Acronym NA
Category
Aquaculture
Title Utvikle kunnskap om hvordan en best får rensefisken til å overleve vinteren i laksemerdene - Develop knowledge of how best to get the cleaner fish to survive the winter in the salmon cages 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 Unni Austefjord Coordinator email unni@sjomat.no
Coordinator institution
FHF - Norwegian Seafood Research Fund (Norway)
Institutions involved
IMR - Institute of Marine Research (Norway) ,
FHL - Norwegian Seafood Federation (Norway) ,
NVI - Norwegian Veterinary Institute (Norway) ,
Start year 2012 End year 2013 Funding (€) € 76,260 Website https://www.fhf.no/prosjekter/prosjektbasen/900831/ Summary There is a lack of knowledge on how to ensure proper welfare for cleaner fish in salmon cages for two consecutive winters. Common practice has been to "cero out" the number of cleaner fish after the first winter. The following project was initiated to try to identify current methods of best practice on survival of cleaner fish throughout the first winter in the salmon industry today. In addition, the intention was to do some initial tests on developing a commercial feed for the cleaner fish in the cage. The project is an attempt to do systematic registrations from commercial salmon farming. These trials on survival and additional feeding are a cooperation between 5 farmers from Agder (in the south) to North-Trøndelag in mid Norway from the companies SalMar, LerøyVest, SalMar Rauma, Marine Harvest Agder, Marine Harvest Skiftesvik in addition to the feed company Skretting. Norwegian Seafood Centre has been project leader. The project goal has been to improve the general welfare of the cleaner fish throughout the winter months and prepare them to be efficient lice feeders the following season. The project has tested out different types of shields, generation nets and initial trials have been done on additional feeding of the cleaner fish. The surviving cleaner fish have been evaluated for general condition, nutrition and sexual maturation. The cost of using cleaner fish has been compared to chemical de-licing. The registrations have been made by the farmers themselves as part of the ordinary operations. At Lerøy Vest (Djupestallen) and Marine Harvest (Buksevika) they are convinced that they have avoided several chemical de-licings during spring and early summer of 2013. They have concluded that a lot of surviving cleaner fish have been available for feeding on lice throughout the difficult spring months. They believe the results are due to these three important measures; good shields, undisturbed environmental conditions during the winter and avoiding escapes of cleaner fish during net changes. Some of the surviving goldsinny in Agder and wrasse in Rogaland have been dissected for their stomach content. The fact that they were in good condition , in the process of developing gonads and the extent of their stomach content indicated that they had handled the winter in the cages well. In addition they showed very little fin rot or other skin lesions. Promising results have been the result of testing the newly developed AquaSoft feed for wild caught cleaner fish. To ensure survival of cleaner fish through the winter months will most likely result in efficient lice feeders the following spring. Less female lice producing eggs will result in lower total lice pressure. This in turn will reduce the need for chemical use in de-licing which in turn will be economical profitable for the farmers. The project is rooted in the FHF action plan on sustainable aquaculture and efficient salmon lice control with reduced use of chemical medication.
Keywords
Open sea aquaculture;
Diets;
Lump fish;
Cage aquaculture;
Animal welfare;
Wrasse;
Fish;
Marine Region
41
Norwegian Sea (27.IIa)
1
Marine Region Map
