© Mowi
As part of ongoing innovation to reduce interactions with the surrounding environment, Mowi Canada West’s Monday Rock 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 24/7. The physical and bubble barriers, along with Poseidon Ocean Systems’ cutting-edge oxygen systems will help to avoid naturally occurring oceanic threats such as plankton blooms, hypoxia, and sea lice.
Rodrigo Cristi, Mowi’s technical manager, explained in a press release: “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.
Poseidon’s bespoke aquaculture technologies 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, according to Poseidon, their 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, the company claims that their patent-pending 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 CTO at Poseidon, added: “Our company has been focused on developing our integrated technology platform which gives farmers more control over the farm environment; allowing for better control of the conditions within the net pens, so that the farmers can more actively and positively affect the welfare of the fish they grow.”
The salmon raised at Monday Rock are expected to be ready for market in the second quarter of 2024.