News from fishfarmingxpert.com

Canada: Both Canada and Norway have been working on the development of a system where water jets are used to remove sea lice from farmed salmon without damaging the fish Odd Grydeland Last year, a trial was conducted in British Columbia, using a modified fish grader equipped with spray nozzles designed to remove lice from farmed Atlantic salmon in a way that didn’t cause abnormal stress to the fish, and which also collected all the lice removed from the fish. The idea was to remove sea lice to a level below the regulatory requirements, while at the same time avoiding additional costs by employing the technology during a routine size-grading operation. The results were promising, but some further refinement of the equipment was deemed appropriate. Last week, a Press Release issued by the General Manager of the Norwegian salmon farming company Salmonor AS- Vibecke Bondø- stated that her company had also achieved good results with a trial of a similar set-up- this one developed by a couple of Norwegian entrepreneurs: On Monday this week, Salmonor AS tested a new, locally developed method for removing lice. The results were very encouraging. “SKAMIK Lusesenter” developed by Geir Skarstad and Frode Mikalsen in collaboration with Fish Farmers’ Environmental Services AS and Norwegian Fish Transportation (NFT) is based on mechanical removal of lice by the use of water flushing. This and similar methods have been at the testing stage for a while. We are not aware of anybody that until now has succeeded in developing a method that provides both effective and high capacity while fish health and welfare is safeguarded. Monday’s large-scale test with SKAMIK Lusesenter mounted on the NFT’s wellboat “Rune Viking” convinced us that we can now likely face a breakthrough. The flushing itself seems to work well. We experienced some varying effects that we see reflected the flow of fish through the system, but occasionally we removed over 90 % of the lice. The equipment is fitted with a filter that collects the lice. We believe that only small improvements are needed to ensure a more stable flow of salmon through the lice remover. The developers behind “SKAMIK Lusesenter “ have done a great job and are already working on improvements to be ready for another trial run a short time from now. The industry each year spends billions on delousing . We may not come completely away from the use of drugs, but removal of lice using this technology can be a good, chemical free alternative to gain control of sea lice. We are proud that the “SKAMIK Lusesenter” is a product developed in the region of Outer Namdal, and we look forward to being able to use the finished product.

Meeting tomorrow today AquaVision will gather a wide range of speakers from all continents and will give you a great combination of information, opinions and network possibilities. A fully booked conference in 2012, with more than 450 stakeholders from 35 countries, showed the importance of AquaVision as a meeting place. We look forward to welcome the aquaculture industry to Stavanger 16–18 June 2014 and the tenth World Aquaculture Business Conference - AquaVision, says Viggo Halseth, COO of Nutreco Aquaculture. AquaVision will gather a wide range of speakers from all continents and will give you a great combination of information, opinions and network possibilities. The theme for AquaVision 2014 is “Meeting tomorrow today” and the programme divides into three parts: Feeding 9 billion The blue revolution Beyond tomorrow As ever, some of the main topics and liveliest debates will focus on the challenges and opportunities facing aquaculture today and in the future. AquaVision takes place in Stavanger, Norway 16-18 June 2014. The conference is organised by Nutreco, Skretting in cooperation with DNB and DSM Nutritional Products. Blue Planet is the practical organiser of the conference.

Vaccine sales comparable to 2012 level Norway: November sales of vaccines to salmon were 36.5 million doses compared to 43.9 million doses in November 2012. So far, 95.0 million S1 2014 have been vaccinated including 21.8 million doses in September targeted vaccination of S1 2014 (source: Kontali analysis). In the same period last year, total sales were 102.4 million vaccine doses for the S1 2013.

However, if we look at the twelve months rolling sales per November 2013, the figure is 304.6 million doses compared to 305.6 million doses in November 2012. Sales of vaccines to trout were 3.4 million doses compared to 3.9 million doses in November 2012. The 12 month rolling sales of vaccines to trout are 21.9 million doses.The industry purchased 14.2 million doses of the PD-vaccine in November, exactly the same number as in November 2012.No sales for farmed cod were registered this month, according to Pharmaq.

Decreased abundances of sea lice in Chile Chile: In the last week, there were not new salmon farming sites included in the list of locations with an average parasitic abundance equal or higher than 9 adult lice per fish, totalizing 21 sites in this condition in the past seven-week period compared to 25 sites accumulated up to the previous week. Christian Pérez Between the forty-fourth and fiftieth week of this year, 21 farming sites have been reported as with an average abundance of adult lice (Caligus rogercresseyi) per fish equal or higher than 9 parasites per fish according to the National Service of Fisheries and Aquaculture (Sernapesca).

These sites with high abundances, known as Sites of Large Spread or CAD, are located exclusively in the regions of Aysén (15 sites) and Los Lagos (6).

From the 21 total CAD in Chile, only 4 sites were farming Rainbow trout, while the rest was stocked with Atlantic salmon. Meanwhile, five sites were harvesting fish while the rest was in the process of fattening fish.

In terms of companies, Mainstream is the salmon producing company with most CAD in the period with 4 sites and followed by Marine Harvest Chile with 3 CAD.

According to the new sanitary programme of control and surveillance of Caligus, if a farming site is not able to reduce the abundance of sea lice below 9 adult lice per fish within 6 weeks after notification, there will be a mandatory elimination of 25% of the biomass in that site.