Sustainable aquaculture with Lamor's environmentally friendly solutions for fish farms

Challenge

The aquaculture industry needs an environmentally friendly solution to help keep fish healthy. Many wild fisheries have been over exploited, but fish farms can provide a sustainable supply. The main threat to fish farming is a parasitic infestation, particularly by sea lice.

A common method to treat sea lice is by using hydrogen peroxide, yet there are two potential problems that are becoming more apparent over time. One is environmental concerns. The second problem is a fear of sea lice building up a resistance to this chemical.

Salmon is one of the key species in aquaculture and accounts for about 70 percent of the farmed fish market. Because of concerns about hydrogen peroxide, many fish farmers are moving to more environmentally friendly solutions. One treatment is simple: fresh water. Salmon live in fresh water at different times of their natural lifecycle, but sea lice are only adapted to salt water. This means the salmon can handle a freshwater bath, but the parasites can’t.

Solution

Fish are exposed to fresh water in a live fish carrier, so the lice lose their grip. The treated and healthy fish are then released back into their growing area. For fish farms at sea, this freshwater can be supplied by reverse osmosis (RO) systems.

Reverse osmosis purifies water by using a partially permeable membrane. Lamor RO systems are an excellent solution for desalination. RO uses relatively little energy to produce fresh water compared to other desalination methods, such as multi-stage flash, multi-effect distillation, and mechanical vapor compression. Lamor systems are tailor-made to match the capacity and footprint needed. While many others in the industry only sell standard bulk systems, we can create the size to match your new or retrofitted vessel.

“The Lamor RO systems are manufactured to the high-quality standards we are used to in the global marine industry and provide the best energy efficiency on the market. They are highly automated and user-friendly to provide worry-free and efficient operations. We can quickly serve our customers anywhere in the world through our global hubs,“ says Petri Vänskä, Water Treatment Global Manager at Lamor.

Impact

Live fish carriers are now benefiting from Lamor’s RO systems which were developed for the demanding needs of the cruise industry. Aquaculture needs fresh water just like the cruise sector, so they get to take advantage of years of research, development, and improvements in RO and water treatment. Aquaculture water filtration is a way for the industry to protect their investment and do it in a responsible, efficient and sustainable manner.