Preventing and mitigating escapes through research to underpin technological and operational improvements for sea-cage farming and recapture technologies
WP Leader: Dr Arne Fredheim, SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture, Norway
Objectives:
- Integrate biological and technological research to facilitate knowledge-based development of robust containment technology.
- Generate fundamental knowledge on the properties of component aquaculture technologies (netting, floaters, mooring systems) to improve design and production of sea-cage equipment components and thereby reduce escapes of fish caused by failure of individual pieces of equipment
- Develop guidelines for the design and use of sea-cage technologies and equipment to minimise the risk of escapes through a life cycle approach to system design which includes minimizing the probability and consequences of human errors and knowledge from behavioural studies on fish
- Test recapture technologies to improve recapture rates of escapees based on knowledge of the post-escape behaviour of fish
- Disseminate the results of the project to fish farmers, aquaculture technology manufacturers and suppliers, standards organisations, government agencies and the wider scientific community
Repaired hole in a net cage containing sea bream in the Mediterranean (left) and a hole created by biting in a cod farm in Norway (right)
Current induced deformation of a sea-cage typical of the strong forces induced by storms (left) and simulation of net cage loads (right)
