Pushing the boat out...

Salmon farmer Mowi Scotland has celebrated the recent arrival of its biggest and best wellboat, Inter Alba, at a naming ceremony for the vessel in Ullapool.

The wellboat’s godmother is Kerry Hadfield, wife of Mowi Scotland chief operating officer farming Ben Hadfield. She smashed a bottle of Champagne against the 93-metre long vessel after short speeches from her husband, Salmon Scotland chief executive Tavish Scott, and Arild Aasmyr, chief executive of the ship’s owner, Trident Aqua Services. Aasmyr thanked a long list of suppliers that contributed to the complex project, some of whom attended the ceremony.

Guests were then welcomed aboard the Alba, which is one the world’s largest capacity wellboats and the biggest in Scotland.

Designed in Norway and built by Sefine Shipyard in Turkey, the Alba arrived in Scotland in mid-January and was put straight to work to simultaneously remove lice and tackle amoebic gill disease (AGD).

AGD is caused by a parasitic amoeba, Neoparamoeba perurans, (tiny protozoan organisms of 10-30 microns in diameter, 3-4 times smaller than human red blood cells or hair). First identified as a salmon parasite in Scottish waters in 2011, it quickly became endemic to Scotland and one of the main health challenges for salmon. AGD can lead directly to mortality through gill lesions if left untreated but can also lead to increased susceptibility to other gill insults and pathogens which impact on salmon health and performance.

Treatment against AGD and sea lice consists of bathing salmon in fresh water for a period of three to six hours. Unlike salmon, neither sea lice nor Neoparamoeba perurans can tolerate fresh water. Therefore, exposure to fresh water weakens the parasites attached to the gills (AGD) or the skin (sea lice) and they detach from their host and/or are dislodged by low pressure water jets in the vessel’s FLS rinsing equipment.

The Alba’s large total well capacity of 6,500 cubic metres split over three separate wells enables Mowi to treat a large, 160-metre circumference pen in one go. This, and the vessel’s quick loading capacity, reduces the period needed for stressful “crowding” of fish into one section of the pen.

A key element of Alba’s equipment is reverse osmosis technology for making fresh water from pumped sea water. The vessel’s RO system can make 15,000m3 of fresh water in 24 hours, and can fill the Alba’s wells in half that time.

Water filtration systems, temperature control, water monitoring probes and oxygen generators including nanobubble injection ensure fish are kept in optimal conditions at all times.

High definition cameras monitor fish in the wells during treatment at all times, and automatic cleaning and disinfection together with ozonation ensure optimal biosecurity to keep fish safe from opportunistic pathogens.

As well as using the latest generation of the FLS sea lice flushing system, ht vessel has automatic sea lice belt collection to minimise welfare risks and dispose of parasites detached from fish.

Grading system separate cleaner fish (ballan wrasse) from entering the freshwater wells and return them to the pen.

Artificial intelligence-enabled fish counting technology ensures loading according to standards, and the Alba is fully compliant with all Mowi’s certification schemes including RSPCA and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).

Speaking after the naming ceremony, Mowi Scotland health, welfare, and biology director Herve Migaud said the Alba had already treated more than 3.5 million fish on the company’s farms, and was making a major contribution to fish health.

Ben Hadfield said the vessel had delivered what was promised. “It has worked from Day One,” said the COO.