The overall vision of the Seafarm Pulse Guard [SPG] project is to upscale, pilot and commercialise our unique method for preventing sea lice infestation in marine salmon farming.
EU INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIETAL PROBLEMS: Sea lice are considered one of the greatest challenges in salmon farming, posing a detrimental effect on marine ecosystems, fish health and welfare, and consequently threatening the sustainability of the aquaculture industry. The economic cost of a problem may be the bestmetric for prioritizing research and management resources. Costs associated to sea lice control are estimated as €0.3-0.9/kg of salmon produced costs, a figure that only in Norway was estimated to more than €500m in 2015 (66% higher than in 2014) with medical treatments (particularly hydrogen peroxide) accounting for approx. €270m . Regional estimates for the cost of sea lice ranged from 4% of production value for Atlantic Canada to 7–10% in Scotland. A cost of 6% of the value of the production for the countries affected by sea lice has been established as average. While this will vary for different farms and the same farms over time, it helps place the cost of lice in the context of other measures the industry may take to improve protability .
Available commercial solutions to prevent sea lice are focused on reactive methods (i.e. infestation treatment), leaving fish farmers with a very limited capacity to prevent disease outbreaks. Avoiding the long list of negative consequences associated with sea lice and impacting fish health and the economic status, productivity, and reputation of fish farms has never been more challenging.
OUR SOLUTION: Seafarm Pulse Guard (SPG) is a preventive method capable of reducing sea-lice infestation in fish farms by 95%. Our patented, chemical-free technology uses electrical pulses under 48V to inactivate sea lice development at larval stages (Nauplius and Copepodite) and prevent the lice from attaching to salmon in fish net-pens and to reproduce. Results from preliminary tests have shown no indications of any negative biological effect on salmon, no interaction with the surrounding environment nor with the fish farm infrastructure, even under harsh weather conditions. In addition, electrical pulses have proven to be highly effective in preventing escapes (we have documented a reduction of 20% in our small-scale tests) and attacks from predators (e.g. seals).
