DTU Aqua conducts a training course on fish farming in land-based saltwater systems for consultants and practitioners from across the Baltic Sea Region.
From the 5 to 9 October 2013, 22 specially-chosen consultants and practitioners from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Sweden and Finland meet at DTU Aqua at the North Sea Science Park in Hirtshals, Northern Jutland to learn about sustainable fish production. The focus of the course is on Danish know-how related to farming in land-based saltwater plants which are environmentally friendly due to efficient waste water treatment and reuse of the water.
"We have a lot of know-how in Denmark about developing environmentally friendly freshwater fish farms, and this knowledge will be used to further develop the technology and methods for sustainable farming in land-based saltwater plants."
Senior advisory scientist Alfred Jokumsen
The aim of the course is to inspire and provide the participants with tools to apply Danish knowledge and technology in environmentally efficient aquaculture to practical and green production of fish in the other Baltic Sea countries.
"Danish aquaculture research and production is at the forefront of the development of green technology and minimal environmental impact. It is this technology that we are now working together on in order to transfer it to the Baltic Sea countries, so that they can produce fish for their domestic markets. This in turn creates jobs and development in remote areas and reduces the need for imports of fish products," says Alfred Jokumsen, senior advisory scientist at DTU Aqua and project manager for the collaboration which is part of an EU project with 14 partners in the region.
Denmark at forefront in recirculated aquaculture
The course is organized by Alfred Jokumsen and researcher Lars-Flemming Pedersen, both from DTU Aqua. Lars-Flemming Pedersen says:
"Danish recirculation technology is highly advanced and Danish equipment and plant manufacturers rightly has a very good reputation abroad”.
The total Danish production of approx. 40,000 tonnes of farmed fish (mainly rainbow trout) per year is increasingly using clean technologies that reduce adverse environmental effects because the fish farms recirculate and purify the water, thereby reducing their water consumption significantly.
The use of water-recirculation technology has led to the World Wildlife Fund promoting rainbow trout produced in Denmark up to the green category of fish, awarded to fish produced in a way that has minimum environmental impact.
This more sustainable production method has been developed in a joint collaboration between DTU Aqua and the Danish fish-farming industry, including focusing on the composition of the cleaning components in fish-farming plants.
"One of the benefits of land-based facilities is the possibility to efficient control of the quality of discharged water. We have a lot of know-how in Denmark about developing environmentally friendly freshwater fish farms, and this knowledge will be used to further develop the technology and methods for sustainable farming in land-based saltwater plants," says Alfred Jokumsen, DTU Aqua.
In addition, DTU Aqua also offers the world’s only graduate programme in aquaculture based on recirculation technology.
Learn more about the MSc Eng Programme in Aquatic Science and Technology