Land-based fish farming offers many benefits to both the fish and the environment. In traditional offshore farms, the fish are vulnerable to sea lice infestation and infectious diseases. Modern land-based aquaculture systems are able to offer local fish products in landlocked countries.
Research shows that even fish farmers have doubts as to whether using cleaner fish is an effective delousing method. “Fish farmers tell us that they want a ban on the use of certain species. They’re also very critical of wild-caught cleaner fish being transported,” says researcher Kristine Størkersen. She is one of the scientists who have been helping the Norwegian Food Safety Authority gain an overview of the situation.
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential components of healthy diets for both humans and fish. The dramatic increase in fish farming worldwide has boosted the demand for omega-3 fatty acids so much that today’s supply can’t meet demand. Reducing waste and finding new sources can help.
Blueye is an underwater drone that got its start at NTNU. The drone can be used for serious purposes – such as when it mapped damage to the Norwegian frigate Helge Ingstad – or for entertainment, such as showing cruise passengers the underwater landscape.
The electronic “sensor” fish measures the physical factors that affect farmed fish during delousing. The results may lead to welfare improvements in salmon farm cages.
The amount of omega-3 fatty acids in farmed salmon is dropping. But a reasonable and affordable solution may make salmon even healthier to eat.
We need to know more, and teach more people, about aquaculture so we can use the ocean’s resources to the greatest extent possible while protecting the environment.
Aquaculture used to be a secondary income source for Norwegians. Now it’s become big business. Occupational safety has made steady advances, but some areas clearly still need to improve.
Currents in the ocean and fjords spread viruses that are killing large numbers of farmed salmon. Where should fish farms be built? And should they all be in use at the same time? Researchers now know more about how to limit the virus problem.
The condition of the water in salmon hatcheries can tell us a great deal about when and why outbreaks of disease occur. Now, SINTEF researchers are about to expose the water’s secrets, both to prevent suffering in fish and to save the aquaculture industry a great deal of money.
The Japanese eat one in ten of the world’s fish, and 80 per cent of the planet’s prized —and critically threatened — Bluefin tuna. Tuna aquaculture pioneered at Kindai University in Japan offers hope for both fish lovers and the fish.
Robot vision has given us self-steering drones, and may also help keep an eye on salmon in fish pens and make sure that our children are healthy.
Long-lasting stress in farmed salmon makes them more susceptible to diseases. Researchers have now found a simple and reliable method for measuring stress in fish so that it is easier to take action if needed.
Professor Jon Olaf Olaussen says that increasing the aquaculture industry to five times its current production now is a crazy idea. He is calling for reducing one of Norway’s largest industries.
Fish farming is the largest source of phosphorus emissions in Norway, generating about 9,000 tonnes a year. Finding ways to reuse the waste from the fish farming industry could cut consumption of this important and increasingly scarce resource.
With the help of new 3-D technology, you can dive underwater and swim with farmed salmon.
Norwegian company C-Feed builds world’s first industrial plant for copepods – a fish-fry feed for the production of ballan wrasse, tuna, halibut and other marine species.
The best weapon in the battle against salmon lice in the Norwegian aquaculture industry has proved to be the use of what are called “cleaner fish”, fish that eat salmon lice. But these fish often die during breeding. Now, researchers have found a way to help the young fish survive.
Armed with special acoustic tags, a team of researchers is following 50 individual fish for as long as seven months to learn more about their life – and death — in Norwegian fjords.
