Cermaq Canada plans smolt-to-harvest closed cage trial

Cermaq is already trialling an in-sea closed cage in the Horsvågen region of Norway, with the intention of growing smolts up to 2kg before transferring them to open cages.

But according to a report by the Nanaimo News Bulletin Cermaq Canada intends to go a step further by growing fish all the way to harvest size in in-sea closed containment.

Discussions with regulators

David Kiemele, managing director of Cermaq Canada, told the Bulletin: “We’re aiming to actually launch a trial of our own, ideally in 2020, where we will hold a certain group of fish in a cage of this same design, straight through until harvest.”

He said the company has begun discussions with provincial and federal regulators to gain approval for the system. Cermaq expects to have it fully operational in Canadian waters 12 months after internal and external approvals are complete, Kiemele said.

The system would either be built in Norway and shipped across, or the company would find a local supplier, he told the Bulletin.

See also: Cermaq puts first smolts into tarpaulin-walled closed cage

Cermaq has reported good results from the early stages of its Horsvågen trial of the new technology, which it has named Certus (Latin for “safe”). Under water, it has a flexible composite wall surrounding a traditional net.

“After three months in the closed system, we are excited to see that the fish are not only healthy but are also thriving,” said Kjell Hansen, the regional project coordinator.

“The fish in this new system are actually growing better that our fish in the traditional net pen structures located in the same region. We are seeing minimal mortalities and we have had no problems with sea lice.

“Certus also takes the safety of employees into account and makes moving around the system for employees safe and easy.”  

Functioning perfectly

Cermaq said that the technology, which involves pumping water into the cage from below the depth which sea lice normally inhabit, is functioning perfectly so far.

The Horsvågen fish will remain in the closed pen until June, and then be moved to an ordinary net pen for the last growth phase until harvesting. 

“The first data from Certus supports the potential of producing salmon in closed systems in the ocean during the first phase of growth in saltwater,” said Harald Takle, Cermaq’s research manager for aquaculture technology.

“Our further ambition is to develop our closed containment concept which we have named ‘Flexifarm’, in which we use modern cleaning technology for the intake water to prevent intake of pathogens and thus infectious diseases.”