It is common knowledge that fish is good for you. It is a high-protein, low fat food that provides various health benefits – due to the fact that fish is a great source of minerals, is high in vitamins D and B2, and packs plenty of omega-3 fatty acids. The latter, especially, help maintain cardiovascular health, reduce tissue inflammation and alleviate rheumatoid arthritis.
Awareness of these benefits has, in recent years, boosted the consumption, and demand, for fish – but at the same time, has also made people aware that consumption needs to be sustainable in order to preserve marine resources.
What bridges high demand with preservation is aquaculture – this is one of the fastest growing sectors in the food industry since it provides high-value proteins and good fats for a healthy diet while simultaneously preserving wild marine resources.
Within this sector, Recirculating Aquaculture Systems, or ‘RAS’ aquaculture, is unique as it is highly flexible and land-based, so it can be adapted to virtually any environment – from the cold climates of Norway to the desert city of Dubai – and can localise food supply.
But how does RAS work?
A better understanding of the production methods, and introducing innovative technologies, are a priority of the growing aquaculture industry. While some have expressed their concerns about the possible environment impacts of aquaculture, RAS provides an alternative for rearing aquatic animals in a fully enclosed and sustainable way. The system’s sustainability credentials are boosted by the fact that it can reuse over 90 per cent of water and control environmental parameters, preventing fish disease and reducing wastes and water use.
To make sure the fish experience optimal water quality, rapid organic waste removal from the tanks is high priority. The AquaDetector project, a partnership between Maltese SME AquaBioTech Group, China Agricultural University National Innovation Center for Digital Fishery, and Mingbo Aquatic Co. Ltd. and funded by the Malta Council for Science & Technology through the Sino-Malta Fund 2019, has recently concluded experiments assessing flowrate effects as the main environmental factors in the growing water, and has applied this knowledge for growing early-stage rainbow trout in RAS.
With proper water flow management, primary flow in culture tanks circulates along the tank wall. Secondary flow brings organic wastes to the central drain for reuse as a valuable nutrient source, which can be used as a fertiliser in agriculture or for growing microalgae. The AquaBioTech Group study combined the investigation of different water inlet placements, varying tank depths, outlet size and shape, and velocity. The results of interest include a demonstrated improvement in waste removal efficiency, showed interesting trends in tank oxygenation rate, and maintained high levels of fish growth and welfare.
Young researcher Jui-Che Chiang of the AquaBioTech Group recently presented this research as part of the Aquaculture and Fisheries information sessions at the Malta AgriFair, held last month. This was a great opportunity to talk to the Maltese public about the benefits of recirculating aquaculture and the interesting research opportunities that are taking place within the Maltese SME landscape.
Operating locally since 1998, AquaBioTech Group is a leading international consulting company strategically located to act globally with clients and projects in over 55 countries. Next year they expect to grow their team of qualified and passionate experts by 25 people in the specialist areas of aquaculture, fisheries, and aquatic environmental projects, finance acquisition, project management, technology sourcing and technical support, vocational training, and marketing.
Interested professionals looking to work in this dynamic and multicultural company and be involved in similar interesting project opportunities are encouraged to explore new vacancies through https://aquabt.com/jobs/ and send their CV in the ABTG format that is available at https://aquabt.com/careers/apply/.
Project AquaDetector is co-funded by the Malta Council for Science & Technology through the Sino-Malta Fund 2019 (Science and Technology Cooperation) Grant agreement number: SINO-MALTA-2019-11. For more information visit www.AquaDetector.com.