Sustainable delousing solutions

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

Sea lice imposes significant problems for the aquaculture industry, particularly for the salmon industry. The parasite has a profound economic impact as the infected fish suffer from decreased growth rates, and increased mortality rates and would require expensive delousing processes to proceed the salmon production. The problem also relates to wild salmon as they get infected during migration past salmon farms which causes a decline in natural salmon population. Treatments range from chemicals to mechanical which both have a high associated cost for the environment, salmon health, and for salmon production. Regulatory requirements are set based on observed side effects of known delousing methods which is setting the standard for the upcoming technologies, and limitation to previous applied technologies. The need for new delousing technologies and solutions is higher than ever as the problem are costing the industry 5 Billion NOK. In addition, thirty percent of the salmon being deloused die as a direct result of the process. Water AS will address the challenges by applying new solutions that serve the potential of significantly improving the associated cost, environmental impact factor, and overall salmon health.