Response of Atlantic salmon in flexible sea cages to waves and currents: Measurements at farm-level and modeling

The shift towards salmon farming in more exposed locations has been an industry-wide trend for the last decade. Moving fish farms to locations with high water currents and waves can improve production by providing more stable temperatures and water quality, as well as reducing the negative environmental impacts of fish farming. This study investigates how waves affect the behavior of salmon from the same group, reared at different locations within a fish farm in standard circular sea cages. Using echosounders, DO (dissolved oxygen), temperature sensors and ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler), we show that salmon avoid waves, swim below them and maintain their normal behavior. We also show that salmon behavior is related to the exposure of the cage, in the farm layout, to waves and currents. An integrated numerical model of fish and flexible sea cages is used to simulate the fish behavior under waves and currents and it able to reproduce the observed fish distributions in general.publishedVersio

Critical swimming speed in groups of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar

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Towards a holistic digital twin solution for real-time monitoring of aquaculture net cage systems

Digital twins and relevant concepts are being applied in a wide variety of ways, and they are of most use when an actual real-world physical system or process (a physical twin) is changing over time and when measurement data correlated with this change can be captured. In this work, a digital twin model was implemented for real-time monitoring of aquaculture net cage systems, which is notoriously challenging because of several difficult-to-measure properties, such as forces on and deformation of the flexible netting structures, waves and flow field alterations around the cage and complex stiffness behaviour of the mooring elements made by fibre ropes. These properties were set to be adaptable according to the resultant outputs, such as cage responses and mooring loads that were continuously compared with the measurement data obtained from remote monitoring sensors. In this way, real-time sensor data were assimilated into the numerical simulation model for representing the actual net cage system. No dedicated sensors were used for fish monitoring, but the fish behavioural responses to current, wave and cage deformation were modelled according to relevant field observational data. A wireless sensor network has also been tested for the digital twin implementation, which was found to be suitable for practical uses in fish farms.publishedVersio

Critical swimming speed in groups of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar

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Safe, robust, and productive Exposed Aquaculture Operations - Challenges and solutions

In this report, challenges and solutions for exposed aquaculture operations have been presented. Exposed aquaculture is culturing of aquatic animals or plants at exposed locations. Exposed sites have potentially high waves, strong currents, and strong winds. Challenges for operations on exposed aquaculture sites, as described in this report's part I: Controlling hazards of weather, training, competence, organization of work, safety management emergency preparedness, and regulation. Understanding fish welfare and behavior in different environmental conditions, current, and waves Developing aquaculture structures that are operational at exposed sites with respect to sea load response, personnel safety, and fish welfare. Building safe vessels that can endure rough waters in sensitive exposed aquaculture operations. Reducing risk during lifting, crane operations or monitoring in harsh and complex conditions.Safe, robust, and productive Exposed Aquaculture Operations - Challenges and solutionspublishedVersio

Turbulence and flow field alterations inside a fish sea cage and its wake

Measurements were performed inside and in the wake of a commercial salmon sea cage. The key instrumentation included the following: sea bottom-mounted acoustic Doppler current profilers providing continuous concurrent flow velocity and turbulence information about the water columns; vessel-mounted acoustic current profilers mapping the flow pattern around the wake of the cage in a selected incoming flow; a microstructure profiler measuring the fluctuations in vertical shear in the dissipation range; an acoustic Doppler velocimeter measuring the velocity inside the sea cage; dissolved oxygen sensors and echosounders measuring the distribution of fish inside the cage. The measurements have performed with stocked and emptied sea-cage. The results showed simultaneous strong flow reductions in the wake near the cage and high turbulence in the upper part of the water column, both of which were generated by the sea cage. Measurements inside the cage showed that although the schooling fish reduced the flow, there was no evidence that they generate secondary radial and vertical flows.publishedVersio

Loads and response on flexible conical and cylindrical fish cages: A numerical and experimental study based on full-scale values

This paper presents drag forces from uniform water current on two flexible net cage designs, commonly used in Norwegian fish farming, obtained through model-scale testing and numerical simulations. The primary focus is on the comparison between model tests and numerical simulations and performance of the numerical model for the different net cage designs. The two designs were a cage with a cylindrical main section with straight walls and conical bottom with a sinker tube weight system and a cage where both the main section and bottom has a conical shape. The latter cage has a central weight instead of a sinker tube. The effect of the governing parameters was explored by varying the design and loads of the weighting system. Both physical tests and numerical simulations revealed increased drag forces and reduced ability for deformation when increasing the load from the weighting system. Lower weight system load or weight system designs that allow for more deformation decrease the loads on the net cage. Although it was not a focus in the present work, fish welfare is dependent on sufficient available volume in the net cage, meaning that large reductions in volume to reduce drag forces at high current velocities may be undesirable. Comparisons between model scale tests and numerical simulations reveal good agreements for the highest weight system loads tested. Decreasing the weight system loads decrease the accuracy of the numerical simulations. This may be caused by larger deformations of the net cage when the bottom loads are reduced resulting in a larger number of net panels with small angles of attack relative to the incident current. Predictions of forces for low angles of attack may be less accurate than for larger angles of attack while there is a possibility of increased flow velocity reduction (wake effect) and flow deflection. The cages were tested and simulated for flow velocities up to 1.25 m/s (full scale value). Measurements of the flow velocity in the middle of the net cages revealed a higher velocity reduction than predicted with theory, with the exception of the highest velocity.publishedVersio

The interaction between water currents and salmon swimming behaviour in sea cages

Positioning of sea cages at sites with high water current velocities expose the fish to a largely unknown environmental challenge. In this study we observed the swimming behaviour of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) at a commercial farm with tidal currents altering between low, moderate and high velocities. At high current velocities the salmon switched from the traditional circular polarized group structure, seen at low and moderate current velocities, to a group structure where all fish kept stations at fixed positions swimming against the current. This type of group behaviour has not been described in sea cages previously. The structural changes could be explained by a preferred swimming speed of salmon spatially restricted in a cage in combination with a behavioural plasticity of the fish

Turbulence and flow field alterations inside a fish sea cage and its wake

Measurements were performed inside and in the wake of a commercial salmon sea cage. The key instrumentation included the following: sea bottom-mounted acoustic Doppler current profilers providing continuous concurrent flow velocity and turbulence information about the water columns; vessel-mounted acoustic current profilers mapping the flow pattern around the wake of the cage in a selected incoming flow; a microstructure profiler measuring the fluctuations in vertical shear in the dissipation range; an acoustic Doppler velocimeter measuring the velocity inside the sea cage; dissolved oxygen sensors and echosounders measuring the distribution of fish inside the cage. The measurements have performed with stocked and emptied sea-cage. The results showed simultaneous strong flow reductions in the wake near the cage and high turbulence in the upper part of the water column, both of which were generated by the sea cage. Measurements inside the cage showed that although the schooling fish reduced the flow, there was no evidence that they generate secondary radial and vertical flows