Acronym STING
Category
Aquaculture
Title Fish health and farm biosecurity risks posed by biofouling management in Norwegian salmon aquaculture (STING) Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Nina Bloecher Coordinator email nina.bloecher@sintef.no
Coordinator institution
SINTEF-SFH - SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture (Norway)
Institutions involved
NIVA - Norwegian Institute for Water Research (Norway) ,
NVI - Norwegian Veterinary Institute (Norway) ,
Start year 2015 End year 2018 Funding (€) € 428,000 Website https://www.sintef.no/en/projects/2015/sting-fish-health-and-farm-biosecurity-risks-posed/ Summary In Norwegian salmon aquaculture there is increasing concern that biofouling, the unwanted growth of organisms found on farm nets, may impact gill health. Among the main biofouling species are hydroids, which are related to jellyfish and bear similar stinging cells. The exposure of salmon to hydroids during biofouling management procedures such as net cleaning is suspected to cause gill disorder, but robust experimental evidence is lacking. Biofouling management on salmon farms involves regular (up to weekly) cleaning of production cage nets. Each year, individual farms can release dozens of tons of biofouling material during net cleaning into the surrounding water. This cleaning waste comprises organisms, fragments, larvae and, potentially, pathogens. The effects this material may have on salmon are not well understood. Similarly, no knowledge exists on the dispersal and deposition of net cleaning waste and its ability to facilitate the spread of pathogens.
The STING project will determine the risks of current biofouling management in Norwegian salmon farming to fish health and biosecurity. STING will build on data from an experiment conducted in parallel in 2015 that will elucidate if hydroids can cause gill damage and thereby increase the susceptibility of farmed salmon to infection with gill diseases such as Amoebic Gill Disease. The postdoc project will use field and modelling approaches to: (a) determine the level of hydroid material farmed salmon are exposed to during cleaning operations, (b) identify the proportion of Norwegian salmon farms that may be exposed to gill health risks posed by hydroids, and (c) determine the dispersal of cleaning waste released from salmon farms and its ability to facilitate pathogen transport between individual cages or adjacent farms. STING's results will directly feed into the development of improved biofouling management practices and technologies to advance fish welfare in Norwegian and international salmon farms.
Keywords
Open sea aquaculture;
Biofouling;
Salmon;
Animal welfare;
Engineering;
Environmental impact;
Cage aquaculture;
Fish health;
Marine Region
76
Not associated to marine areas
0
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