Valuable data gathered for further testing of SCCS

Cermaq Canada remains committed to innovation and testing new technology but due to a technical fault and related fish welfare, the trial of our Semi-Closed Containment System (SCCS) has been finished in the current phase. The SCCS was in the third stage of a four stage R&D trial to test new, salmon farming technology at its Millar site in Clayoquot Sound.

The remaining healthy fish in the trial will be harvested early to avoid further complications. The Millar Site also has traditional pen systems, not directly affected by the function of the SCCS innovation project, the fish in that system will be on-grown to a standard harvest size.

“SCCS is immature technology under development, therefore it is not surprising when you are trialing new technology you will run into challenges”, says Dr Peter McKenzie Cermaq director of Fish Health. “This was our first attempt to grow fish of varying sizes in a semi closed environment and unfortunately, due to water quality issues, fish performance was affected and resulted in fish mortality.”

“We have learned a lot from this experience and although this initial trial had been ended, the reason we went ahead with the trial last autumn was to learn how to grow various sizes of fish in this system. We have acquired important technical and operational knowledge and will use this to improve the performance of the SCCS in Canadian waters,” stated David Kiemele Managing Director at Cermaq Canada. “I would also like to thank all of our staff that worked tirelessly to install and operate the SCCS. It was a tremendous effort that was achieved in the middle of a pandemic,” he added.

“We are saddened by the early termination of the first SCCS trial at Millar Channel and have been working meticulously with the outstanding Cermaq team in Canada to address the water quality issues that have resulted at this installation. FiiZK works diligently to resolve issues that may arise in our systems and are committed to further developing operations that result in optimal performance. Our dedicated team of engineers and fish health professionals are fully supporting Cermaq with their investigations.” FiiZK CEO Torstein Ronning.

In addition to the environmental monitoring, regular fish health sampling was done which supported the finding of water quality stressors and has shown no signs of disease. This is the first trial of this type of technology in British Columbia.

Moving salmon away from conventional cages into closed containment is not a simple pathway and involves trials, technology improvement and operational maturation, and sometimes errors happen on the way to success. Cermaq Canada will use the system again once a full investigation is completed and issues are resolved.

“Innovation takes time and successful innovation takes even longer. Cermaq is, and remains committed to learn, advance and investigate ways to further improve the sustainable salmon farming in our oceans now, and into the future,” concluded Kiemele.

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