8 minute read
Deals and developments in containment
New beginnings
Aquaculture suppliers are not standing still as cage and pen technology continues to evolve
BY ROBERT OUTRAM
It has been a busy few months for news in the world of containment, with new deliveries, corporate � e-ups and updated models about to be unveiled.
In June, aquaculture supplier Gael Force agreed an exclusive deal with net manufacturer Fibras Industriales SA (FISA) to provide nets for fi sh farming in Scotland. FISA, based in Peru, produces a range of high-quality ne� ng products including supra HDPE high-tenacity containment and predator nets, raschel polyester and nylon containment and protec� on nets, and twisted knotless muketsu nets.
Gael Force will market FISA’s products in Scotland, plus an exclusive new SeaQureNet, manufactured by FISA, which will be a key element of Gael Force’s turnkey off ering.
The deal also brings in John Howard of Boris Net, a long-� me partner for FISA in the UK, with extensive experience in aquaculture, who will be working with Gael Force on serving customers.
Meanwhile, Indian-based net and rope manufacturer Garware Technical Fibres announced the appointment of Alan Sutherland as Country Manager, Scotland. He is a well-known fi gure in the salmon farming sector, with a career including nine years as head of what was then Marine Harvest (now Mowi). More recently, he has been working with the Sco� sh Salmon Company, a customer for Garware’s SealPro range of ne� ng.
Sutherland has also recently joined the board of the Sustainable Aquaculture Innova� on Centre (SAIC). As he puts it: “I’ve always been interested in innova� on.”
A key part of his role with Garware is liaising with customers and other stakeholders on trials of the company’s technology in Scotland, and gathering feedback on the farmers’ needs.
Legisla� on now limits farmers’ ability to protect against seal preda� on, and Garware’s Sapphire SealPro range of containment ne� ng solu� ons have achieved a market share of more than 75% in the Sco� sh sector.
Garware says the success of SealPro ne� ng is due to its higher mesh breaking strength, s� ff ness, enhanced cut resistance and single-sided knots and compact ne� ng structure which leads to be� er condi� ons for salmon, protec� ng them from predators. The high-density polyethylene (HDPE) ne� ng also has a much longer working life than conven� onal nylon.
Sutherland adds: “Farmers’ op� ons are limited and nobody wants an escape. It would be rash not to have the strongest net you can get!
Above left: Atlan� s subsea pen receiving salmon Left: Alan Sutherland, Garware Top right: FishGLOBE under construc� on
“Also, HDPE nets provide good protec� on, but they s� ll need to be cleaned. In the summer, this can be as o� en as every seven days. We are looking to see how we can minimise that.”
Tradi� onally, copper oxide paint has been used as an an� foulant, but the coa� ng eventually washes off and this can release the material into the marine environment.
Garware’s V2 technology is based on a composite net that incorporates copper nanopar� cles – not oxide. This is longer las� ng and the periods between cleaning can be extended, saving on costs for the farmers and also reducing stress for the fi sh.
Garware and FISA also face s� ff compe� � on from other manufacturers serving the aquaculture and fi shing industries, such as W & J Knox in Scotland, Norway’s Morenot and Faroes-based Vonin, which has a range of nets and cages designed to take on high-energy sites in the North Atlan� c.
The summer has also seen the delivery of new nets and cages in Scotland and the Faroes. In June, salmon farmer Mowi took delivery of 10 160-metre Polarcirkel pens from AKVA for its farm site at Loch Seaforth on the Isle of Harris.
These are Mowi’s fi rst pens in Scotland to be built on this scale. In addi� on to the 10x 160m pens, AKVA supplied the sites with two new mooring grids, bird nets and fi breglass poles, plus two HDPE nets in partnership with net maker Tufropes.
Don MacLeod, Seaforth site manager with Mowi commented at the � me: “The installa� on of 160 metre pens… are important as we look to raise salmon at exposed loca� ons that off er excellent growing condi� ons but also off er increasing weather challenges from storms. The installa� on of 160 metre net pens and other associated infrastructure supplied by AKVA group will signifi cantly improve our containment systems and safety.
In the Faroes, fi sh farmer Hidden� ord has placed an order with manufacturer FiiZK for a third semi-closed Certus 15000 cage. Construc� on is already under way for two Certus cages for Hidden� ord.
FiiZK’s semi-closed model is intended to protect the fi sh from sea lice and shelter them from rough seas. When all three cages are in place, they will provide Hidden� ord with a capacity of 45,000m3 .
Construc� on of the fi rst and second cages is taking place in collabora� on with local suppliers, including the MEST shipyard. FiiZK’s Project Manager, Børge Sneisen, says: “This is the same delivery model that we use in Canada and we have great faith in it. Our ambi� on is that all possible produc� on is carried out by local suppliers in all of our projects globally.”
Open net-pens remain the default model for containment, but there is increasing investment being put into closed and semi-closed systems such as the Certus.
FishGLOBE (made by the company of the same name) is a fully closed tank for smolt and post-smolt produc� on that off ers the combined advantages of land-based recircula� ng aquaculture systems (RAS) farming with tradi� onal farming at sea.
The system is built in HDPE and is fully closed, with inlet pipes taking seawater in from a deep level – below the depth at which sea lice are usually found.
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The system also allows for close control of oxygen and CO2, and for precision management of feeding and waste disposal.
Now that the fi rst-genera� on model has proved itself, FishGLOBE is in the process of comple� ng a second, improved version which it hopes will be launched later this month.
Tor Magne Madsen, Sales and Project Director, explains: “The Globe number two is equal in size to number one, but we have used the last year to really mature the design and fi nd more simpler and easier way to engineer and assemble the construc� on.
“The basic technology of water fl ow, water pa� ern and collec� on of sedimental waste works so well that it is literally a blueprint of our construc� on number one.”
He adds: “We have now four genera� ons of post-smolt produc� on with great results in growth, fi sh welfare, low mortality, zero sea lice treatment and collec� on of waste. This proves that FishGLOBE keeps its promises and that it is far more t an a ‘sexy drawing/anima� on’. It is a fully working technology.
“We hope that more and more farmers will see it as a fl exible alterna� ve for post-smolt produc� on on land, lower investment cost and lower energy consump� on (1kwh pr. Kg produced).”
The fl exibility to move FishGLOBE from one site to another is another advantage, he says.
The submersible pens being pioneered by Atlan� s Subsea Farming look more like tradi� onal net-pens, but they are revolu� onary in their own way. Submerged 30 metres below the surface, the fi sh are protected from sea lice.
Earlier this year, fi sh were released into two submersible pens in a third and fi nal round of tes� ng by Atlan� s, which is jointly owned by AKVA group, fi sh farmer SinkabergHansen and Egersund Net AS.
Project Manager Trude Olafsen says: “The salmon are thriving in the submersible cages, and the results so far show that the salmon quickly learn to use the air dome in order to adjust the air in their swim bladder. The fi sh’s behaviour and welfare are good and feed conversion factor, growth, mortality and harvest results are equal or be� er to tradi� onal surface pen farming.
“The amount of lice detected on the fi sh in the submerged pen is lower than in tradi� onal surface pens. The key success factors to low lice levels are fi rstly to ensure that the fi sh transferred to the pen start with a low lice count and then secondly to maintain them in the submerged posi� on as much as possible.” Avoiding the largest numbers of sea lice is the obvious advantage of submersible pens, but there are others, Olafsen believes. Marine growth is reduced when the pen is further from the surface, so the nets do not need to be cleaned so frequently, and the fi sh are also par� ally protected from harmful algal blooms.
Also, since there is less infrastructure on the surface, it is less vulnerable to damage even in exposed, high-energy sites.
Atlan� s has successfully taken on its main challenges, Olafsen said, including showing that the fi sh will readily use the system’s air dome to replenish their swim bladders, and now there is “great interest” in the project from the interna� onal fi sh farming industry. FF
From the top: FiiZK’s Certus Harvest supplied to SalmoSea with 700-tonne capacity; Trude Olafsen, Atlan� s Subsea Farming; Mowi’s Seaforth site
