A fish farm that can steam around the oceans at 4 kts.?:
It’s an interesting concept, for salmon or tuna, of course, but being Chilean, salmon comes to mind. Arthropod parasites are a big problem, requiring massive doses of ivermectin, ACE inhibitors antibiotics and other now-well known medications. This is tied to (nutrient) pollution density, meaning that it’s harder and harder to group pens at efficient density for business purposes. Offshoring into deeper water seemed inevitable. Medicating farmed fish is expensive and cumbersome, and a last resort, as both costs and the environmental impact are significant. Moving offshore both reduces regulatory enforcement and disease risk, but environmental costs are still an issue, as is overall cost.
Yes this is a big problem for floating cage salmon farming in inshore waters. Especially salmon louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis)
They don’t thrive in offshore waters, or in deep water, however. That is one of the main reasons why onshore, offshore and enclosed cage fish farming are being tried.
Onshore tanks and enclosed floating cages near deep fjords pump in water from different depth, which also has the advantage of steady temperature and salinity, as well as being free of parasites and pathogens. It cost more, though.
Different methods to stop infections in inshore floating cages are in use, incl. using cleaner fish that eat the lice off the salmon without harming either of the fish. It has been found not to be a magic bullet, however:
Heated fresh water bath is now a common method used in Norway. Expensive, but it avoid the problem with using chemicals, which is harmful to other marine life.
This requires special vessels that move from fish farm to fish farm to perform the treatment and a lot of fresh water, usually produced on board by reversed osmosis.
There is also the question of Animal Welfare. (Does the salmon feel pain?):
The existing “offshore fish farms” in Norway are still in relatively protected locations and use nets, not steel cages. They are also anchored, not steaming around in the open ocean.
Here is a presentation of the first one, which has been in operation for some time:
https://www.salmar.no/en/offshore-fish-farming-a-new-era/
Not only in Norway that delicing is big business:
Utility Vessel Camilla Eslea, the world’s largest delicing vessel to date.
That is debatable
How come “delousing” has become “delicing”?
Are they trying to avoid people calling farmed salmon lousy fish? Are licey fish more marketable than lousy fish?
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Same as “Tomato and Tomahto”?:
The parasite is called “salmon lice”, while the process of getting rid of them are " DELOUSING"
At the same time DELICING" has crept into use in the industry for some reason.
well good luck either way, I won’t eat any farmed fish though but get it off the boat, Alaska.
kinda pricey though!
This brand new vessel cover a lot of tasks in the fish farming industry:
“Gåsø Høvding” visited Ålesund on Tuesday to take bunker at Bunker Oil’s facility in Skarbøvika. PHOTO: NILS HARALD ÅNSTAD
Claim to be the largest Well boat in the world at 7500 Cbm tank capacity:
It is a complex vessel with a lot of new and innovative equipment onboard:
cruise ship fishing? join NOAA !!!