Trout farming in shallow tanks – crazy things come true

A farm about 40 miles southwest of Miami (Florida, USA) has done what seems crazy – keeping salmon in shallow pools.

Farm operators say animal welfare is guaranteed when salmon are kept in shallow pools as they are swimming in artificial water. Photo: Smart Studio. In the row of indoor swimming pools there, 5 million adult salmon were swimming passionately away from their home town. pass cold water fish to a hot area This is a Atlantic salmon species, famous for cold water in Norwegian fjords or in cold water lakes in Scotland. They are not native to hot and warm Florida, so in order to cope with the completely different weather where they were born and the ideal environment to grow, the aquarium is cooled, housed in a large building. cold and of course very good insulation. The building is named the Green House, which has just come into operation in phase 1 since last year. When completed, it will be the largest salmon farm in the world. The investor is the Atlantic Sapphire Company, said the current output of the farm is 9,500 tons / year, and when the farm is operating at full designed capacity – it is expected that by 2031, the output will increase to 222,000 tons. If so, about 41% of the American’s salmon demand each year, or 1 serving serving, would be supplied domestically. Atlantic Sapphire is currently one of the pioneers of the trend of investing in terrestrial and indoor aquaculture. The company is headquartered in Norway. “When we came up with this idea 10 years ago, a lot of people were talking so crazy,” said Johan Andreassen – CEO of the company. “At that time, no one believed that bringing cold-water salmon to terrestrial farming could or was financially viable. The advancement of technology dispelled their doubts. Johan Andreassen introduces salmon farmed in Green House. Photo: Atlantic Sapphire. According to Andreassen, Atlantic Sapphire has proven successful in technology, now only dealing with financial viability and how scalable it can be effectively scaled. Salmon farming in shallow tanks – Pioneering technology New technologies equipped for the Green House to operate are not unfamiliar, but the investment rate to ensure profitability has only been achieved in recent years. The building is equipped with a recirculating aquaculture system called RAS, controlled from data on temperature, salinity, pH, oxygen level, flow, and light in the water. The tank also has an automatic mechanism that removes CO2 and waste and water into a filter for treatment and reuse. Raised in a closed process, salmon is immune to diseases and parasites found in the natural environment, so Atlantic Sapphire does not need antibiotics or other drugs. “Compared to marine farms, we guarantee fewer incidents of disease, the death rate is also among the lowest,” said Neder Snir, chief technician of AquaMaof in Israel. This is the company that provides technology for Atlantic Sapphire and about 10 other businesses around the world. “We ensure farmers do not need vaccines or antibiotics. This technology ensures disease isolation and control of the farming environment ”. Atlantic Sapphire has invested $ 400 million into their US facility in a total of $ 2 billion in funding plans. By 2031, they expect to own a 372,000 square meter aquarium on the 65-hectare project area. Why is it America? A Norwegian company that invests in large farms in Florida raises the question of purpose, especially when the culture is in doubt or does not guarantee the welfare of the chosen fish. According to the Atlantic Sapphire, they ensure a closer supply to the US market instead of bringing fish from Europe to by plane, in addition to taking advantage of the natural conditions endemic to the southern state. Florida sits atop two layers of water – one is the surface freshwater layer, the other is the lower saltwater aquifer. Trout need a freshwater environment in the early stages of growth, larger than they need salt water. In the Green House, the technology system ensures these two water sources. Here, wastewater is pumped into deep underground rock under the salty water layer separated from useful aquifers, so it does not pollute the area’s common water source (only at a very small rate compared to the government’s regulations. ). The salmon tank area at the Green House by technology of AquaMaof. Photo: AquaMaof. According to Andreassen, Atlantic Sapphire’s choices were even more valuable when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. The supply chain right in the US enables customers to traceability and create confidence in the end product without having to go through many stages of virus infection. Also, the transport stage is not congested when the cost of the road increases dramatically due to the impact of the epidemic. Atlantic Sapphire salmon has become familiar with American consumers. Last year, the brand “Green House Salmon was sold for 12 USD / kg, 2 times higher than imported Norwegian wild salmon. Would that worry salmon farmers and exporters in Nauuy and Scotland? Ragnar Tveteras – Professor of Commerce at Stavanger University (Norway) explains in a detour: “I think there is a challenge of using energy, about CO2 emissions, but I still do not have enough data. Demand (farmed fish) does not bother me too much, it is important that the price will probably go up ”. And Alan Tinch, technical head of the fishing services firm Benchmark Genetics in Scotland, predicts a change from Scottish farmers to adapt. “Maybe they will transfer the fry to an indoor farm, when healthy, they will be brought back to the natural marine environment. The wild fish still has its quality and location ”. The Green House project is not really smooth, even though it is advertised as a pioneer in technology. In July 2020, a water quality incident forced the company to harvest 200,000 salmon early before they were 20 months old. In March this year, fish also died abnormally and at the beginning of April there was a gas leak incident causing 3 workers to be hospitalized. Animal Rights Protection PETA criticizes the Green House project and about 40 other businesses developing terrestrial aquaculture farms, including a planned seabass farming project in Arizona. “Fish can feel, think, can know pain or joy, they belong to themselves, not people,” said Dawn Carr, Project Director of (food) vegetarian PETA said. “This fish farming is cruel.” But Director Johan Andreassen argues that the criteria for animal welfare, at the Green House, are fin shape and swimming speed, which is continuously and fully controlled by the company.