Mowi trials new technology at BC farm

Mowi Canada West and the British Columbia-based Poseidon Ocean Systems have combined forces to install and test novel technologies at Mowi’s Monday Rock salmon farm off Vancouver Island.

The aim is to improve fish welfare and performance and reduce interactions between wild and farm-raised fish.

Part of the innovation is to reduce interactions with the surrounding environment, they said.

Mowi’s salmon farm is now equipped with 15 metre deep barrier shields, perimeter air bubble curtains, oxygen systems and real-time environmental monitoring technology to ensure optimal growing conditions are maintained around the clock.

The physical and bubble barriers, along with Poseidon’s cutting-edge oxygen systems will help to protect the fish against naturally occurring oceanic threats such as plankton blooms, hypoxia, and sea lice.

Rodrigo Cristi, Mowi’s technical manager, explained: “Three quarters of the farm’s enclosure is physically separated from the surrounding environment to a depth of 15 metres, so this technology developed by Poseidon is critical to allow us to create healthy living conditions within the space where we raise our salmon.

“The salmon have been growing in the system for six months now and fish condition, which includes size and health, are looking very promising so far.”

Monday Rock salmon farm, Mowi Canada West

A joint statement said Poseidon’s bespoke aquaculture technologies are designed to help sustain a life-supporting ecosystem inside a space largely separated from the surrounding environment.

Typically, this sort of intervention comes with a matching environmental cost due to higher energy use. However, Poseidon says its Flowpressor and Oxypressor systems produce a high rate of oxygen flow at the right pressure for maximum efficiency, allowing the farmer to produce oxygen as required, while saving energy and reducing emissions.

Further to this, Poseidon’s Depth Charge system then fully dissolves supplied oxygen into the water, ensuring that oxygen is available for the fish to consume while eliminating wasted oxygen.

Matt Clarke, Co-Founder and Chief technical officer at Poseidon said: “Our company has been focused on developing our integrated technology platform which gives farmers more control over the farm environment; allowing for better control the conditions within the net pens, so that the farmers can more actively and positively affect the welfare of the fish they grow.

He added: “Since our company was founded in 2015, Poseidon has been focused on bringing a science-based, aquaculture-specific approach to this challenge and the system now installed at Mowi’s farm site was developed by our engineers for this application.”