Development of an Innovative Biosecure Recirculation Facility for Sustained Production of High Quality Raw Material and Smolt While Achieving Superior Containment, Environmental Performance, and Reduced Cost

Final Report

Northern Harvest Smolt Ltd.

AIMAP 2011-N02

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Salmon producers in NL face challenges including harsh marine conditions and infrastructure/ transportation logistics issues but there are also tremendous opportunities and the province is currently leading the country in salmon aquaculture growth. Northern Harvest Sea Farms NL Ltd (Northern Harvest) is a significant contributor and through both increased smolt entries and improved fish performance (most recent year class production of > 5000 tonnes averaging 10 lbs Heads on Gutted {HOG} weight) has demonstrated its ability to meet these challenges. The industry is reliant upon gamete or smolt importations for production which poses a significant risk to biosecurity and impacts competitiveness. Lack of freshwater capacity within the province has long been recognized by both levels of government as a serious impediment to industry growth. To capitalize on the opportunities here, manage risks, and be globally competitive, investment in a hatchery and a breeding program are critical.

Northern Harvest has investigated the most current technologies in global use and through its partnerships has designed a biosecure recirculation facility (Northern Harvest Smolt Ltd) for smolt, and egg production which will also enable a breeding program to produce quality smolt for Newfoundland conditions. The proposed facility represents an innovative combination of technologies merged with production techniques to meet these needs while achieving sustainable environmental performance, and significantly-reduced (10%) smolt production costs.

Among other technical considerations, new applications of saltwater wells and denitrification systems will result in efficiencies in water and energy use and result in improved production management and environmental performance to result in a sustainable ‘lean and green' facility.

1. Production of optimal combinations of smolt size and time of entry with reduced transport stress and cost to best utilize the NL marine environment to meet market demand, resulting in significant cost savings on a per smolt basis to improve competitiveness as currently these factors all negatively impact marine operations.
2. Use of salt water wells ( chlorides) to improve smolt quality and lower production cost by developing protocols for use of varying salt concentrations at different life stages, improved growth, lower Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR), fungus suppression, smoltification, and improved marine performance.

STEPHENVILLE HATCHERY SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

The Stephenville Hatchery will be a 98% Recirculation facility using the latest technology in the aquaculture industry.

The rearing tanks are of fiberglass construction and designed to be Cornell dual drain type with side pods and bottom sumps. There are 80-90% of the water flows through the side pods which have the least amount of solids. The remaining water and the majority of the solids go through a sump. The tanks are designed with optimal performance settings which allow a more efficient treatment of solids than most other modern systems.

Water from the sumps is sent to a swirl settling basin which separates most of the solids. Clean water from the top of the settling basin along with water from the side pods is sent to a rotating drum filter, with a 40 micron screen, which further separates the solids. After the water has been separated from most of the solids, it is sent to a moving bed bio filter. A moving bed bio filter is a very efficient way to remove ammonia and CO2 through aeration and screening. Not only does a moving bed bio filter have very efficient performance, but, at the same time, it also has a lower pumping head than the most commonly used bio filters.

The water is then sent to a reservoir where it is pumped through a bead filter, which is another media base biofilter with solids removal capability. Next the water goes through the process of degassing to remove excess CO2. A degassing tower is used during this process and the gasses are removed through aeration. After the degassing process is complete, the oxygenation process begins. A low head oxygenator provides most of the oxygen that is needed by the fish. A low pumping head is the most economical way to inject oxygen into the water. For higher densities, a packed column will be used to aid the LHO to provide sufficient oxygen. Water is then sent back to the tanks using parameters that meet or exceed those needed to grow a healthy fish.

A great amount of care has been taken to ensure that the system is as efficient as possible without compromising the quality of the water. This system will have a lower pumping head than most other commonly used systems, resulting in a lower cost of raising smolts.

OVERVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL GAPS

PHASE 1: Decrease surface discharge of effluent to receiving waters on an economical and environmentally sustainable basis without effecting production

1. How can water consumption be reduced below current industry standards to levels necessary to achieve the goal? How can the volume of solids leaving the production facility, pre effluent filtration, be reduced below industry standards making it economically feasible to filter remaining solids sufficiently? What production costs +/- will be realized through the utilization of these systems? What level of management and skill is required to operate these systems continuously? Do these systems impact the productivity of the facility or the quality of smolt produced?
   
   The water effluent has been permitted and approved by DFO and the provincial Dept of Environment. The state of the art water treatment facility, designed by Silk Stevens Ltd (Silk Stevens), uses a 40 micron filter that removes all solids above 40 micron delivering clean water to the marine receiving waters of Port Harmon. Our system is under close monitoring standards and we report monthly to the government of NL. The solids are held in two large 10,000 gal septic tanks that are cleaned / pumped out monthly.

PHASE 2: Improve quality, and consistency of smolt performance through more complete control of production parameters, using economically viable technology and reducing environmental impact

1. Quality and performance, particularly of spring smolt, from recirculation systems can be quite variable do to a lack of temperature control and the ability of systems to function well at lower temperatures and the cost of such control can be prohibitive
2. What combination of technology is capable of achieving low operating temperatures, allow required feeding and maintaining water quality on an economically sustainable basis while minimising environmental impact?
3. What techniques, procedures, and level of management are required to operate such a system?
4. Will these measures be adequate to reduce or eliminate the current reliance on costly treatments being employed to improve smolt quality that require the high carbon footprint and cost of the long rang transport of calcium and magnesium salts, their handling and storage (potential savings of $0.15 per smolt)?
   
   The recirculation system designed by Silk Stevens is now completed and has resulted in the growing fish at impressive rates and quality. We have just recently transferred ~1,000,000 smolts to the marine sites on the south coast of NL. The smolt exhibited excellent smolt index factors that translated to very good transfer results. We have improved our transfer mortality to show economic improvement on the first transfer group. The production wells are very high in hardness which translate to solid fin quality and fish health. The ability to photo manipulate has given us the tools to smoltify the fish when we wish. The wells produce enough water so that we can increase the flow to reduce the temp or restrict to increase. We have complete control over the system environment to manipulate the smolt status as needed (chlorides/temperature/photoperiod).

PHASE 3: Improve fungus control, survival in a recirculation, and smolt performance while reducing operating cost, and maintaining a high level of biosecurity and improved environmental performance

1. Currently fungus has a significant impact on smolt and brood production in recirculation systems. What combination of technologies can be employed to provide the required salt levels to control fungus without having to purchase, transport, handle, store, and dissolve salt while improving environmental (reduced carbon ) performance and lowering operating cost (potential saving of $0.10 per smolt)?
2. Is it possible to establish a biosecure salt water well on the project site that is sustainable and what technology is best suited to sterilize the water as a precautionary measure?
   
   The production wells on site provide a water chemistry that is very good for smolt production. The calcium chloride and magnesium chloride levels present in the wells promote solid fin quality and provide the necessary ions to make a successful transition to the marine environment. As a result, we have used less therapeutics to treat any fish health or fungal issues. We have experienced monetary improvements within the first 8 months of production. Stantec has drilled and developed all of the wells currently on site.

PROJECT RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES

The Newfoundland salmonid aquaculture sector, including Northern Harvest, is reliant upon smolt importations. This negatively impacts competitiveness of Newfoundland-based farms and poses a biosecurity risk by requiring farms to often take delivery of smolt at sub-optimal sizes and times of the year due to the constraints imposed by the logistics of long-distance fish transport. 

Construction of a land-based recirculation technology-based hatchery with full control of production parameters, temperatures and water chemistry offers advantages:

1. Production of smolt of any size, at anytime to match the optimal combination of smolt size and time of entry to best utilize the NL marine environment to meet market demand
2. Significant cost savings on a per smolt basis to improve competitiveness

Application of recirculation technology in aquaculture is common. Smoltification in recirculation systems can be very successful, but is often variable. This is due to the lack of complete temperature control in most systems in combination with certain production strategies. This system, because it greatly reduces requirement for new water, is much more capable and economical to control. The Silk Stevens system we plan to use requires less water to operate than current systems used for smolt production in Canada. Consequently, smolt quality can be improved without the need for expensive treatment and royalty fees.

Conclusion

The AIMAP project was very useful for Northern Harvest Smolt Ltd in being competitive in the local and global aquaculture industry. It has given us the ability to adopt new technologies such as water recirculation and wastewater designs by Silk Stevens as well as biofiltration and gasses control with the use of Gary Seeley blowers incorporated into the designs. We also had a great construction management resource in PA Consulting. The combination of these groups working together resulted in the largest, most efficient land based smolt recirculation facility in North America. The facility has over 6000 m3 of rearing space that has the ability to create any environment we wish to grow the largest, healthiest smolt available.