Impacts of fish farm structures with biomass on water currents: A case study from Frøya

Impacts of aquaculture fish cages and their biomass on the local water current field is investigated with extensive, full scale field measurements. This is important for the fish welfare as well as for waste transport from open fish cages. The relationships between the current flow rate at various l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of sea research 2019-12, Vol.154, p.101806, Article 101806
Main Authors: Michelsen, Finn Are, Klebert, Pascal, Broch, Ole Jacob, Alver, Morten O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquaculture
Bathymeters
Bathymetry
Biomass
Cages
Doppler sonar
Farm structure
Field measurements
Fish
Fish cages
Fish culture
Fish farms
Flow rates
Flow velocity
Instruments
Ocean current
Ocean models
Profilers
Stratification
Water currents
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Summary:Impacts of aquaculture fish cages and their biomass on the local water current field is investigated with extensive, full scale field measurements. This is important for the fish welfare as well as for waste transport from open fish cages. The relationships between the current flow rate at various locations close to fish cages are examined at an aquaculture marine site close to Frøya, Norway. This is an area with a complex current pattern due to the bathymetry, rocks and islands, coast current and strong wind conditions. An array of ADCPs (Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers) measured currents. Moreover, CTD and separate temperature profiler instruments were made in order to analyze flow stratification. Two different measurement periods are analysed with 1) small fish size (0,2–0,4 kg) and 2) large fish size (1 kg–5 kg). The field measurements indicate some impact from the biomass on the measured current flow at distances from 90 to 320 m around it. The results are supported by results from the numerical ocean model SINMOD (SINtef MODel). •Fish farms•Field measurements•Ocean current•Impact from the biomass on current speed reduction across fish cages at measured positions.•Numerical current flow profiles at mesured positions return similar variation, magnitude and direction as the measured data.
ISSN:1385-1101
1873-1414
DOI:10.1016/j.seares.2019.101806