Acronym CleanHatch
Category
Aquaculture
Title Development and implementation of an innovative cleaning technology for marine and freshwater larval hatchery tanks in recirculating aquaculture systems Programme FP7
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
FP7 - Research for SMEs
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
SME – Research for the benefit of SMEs
Specific Programme (FP7)
Capacities
Funding source European Coordinator Maria-Liza Scicluna Coordinator email mls@aquabt.com
Coordinator institution
ABT Group - AquaBioTech Group Ltd (Malta)
Institutions involved
TTZ - Association for the promotion of technology transfer at the Bremerhaven EV University (Germany) ,
HAKI - Research Institute for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Irrigation (Hungary) ,
NA - Storvik Aqua AS (Norway) ,
NA - Viking Fish Farms Ltd, Ardtoe Marine Laboratory (United Kingdom) ,
Start year 2010 End year 2012 Funding (€) € 1,100,562 Website https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/262256 Summary Increased market pressures and the dangers of infection and contamination in natural environments are forcing the aquaculture industry to turn towards recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). About 500 European hatcheries already use recirculating technologies, and this figure is expected to significantly increase in the near future as the market is showing a 10% annual growth. A major problem that recirculation technology carries, particularly when used for the delicate and susceptible early life stages of fish is the occurrence of disease. Moreover, once a pathogen has become established in the system, it is very difficult to eradicate it. For this reason, cleaning and disinfection operations are of paramount importance in hatchery RAS. At present, most hatcheries manually clean their tanks on a daily basis. As a result, hatcheries face significant expenses as a result of the man hours required for these activities. Since having a disease-free environment is essential, the biggest concerns of any larval hatchery are biosecurity and water quality. Therefore, it is not only important that the internal surfaces of the tanks and the standpipe meshes are physically cleaned to remove biofilms, but it is also necessary to include a degree of disinfection to protect against diseases such as Vibrio sp. At present, there is a real need in aquaculture to find a sustainable and cost-effective technology for efficient cleaning and disinfection in larval hatcheries. The current cleaning methods carry huge economic consequences. For example, farms have lower productivity and quality through reduced survival rates of cultured species due to regular bacterial outbreaks. As a result, there are lower revenues. Their maintenance costs are also very high because of regular mesh changing and man hours required for cleaning and disinfection. The current systems are not reliable as biofilms are never fully removed. Moreover, the present requirement for changing standpipe meshes up to two times per month result in the according cost and amounts of waste from discarded mesh.
The Scientific and Technological objectives within the project were to: (1) Simulate the introduction of ozonated water to the side and bottom of larval and live feed tanks to clarify potential for reduction of Vibrio strikes with professional hydrodynamic modelling software; (2) Design and implement effective double wiper blades that sweep the sides and base of the tank for physical cleaning whilst containing highly ozonated water for disinfection; (3) Design a system with a reduced mesh to remove the dirtiest water from the bottom of the tank that does not block whilst allowing sufficient water exchange in the tank; (4) Determine performance of the overall CleanHatch system, including optimal rotational speed of the cleaning arm, production characteristics, water quality, cost-effectiveness, etc.; (5) Design and successfully run the new CleanHatch system in pilot and production scale tests to achieve a flawlessly running, marketable product.
Keywords
Engineering;
Prototype;
Recirculating systems;
Turbot;
Land-based aquaculture;
Technology;
Disease;
Larval rearing;
Trout;
Bacteria;
Seabass;
Seabream;
Flatfish;
Fish health;
Sustainability;
Fish;
Marine Region
76
Not associated to marine areas
0
Marine Region Map
