The effect of water currents on post-smolt Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar (L.). A welfare approach to exposed aquaculture
The future development of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) aquaculture is limited by the availability of space and suitable environments along coastal areas. Utilising exposed areas is a possible solution to this problem. The technology for offshore and exposed aquaculture is well developed, but the...
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Language: | English |
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The University of Bergen
2017
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ftunivbergen:oai:bora.uib.no:1956/16129 2023-05-15T15:26:17+02:00 The effect of water currents on post-smolt Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar (L.). A welfare approach to exposed aquaculture Solstorm, Frida 2017-06-27 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1956/16129 eng eng The University of Bergen Paper I: Johansson, D., Laursen, F., Fernö, A., Fosseidengen, J. E., Klebert, P., Stien, L. H., Vågseth, T., & Oppedal, F. (2014): “The interaction between water currents and salmon swimming behaviour in sea cages”, PLoS ONE 9:e97635. The article is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1956/9570 Paper II: Solstorm, F., Solstorm, D., Oppedal, F., Fernö, A., Fraser, T. W. K., & Olsen, R. E., (2015): ”Fast water currents reduce production performance of post-smolt Atlantic salmon Salmo salar”, Aquaculture Environment Interactions, Vol. 7: 125-134. The article is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1956/10778 Paper III: Solstorm, F., Solstorm, D., Oppedal, F., & Fjelldal, P. G., (2016): “The vertebral column and exercise in Atlantic salmon – regional effects”, Aquaculture, Vol. 461: 9- 16. The article is available in the main thesis. The article is also available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2016.04.019 Paper IV: Solstorm, F., Solstorm, D., Oppedal, F., Olsen, R. E., Stien, L. H., & Fernö, A., (2016): “Not too slow, not too fast: water currents affect group structure, aggression and welfare in post-smolt Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar”, Aquaculture Environment Interactions, Vol. 8: 339-347. The article is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1956/16128 http://hdl.handle.net/1956/16129 cristin:1479755 Copyright the Author. All rights reserved Atlanterhavslaks Hydrodynamikk https://data.ub.uio.no/realfagstermer/c012698 https://data.ub.uio.no/realfagstermer/c011907 Doctoral thesis 2017 ftunivbergen 2023-03-14T17:43:33Z The future development of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) aquaculture is limited by the availability of space and suitable environments along coastal areas. Utilising exposed areas is a possible solution to this problem. The technology for offshore and exposed aquaculture is well developed, but there is a lack of knowledge concerning the effect of fast water current velocities on fish. In some locations, velocities exceed what is considered the critical swimming speed for salmon. Exposing salmon to such fast currents could severely compromise their welfare. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to evaluate the effects of strong water currents on individual fish. As a first approach, field observations were conducted at an exposed site where salmon behaviour was monitored in relation to current velocity. A behavioural adaptation to fast currents was observed at an ambient current velocity of approximately 0.7 BL s-1. At this velocity, some fish broke their circular schooling behaviour and maintained position against the current, creating a mix of swimming behaviours, i.e., both circular and standing on the current. Further increases in velocity (0.9 BL s-1) resulted in all fish abandoning the circular swimming behaviour to stand on the current. To explore the effect of a single parameter, water current velocity, a six-week laboratory experiment was conducted. Atlantic salmon post-smolt were exposed to three different velocities in raceways; slow (0.2 BL s-1), moderate (0.8 BL s-1) and fast (1.5 BL s-1). The setup forced the fish to primarily swim at the prevailing velocity. Fish growth, muscle composition and blood chemistry were analysed before and after the experiment. All fish were also examined for fin erosions, external injuries, skeletal morphology and bone composition. The fish behaviour was studied in detail throughout the experiment. The setup did not allow for circular swimming behaviour, as can be observed in sea cages. However, the plasticity of salmon behaviour was also clear in this setup, and the ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Atlanterhavslaks Atlantic salmon Salmo salar University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) Aquaculture 461 9 16 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivbergen |
language |
English |
topic |
Atlanterhavslaks Hydrodynamikk https://data.ub.uio.no/realfagstermer/c012698 https://data.ub.uio.no/realfagstermer/c011907 |
spellingShingle |
Atlanterhavslaks Hydrodynamikk https://data.ub.uio.no/realfagstermer/c012698 https://data.ub.uio.no/realfagstermer/c011907 Solstorm, Frida The effect of water currents on post-smolt Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar (L.). A welfare approach to exposed aquaculture |
topic_facet |
Atlanterhavslaks Hydrodynamikk https://data.ub.uio.no/realfagstermer/c012698 https://data.ub.uio.no/realfagstermer/c011907 |
description |
The future development of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) aquaculture is limited by the availability of space and suitable environments along coastal areas. Utilising exposed areas is a possible solution to this problem. The technology for offshore and exposed aquaculture is well developed, but there is a lack of knowledge concerning the effect of fast water current velocities on fish. In some locations, velocities exceed what is considered the critical swimming speed for salmon. Exposing salmon to such fast currents could severely compromise their welfare. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to evaluate the effects of strong water currents on individual fish. As a first approach, field observations were conducted at an exposed site where salmon behaviour was monitored in relation to current velocity. A behavioural adaptation to fast currents was observed at an ambient current velocity of approximately 0.7 BL s-1. At this velocity, some fish broke their circular schooling behaviour and maintained position against the current, creating a mix of swimming behaviours, i.e., both circular and standing on the current. Further increases in velocity (0.9 BL s-1) resulted in all fish abandoning the circular swimming behaviour to stand on the current. To explore the effect of a single parameter, water current velocity, a six-week laboratory experiment was conducted. Atlantic salmon post-smolt were exposed to three different velocities in raceways; slow (0.2 BL s-1), moderate (0.8 BL s-1) and fast (1.5 BL s-1). The setup forced the fish to primarily swim at the prevailing velocity. Fish growth, muscle composition and blood chemistry were analysed before and after the experiment. All fish were also examined for fin erosions, external injuries, skeletal morphology and bone composition. The fish behaviour was studied in detail throughout the experiment. The setup did not allow for circular swimming behaviour, as can be observed in sea cages. However, the plasticity of salmon behaviour was also clear in this setup, and the ... |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Solstorm, Frida |
author_facet |
Solstorm, Frida |
author_sort |
Solstorm, Frida |
title |
The effect of water currents on post-smolt Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar (L.). A welfare approach to exposed aquaculture |
title_short |
The effect of water currents on post-smolt Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar (L.). A welfare approach to exposed aquaculture |
title_full |
The effect of water currents on post-smolt Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar (L.). A welfare approach to exposed aquaculture |
title_fullStr |
The effect of water currents on post-smolt Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar (L.). A welfare approach to exposed aquaculture |
title_full_unstemmed |
The effect of water currents on post-smolt Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar (L.). A welfare approach to exposed aquaculture |
title_sort |
effect of water currents on post-smolt atlantic salmon, salmo salar (l.). a welfare approach to exposed aquaculture |
publisher |
The University of Bergen |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1956/16129 |
genre |
Atlanterhavslaks Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
genre_facet |
Atlanterhavslaks Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
op_relation |
Paper I: Johansson, D., Laursen, F., Fernö, A., Fosseidengen, J. E., Klebert, P., Stien, L. H., Vågseth, T., & Oppedal, F. (2014): “The interaction between water currents and salmon swimming behaviour in sea cages”, PLoS ONE 9:e97635. The article is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1956/9570 Paper II: Solstorm, F., Solstorm, D., Oppedal, F., Fernö, A., Fraser, T. W. K., & Olsen, R. E., (2015): ”Fast water currents reduce production performance of post-smolt Atlantic salmon Salmo salar”, Aquaculture Environment Interactions, Vol. 7: 125-134. The article is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1956/10778 Paper III: Solstorm, F., Solstorm, D., Oppedal, F., & Fjelldal, P. G., (2016): “The vertebral column and exercise in Atlantic salmon – regional effects”, Aquaculture, Vol. 461: 9- 16. The article is available in the main thesis. The article is also available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2016.04.019 Paper IV: Solstorm, F., Solstorm, D., Oppedal, F., Olsen, R. E., Stien, L. H., & Fernö, A., (2016): “Not too slow, not too fast: water currents affect group structure, aggression and welfare in post-smolt Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar”, Aquaculture Environment Interactions, Vol. 8: 339-347. The article is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/1956/16128 http://hdl.handle.net/1956/16129 cristin:1479755 |
op_rights |
Copyright the Author. All rights reserved |
container_title |
Aquaculture |
container_volume |
461 |
container_start_page |
9 |
op_container_end_page |
16 |
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1766356799095570432 |