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en The use of seaweed as a water purification system appears to provide an excellent opportunity to improve effectiveness and reduce costs in the production of salt water fish and shellfish and to develop new products and product concepts.
This technique uses seaweed species such as Saccharina latissima and Laminaria digitata and possibly Ulva lactuca , which can be grown in the effluent stream and even in the recirculation stream of the fish farm.
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Minuscule seaweed plants of Palmaria palmata |
The research is focusing on two main topics:
- The development of a practical and especially cost-effective technique and method with which young seaweed plants can be propagated and grown in such a purification system. This will be followed by achieving optimal development and efficiency of the purification system.
- Measuring the effect of seaweed in the recirculation system on the growth and development of turbot.
Gametofyten of Laminaria digitata |
In the project, seaweed will be used to tackle a tangible and important problem in turbot culture. Periodic dips in the growth/development of the fish and occasional mortality are attributed to fluctuating water quality (nitrate content) and/or the presence of hazardous micro-organisms. Managing the causes of these problems can greatly improve the feed conversion rate and accelerate the production cycle, thereby resulting in a more profitable culture system. It is known that seaweed can effectively absorb ammonium, nitrate and phosphate and can have a stabilising effect on the ecosystem of the fish farm. |
The project aims to provide a blueprint for application in large-scale systems. To achieve this, small-scale experiments are necessary that can be conducted at the laboratory scale and by individual fish farmers. The system will be designed to be as compact as possible by using young seaweed plants in such a way that they are continuously in the exponential growth phase.
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The project also takes account of application in the system for inland shellfish hatcheries, which are subject to increasing interest. It is expected that the knowledge that is acquired in this project can also be used for purifying sea water in the surroundings of fish/shellfish farms on the open sea.
The strength of this project is that at the end, another harvestable product remains for which there are various applications, including processing into animal feed or even fish feed. As a result, waste is transformed into a valuable raw material.
This project is part of the LNV programme ‘Innovation in the Fish Chain’, which is partly financed by the European Fisheries Fund. The project is a framework of cooperation involving Hortimare (seaweed propagator ), Seafarm and Grovisco (turbot farms), and the Wageningen UR institutes Wageningen IMARES and Plant Research International (PRI). The project began in August 2009 and will continue through early 2012.
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Adult Laminaria digitata |