Aquaculture is the fastest growing sector of animal production worldwide. The market of Atlantic salmon is growing fast - since 2010 the growth rate has been approx. 20 per cent annually according to FAO FishStat. But in contrast to the rest of the world, the sector is stagnating in EU (EU Commission).
Salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) and sea lice (Caligus elongatus) have vast detrimental impact on Salmon aquaculture. Studies estimate 9 per cent of annual global production of salmon is lost to salmon and sea lice. The lice cause haemorrhaging and act as vehicles of bacterial and viral pathogens. Their damaging effects range from slow growth to high death rates of entire aquaculture populations, posing severe financial risks on aquaculture producers. Remedies include antibiotics, pesticides and chemotherapic drugs - all are highly harmful to ecosystems and fishing, especially the lobster and its industry are negatively influenced by the solutions. Further, there is increasing documentation that lice develop resistance to chemical treatments leaving salmon producers without many possibilities to maintain business.
As aqua farms of salmon are located in near-coastal locations, lice from aqua farms are transmitted to wild salmonids as they descend from rivers to oceans. Lice attaching themselves to wild ‘baby salmons’ or salmonids bare with them a death toll of 10 - 20 per cent. The consequence is the demise of the stock of wild salmon and the entire ecosystem preying on them, e.g. killer whales, seals, bears, and eagles.
Global food production is under transformation as global warming and increased population stress existing food production structures, whether land or sea based. Fishing wild fish including salmon cannot be sustained as wild stock is diminishing. The EU Blue Growth Strategy identifies aquaculture as a sector which could boost economic growth across Europe and bring social benefits through new jobs.
The Future Brief from EU’s Science for Environment Policy states that “there is a growing gap between the amount of seafood consumed in the EU, and the amount caught from wild fisheries. The European Commission calls for this gap to be partly filled with environmentally responsible aquaculture (European Commission, 2013). Aquaculture thus has an important role to play in Europe’s food security as well as its economic growth.”
Our solution makes such a contribution by diminishing costs of aquaculture production in sustainable way that does not harm ecosystems. By providing a competitive solution it also provides a economic opportunity to employment in coastal areas - areas that often are marred by unemployment.
Since the submission of the application of Clear Salmon Lice a number of key developments have happened.
The large outbreak of lice in winter 2016/17 saw supply of salmon decrease by nine per cent, prices soaring up to 50 per cent, and increased investments in measures against lice. These include new designs of (larger) nets, application of sonics, and other measures, including intensified investments in new solutions such as fresh water solutions. The plethora of solutions supports the promise that there is a very large market to explore. We are also highly encouraged by the new solutions in fresh water solutions as they add credibility to our solution.
Frama has developed a prototype that solves the pandemic of sea and salmon lice. Through our patented device, fresh water is introduced in the salt water aqua-cultural environment, which kills the lice in the production unit. Based on low cost components our patented device offers a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to high-cost remedies utilizing fresh water induction to salt water aqua-cultural environment, which kills the lice in the production unit.
Our solution utilises three natural facts:
1) Salmon/sea lice cannot by biological presets live in freshwater
2) Freshwater is lighter than salt water
3) Salmons are attracted to freshwater
While other fresh water solutions in part utilize the same biological presets our patented solution is by far more economical as operation and production costs are much lower. As a result we remain highly enthusiastic of our potential.
Key objectives of the feasibility study
The key objectives of the feasibility study has been:
• To optimize the prototype solution and establish the key operational parameters through field trials (in operating production units);
• Market survey to gather information to identify primary customer segment and how overcome end-user barriers
• To verify the appropriate business models for the different target markets.
It is expected that the outcome of the feasibility study will directly lead to a Phase 2 application with the purpose of conducting a large scale test across different North European countries with global aquaculture equipment providers and customers.
