2013 – Volume 2, Issue 1 / (Page 9-13)

Floating Fish Farm Unit (3FU). Is it an Appropriate Method for Salmonid Production?

Soner Bilen, Volkan Kızak, Aslı Müge Gezen

 

Abstract


Off-shore aquaculture has become an important issue nowadays because of environmental sensitivities and rising conflicts between coastal zone users. From this point of view, a Turkish company has converted a ship into a fish farm in order to gain benefit from the open seas. A 19030 dead weight ton freight ship was transformed into an integrated fish farm to produce salmonids. A 60 m long suction pipe with 1 m diameter, was used for sea water intake from a desirable depth. Sea water was pumped into the fish culture tanks by using 5 pumps each with a capacity of 2500 m3h-1. Pure oxygen generated from an oxygen generator was added to seawater through diffusers for increasing stocking density by means of raised dissolved oxygen of culture media. In this floating fish farm, the initial average weight of Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) was 25±2.7 g. The trout reached 3.7±0.4 kg at the end of 11 months during the production on board. Feed conversion ratio, specific growth rate and stocking density were 1.1±0.1, 1.51±0.3 and 101±2.1 kgm-3, respectively. As a result of the study, trout production on a vessel that enables the use of water from different depth and regulate the water temperature and salinity according to the optimum levels of fish requirements. However, the high costs of crew and energy should be taken into consideration in terms of sustainability of efficient production.

 

Keywords


Fish culture, Ship, Rainbow trout, Salmon, Floating fish farm unit

 

Download Full-Text

 

References


  • Ayer, N.W. and P.H., Tyedmers. 2009. Assessing alternative aquaculture technologies: life cycle assessment of salmonid culture systems in Canada. Journal of Cleaner Production, 17 (3): 362–373.
  • Ablett, R.F., C.R. Marr, and J.D., Roberts. 1989. Influence of chronic subsurface retention on swimming activity of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in cold temperate conditions. Aquac. Eng., 8: 1–13.
  • Einen, O. 1998. Product quality in Atlantic salmon — influence of dietary fat level, feed ration and starvation before slaughter. Doctor Scientiarum Theses, Norges landbrukshøgskole, Ås, Norway.
  • Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 2012. p. 230.The State Of World Fisheries and Aquaculture. FAO, Rome (2010) Fisheries Technical Paper.
  • Huguenin, J.E. 1997. The design, operations and economics of cageculture systems. Aquacultural Engineering, 16 (3): 167–203.
  • Korsøen, O.J., T. Dempster, F. Oppedal, and T.S., Kristiansen. 2012. Individual variation in swimming depth and growth in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) subjected to submergence in sea-cages. Aquaculture, 334: 142-151.
  • Teskeredžić, E., Z. Teskeredžić, M. Tomec, and Z. Modrušan. 1989. A comparison of the growth performance of rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) in fresh and brackish water in Yugoslavia. Aquaculture, 77 (1): 1–10.
  • TUIK. 2012. p. 71. Fishery Statistics. Turkish Statistical Institute.
  • Wu, R.S.S. 2000. The environmental impact of marine fish culture: Towards a sustainable future. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 31 (4–12): 159–166.
  • Yiğit, M. ve O. Aral. 1999. Gökkuşağı Alabalığının (Oncorhynchus mykiss W.,1792) Tatlısu ve Denizsuyundaki Büyüme Farklılıklarının Karşılaştırılması (A Comparison of the Growth Differences of Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss W.,1792) in Freshwater and Seawater-The Black Sea). Turk. J. Vet. Anim. Sci., 23: 53-59.
  • Yiğit M., E. Güven and S. Özesen Çolak. 2006. Karadeniz’de Ağ Kafeslerde Balık Yetiştiriciliğinin Gelişimi ve Karşılaşılan Sorunlar (Developments and Problems of Cage Aquaculture in the Black Sea). Su Ürünleri Mühendisleri Derneği Dergisi, 25-26: 33-39.