Poles show potential of salmon RAS

A POLISH land based salmon farm has successfully grown several batches of harvest size fish since it was established two years ago.
Global Fish, based near Warsaw, has a 600-tonne capacity recirculation aquaculture system, producing fish from eggs to smolts and up to 5kg marketable salmon. It runs commercially, with a small-scale production for the local market.
The facility has been equipped with Israeli RAS technology from AquaMaof Aquaculture Technologies, which describes the Polish operation as partly an R&D and training centre.
David Hazut, CEO of AquaMaof, said: ‘We see significant growth potential in the supply of recirculating aquaculture systems to salmon production companies.
‘The investment in Poland will serve two main purposes: first, we are operating this facility as an R&D centre, collecting valuable information and analysing it, for further innovation in the RAS area. Secondly, it serves as a training facility for our customers’ staff.’
Global Fish houses multiple RAS rearing units, with tank space ranging from 1-200 m3, all under strict standard operating procedures, which maximise growth conditions for salmon.
AquaMaof said in a press release that its advanced Zero Discharge Technology utilises proprietary water reuse techniques. And efficient power consumption dramatically reduces the costs of energy.
No antibiotics and no chemicals are used in the process, allowing for the production of a healthy, natural product, said the company.
‘Biosecurity is paramount, and complete environmental control ensures that salmon are grown in an environment which promotes the highest health and welfare status.’
Furthermore, an advanced feeding management system enables a reduction in the feed conversion ratio (FCR) and operational costs.
‘We are extremely proud of the fact that in such short a time we were able to achieve very good results in growing smolts up to market size salmon, in terms of operation costs, FCR and, not less important, excellent taste and colour of the fish,’ said Hazut.
‘Apart from the Global Fish facility, we have several additional projects around the world in different stages, for smolt and harvest size salmon production facilities, implementing our proprietary technology, and we expect more projects to commence in the coming months.’
AquaMaof was chosen by Grieg NL to build the world’s largest indoor salmon aquaculture facility in Newfoundland. And it is constructing the first RAS salmon farm in Spain.
The company has also established a salmon aquaculture business unit in Scotland, headed by Dr Andrew C Preston.