Fish Farming Technology Guest Tech Editor, Dr Michael Bech

by Dr Michael Bech, CEO and owner of Nordic Aquaculture Consult ApS

Aquaculture is the fastest growing sector within food production and the land-based recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) is booming worldwide right now.

The year of 2020 has been completely affected by the Covid-19 and I believe the present pandemic will be pushing us even further towards increasing self-sufficiency to focus more on local production.
 

The focus to limit emission of CO2 will also make the air freight of fish from remote net cage areas less attractive in future, pushing the development towards land-based farms because they can be located close to their markets such as New York, Beijing, Tokyo or Paris.

The use of RAS makes it possible to farm any species anywhere because the physical and chemical conditions of the system’s water are being controlled. It is possible to farm Kingfish (Seriola lalandi) in a land-based facility in Denmark at a constant temperature of 21 degrees Celsius despite the cold climate and the fact that Kingfish doesn’t even exist at that latitude.

The increasing degree of recirculation in the latest generation of RAS makes it easier to find suitable sites because the need for new intake water is limited and the discharge can be cleaned to meet any environmental restrictions.

A modern salmon farm can be located inland and it is possible to clean whatever source of intake water available with powerful tools such as microfiltration, ozone and UV.

In a RAS the toxic ammonia from the excretion of the fish is continuously transformed and detoxified to nitrate by the bacterial nitrification process in the biofilter.

The volume of new intake water mainly dictated by the volume needed to dilute the internal nitrate concentration below a threshold value of often 80mg nitrate per litre. By adding a denitrification step where nitrate is transformed to free nitrogen (N2) by an anoxic bacterial process it is possible to reduce the need from 300-500 litres to 30-50 litres per kg of feed.  This reduction of intake water and discharge water will only make it easier to find new suitable locations for the expansion of RAS.

Read more, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

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Kaeser Kompression company profile

Kaeser Kompression provides products, services and complete systems for supplying production and work processes with quality compressed air. The system solutions comprise compressed air generation and treatment and are designed for optimal overall efficiency. The company was founded in 1919 and is represented throughout the world by a comprehensive network of branch offices and strong partners.

Visit the Kaeser Kompression website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

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International Aquafeed's December Nutrition Editor's Column

by Prof. Simon Davies, Nutrition Editor, International Aquafeed 

Although we now have 2020 almost behind us, there will be many of the 2020 events for aquaculture now rescheduled, delayed or even cancelled due to this exceptional year.

As a fish nutrition scientist, it was sad not to have been able to return to South Korea for the International Symposium on Fish Nutrition this year. This would have been a really important meeting of minds dedicated to our industry and where we could disseminate our findings, catch up with colleagues and friends to share ideas, discuss our plans and foster new collaborations.
 

This symposium is held every two years and is now out of sequence but hopefully, it will get back on track.

Likewise I was due to attend scientific conferences and exhibitions in China, Thailand and Europe that have now been kicked well into touch for the time being. I have realistically planned to resume my globetrotting activities in 2022 when things should settle down and the pandemic may be well and truly quenched.

Nonetheless, my other activities have been progressing thanks to the technology that exists to connect us together.

The fish farming industry has a capacity to recover and aquaculture has continued to provide its share of global seafood demand, with the feed sector continuing its quest to develop novel platforms of research and applications. It is still impressive to see investments in new avenues of aquaculture system design especially in land-based systems (RAS) and deeper offshore facilities.

In fact, I am currently associated with several consortia hoping to roll out aquaculture within my own region of SW England and Wales, who are also looking to engage with selected educational institutions for their experience in a consultancy capacity. Our focus will be to evaluate the potential for both established fish species and even exotic non-conventional types.

An endless challenge
With the growing list of emerging species being investigated for culture, it’s an endless challenge to obtain a detailed inventory of their biology, environmental preferences, breeding, early development, growth and feeding behaviour and nutritional requirements. In aquaculture, the multidisciplinary approach is paramount and together will lead to successful rearing of fish under captivity.

In this final month of 2020 we have seen many challenges, as I have stated throughout the spring and summer months. Like in fish farming, we see new technologies in disease control and scenarios we are all familiar with globally.

However, we can be optimistic with announcements of vaccines for COVID-19 and hopefully mass immunisation will protect us all, with a level of normality returning in 2021.

With the US Presidential election now over and a new President in office from January, we will see how the American policy for agriculture will develop and the Federal government’s commitments to aquaculture. I have previously been involved in advising the USDA on specific growth areas and investments in fish farming technology.

Read more, HERE.

The Aquaculturists

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