Alliance shedding light on how to boost FCR, welfare in fish farming

02-Sep-2020 - Last updated on 02-Sep-2020 at 19:11 GMT

Related tags salmon farming welfare yield FCR

Lighting innovator, Signify, and aquaculture industry advisor, ScaleAQ, have joined forces to boost fish welfare, production and yield for fish farmers by providing an optimal light spectrum, light distribution and control system for aquaculture producers.

Optimal lighting improves fish welfare and results in a better feed conversion ratio and lower maturation rate, while also protecting fish from sea lice infestation, claim the partners.

Signify offers Philips Aquaculture LED lighting products that ScaleAQ will resell with an initial focus on marine based/seacage products, they said.

ScaleAQ is a Norwegian-based company with expertise in onshore and sea-based aquaculture. It is the result of the merger of Steinsvik, Aqualine, AquaOptima, and Moen Marin.

Remco Lansbergen, general manager, aquaculture at Signify, told us this new partnership is global and focuses on the all markets in which ScaleAQ has a presence, implying Norway, Chile, North America, namely Canada, Scotland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Turkey and particular markets in Middle East and Asia.

Research into effects of light spectrum on salmon performance

Signify, he said, collaborates with leading universities and institutes by funding PhD and post-doctoral research projects.

“This includes research into [the impact of LED lighting] on the on-growing phase at Sterling University, Scotland, and research into the effects of light spectrum, uniformity, intensity and dimming on salmon in the hatchery stages at Bergen University, Norway,”

Aside from third party publications, he outlined how Signify’s own research findings from 2015 demonstrated how specific LED lighting systems, compared to metal halide light, were able to penetrate deep and distribute uniformly in the cages ensuring the necessary amount of light on a daily basis to prevent triggering sexual maturation of salmon.

“The enhancement of growth by using specific LED lighting clearly shows an increased biological efficiency as compared to metal halogen. The commercial use of these new LED lighting systems could contribute to boost productivity while improving fish welfare at sea,” wrote the authors, Cristina Tanase et al.

Signify believes lighting, combined with IoT and data insights, will play a crucial role in optimizing agricultural businesses in the future:

“Our Philips aquaculture lights can make use of a connected lighting management platform that is helping fish farms to be more efficient and effective. The management platform offers full visibility and control on the Philips aquaculture lights installed. With a user-friendly, centralized dashboard our customers can securely access and monitor the individual light points, set schedules and adjust light levels on demand via a web browser or tablet. This gives real-time insights into the status of the lights.

“Light recipes can be set optimizing the photoperiod benefits to the maximum. The connected infrastructure will enable future releases that support IoT related propositions within aquaculture,” said Lansbergen.