, or temperature control in land-based or open-water farming environments, especially where standard systems are not sufficient.

Reducing Environmental Impact of Aquaculture Operations

Developing technologies or methods that reduce pollution, prevent escapes, or improve the environmental footprint of fish farming operations, including integrated multi-trophic aquaculture systems.

Advancing Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS)

Overcoming technical challenges in closed-loop or recirculating aquaculture systems, such as improving water filtration, reducing energy use, or maintaining fish health at commercial scale.

Developing New Harvesting, Processing, or Packaging Methods

Creating or improving systems for harvesting fish, processing them for market, or extending shelf life through improved packaging — particularly where this involves technical testing and validation.

If your aquaculture or fisheries business is undertaking projects like these, you may be eligible for R&D tax relief. This can help you recover part of your investment in innovation, supporting the development of more sustainable, efficient, and profitable seafood production.

Our Process

What to expect when working with
BC&A Innovation

1. Discovery Call

Book your FREE 15 minute discovery call today to discuss your R&D activity and we'll guide you on best next steps and estimated claim value.

2. Information gathering

Our technical experts and industry specialists will work with you to uncover all areas of work activity eligible under the R&D scheme, ensuring we have everything we need to support a robust, defensible and maximised claim.

3. Create R&D Tax Claim

Our technical experts will write your claim and supporting documents with a clear assessment of your eligible activity and costs, ensuring compliance with the scheme's governance throughout.

4. Approval & Submission

We'll share, for your approval, the claim draft and supporting documentation. We'll explain in detail how we have arrived at our assessment of your claimable activity, costs and claim value. When you're happy, your claim can be submitted as part of your standard end-of-year processes.

5. Liaising with HMRC

Should HMRC require any further information or have queries regarding your claim, we'll liaise with them to ensure speedy payment without any reduction in claim value.

6. Payment

Once your payment is received, we'll send it across the same working day and advise you on processes that can be put in place to make future claims even more hassle-free. Don't worry about claims going forward, we'll be in regular contact to remind you what is needed and when.

About BC&A Innovation

We've helped hundreds of businesses like yours secure millions in Research & Development tax relief

Our team recognises the importance of R&D in advancing UK businesses, big and small, and we understand the time burden, resources and complexities of claiming tax relief for that R&D. These constraints often leave companies failing to get the tax relief they’re entitled to or underclaiming significantly due to unclear, often confusing guidelines about what constitutes R&D. As experts in R&D tax relief, we’re here to unblur the lines and create robust, defensible and maximised claims on your behalf.

We’re experienced tax professionals, accountants and technical experts with a deep understanding of the R&D tax relief regulations. We’ve worked in many of the industries we now serve and are ideally placed to understand your business’ R&D Activities. As part of HMRC’s panel on R&D, we stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the guidance, to provide our clients with the most accurate and up-to-date advice.

At BC&A Innovation we take the burden of claim generation away from the business so you can do what you do best, while we do what we do best. We pride ourselves on our integrity, professionalism and commitment to our clients.

Not sure if you qualify for R&D tax relief? Book a FREE discovery call today.

Many of the businesses we work with were unsure if they qualified for R&D tax relief at first. A few had even been told by other agencies that they could not claim. Yet, with our help they were able to correctly identify eligible R&D projects and claim back vital funds.

As experts in HMRC’s definitions of Research & Development, we’ll be able to tell you if you should make a claim or not. We’re success fee based, which means it isn’t in our interest or yours to take forward claims that won’t pass HMRC’s stringent checks. If we say it’s worth doing, you can take that to the bank.

Ready for a discovery call? Think of it as a no-obligation chat where we can discuss the work you’ve undertaken and identify tax-saving opportunities. Our expert consultants are keen to speak with you.