Farming different species in RAS in Nordic countries: Current status and future perspectives

Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) have gained increasing interest in recent years as a means to intensify fish production while at the same time minimize the environmental impact. Considerable hands-on experience has accumulated within the Nordic countries over the last 20-30 years in designing, building, and operating intensive land-based RAS for different species. This study compiles and assesses published literature along with un-published hands-on experiences with rearing different species in RAS in the Nordic countries, including Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), European eel (Anguilla anguilla), pike perch (Stizostedion lucioperca), Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus), sturgeon (order Acipenseriformes), Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), and European lobster (Homarus gammarus). High capital costs are one of the biggest challenges to sustainable RAS calling for large scale intensive productions to reduce investment -and operation costs. Consistent with this, production of Atlantic salmon smolts in indoor RAS and rainbow trout in outdoor Model-Trout-Farms (MTFs) have been the commercially most successful productions so far. Aside from end-of-pipe treatment including sludge handling and efficient nitrogen removal, much of the RAS technology applied is well known and is, as such, more or less ready to apply for culturing a variety of species. Successful production of “new” species in RAS therefore largely comes down to identifying the biological requirements of that specific species, and designing the RAS to fulfill and support the specific requirements. Well established brood-stocks and continuous supply of offspring is furthermore a prerequisite for successful RAS production of most species. Successful operations of less intensive RAS such as aquaponic systems appear to be feasible primarily when culturing more exotic species targeted for selected customer

Impact of trout aquaculture on water quality and farm effluent treatment options

In the context of the European Water Framework Directive, the in- and outflow water quality from 13 German trout farms, rearing mainly rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and using inflow rates between 0.03–0.80 m3 s−1, were monitored for point-source pollution. The farms had a significant effect on the effluent quality and macro-invertebrate fauna in adjacent streams (saprobic index based on species assemblage and abundance was 1.56–2.10 upstream of the farms but increased to 2.06–2.37 downstream of the farms). Inflow water quality, type of rearing unit, feeding intensity (amount of feed input in relation to water resources) and effluent treatment method could be used to predict effluent quality by 50 to 88% for most water characteristics. Based on these results, different effluent treatment options were monitored for their treatment performance. Concrete sedimentation basins 11 m × 7 m × 1.2 m and 5.5 m ×  3.3 m × 1.5 m (L × W × H), respectively, used for total farm effluent had little or no treatment effects. The micro-screen examined was relatively effective on particulate water components, measured as total phosphorous (TP), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS), resulting in treatment efficiencies of 29–53%, which is less than expected from data in the literature. The constructed wetland examined showed the highest treatment efficiency: more than 35% for TP, COD, BOD5, TSS and total ammonia nitrogen (TAN). From these results and data from the literature, treatment strategies for trout farm effluents can be developed, depending on the rearing system and production intensity

Systemic infection in European perch with thermoadapted virulent Aeromonas salmonicida (Perca fluviatilis).

In non-salmonid fish, Aeromonas salmonicidacan cause local infections with severe skin ulcerations, known as atypical furunculosis. In this study, we present a systemic infection by a virulent A. salmonicidain European perch (Perca fluviatilis).This infection was diagnosed in a Swiss warm water recirculation aquaculture system. The isolate of A.  salmonicida encodes a type three secretion system (TTSS) most likely located on a plasmid similar to pAsa5/pASvirA, which is known to specify one of the main virulence attributes of the species A. salmonicida. However, the genes specifying the TTSS of the perch isolate show a higher temperature tolerance than strains isolated from cold-water fish. The function of the TTSS in virulence was verified in a cytotoxicity test using bluegill fry and epithelioma papulosum cyprinid cells