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Project could lead to additional salmon farm sites
A research project that could potentially help salmon farmers increase production in existing farm sites and develop new ones is underway in Orkney, Scotland.
November 2, 2017 By Liza Mayer
Better data about the effects of fish waste or uneaten feed on the seabed could improve environmental monitoring and compliance Study will look at impacts of waste matter from salmon farming on high-energy watersThe three-year project in which Cooke Aquaculture Scotland is a partner aims to improve understanding of the impacts of waste matter from salmon farming on more-exposed sites such as along Scotland’s west coast and the Northern Isles. The effects of fish waste or uneaten feed on the seabed are already being monitored, but not on the seabed in “dispersive sites” or those with “high-energy waters.”
“With better data about the benthic footprint at these sites, salmon producers like Cooke can improve environmental monitoring and compliance, and potentially increase production – both in terms of farming existing sites and developing new sites,” said Cooke Aquaculture.
The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) pitched in roughly 40 percent of the $305,000 (£231,907) project cost.
“One of SAIC’s priorities is to unlock additional capacity for aquaculture development, and this project could do exactly that,” said Heather Jones, CEO, SAIC.
Researchers from the Scottish Association for Marine Science and Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada are part of the project.
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