
Ashleigh Currie – FiiZK Ltd
Fish Health & Business Development Manager
Semi-closed containment systems (S-CCS), where an impervious barrier surrounds cultured salmonids to separate them from their external environment, are an important addition to open-net cage farming at sea to aid in ambitions to increase aquaculture production volumes, reduce risk of escapes and eliminate sea lice pressures.
For over 10 years, FiiZK have been investing in the development of the Certus range (10,000 – 30,000 m3) to provide a solution for achieving production goals, improving operational costs by minimizing or eliminating the need for lice treatments, achieving higher growth rates and producing more robust fish compared to traditional farming methods.
The main development aims of these systems has been to allow the farmer to reduce the time fish spend at sea or in some cases to grow post-smolt fish to harvest size (80 g to 5 kg). Compared to land-based RAS systems that have high capital expenditure and operational costs the sea-based S-CCS provide a reliable and more economical solution for the industry.
The large, floating S-CCS replenish seawater within the cage which is pumped from deeper depths (>20 m) to reduce the entry of unwanted parasites and sustain optimal water quality to protect fish within and outside of the cage. Faeces can be collected and removed from the system to be processed as fertilizer or biofuel. The cage environment is continuously monitored by a sensor network for essential water quality parameters including O2, pH, salinity, temperature, turbidity and the water level inside the bag.
FiiZK’s S-CCS technology has been used in Norway’s aquaculture industry since 2014 and most recently in Canada. Since 2010, we have aimed to continuously improved and develop our technology by listening to our customers to ensure optimal operations and best practices. Our customers use the S-CCS for various production scenarios including optimization of maximum allowable biomass, post-smolt protection and sea-lice reduction. Our cages have also been used successfully to hold brood stock fish (5 kg to 16 kg) in the last sea phase.
The cages are delivered in sizes from
10 000 m3 to 30 000 m3 and product certified according to the Norwegian technical requirements (NS 9415)
Fish Health & Business Development Manager