Norwegian salmon and trout farmer, Cermaq, is employing a new tool to combat sea lice in its operations in Chile.
The new tool, developed by Sea Farm Innovations (SFI), is a mechanical system that is based on flushing with clean sea water of ambient temperature to remove the sea lice. The process takes just 0.2 seconds per fish and is effective against both mobile and adult sea lice.
“We know that the sea lice situation in Chile is challenging, and we need to expand our toolbox to remain in control,” said Harald Takle, R&D manager farming technology at the Cermaq Group. “We think SFI have come up with a very interesting concept that safeguards the welfare of the fish and at the same time is both flexible and easy to operate. If successful here, we will share this knowledge with the industry in Chile and our operations in Canada and Norway,” he added.
The delousing system can treat all fish sizes, has a high treatment capacity, is easy to operate and can be installed on multiple boat types.
Javier Herrera, sea water director for Cermaq Chile, is eager to start using the new delousing system. “We are looking forward to deploying the new tool. This system will enable us to delouse our fish gently and hopefully with high treatment efficiency,” he said.
Eyðbjørn Hansen, managing director at SFI, added, “We find Cermaq the perfect partner in our quest to make delousing as gentle as possible. Our main focus from the beginning has been fish welfare and for us to be able to work together with a leading company within fish welfare is a perfect match.”
