Smooth transition
Norwegian expertise helps prepare Scottish farms for technical standard
Aqua Knowledge delivers technical consultancy services to the aquaculture industry worldwide. Its team of experienced fish farmers and qualified marine engineers has a combination of skills essential for achieving the best technical solutions for marine farms.
The company is based in Norway but a large share of its activity is in Scotland, where the industry is now preparing for the new Scottish Technical Standard.
‘We have great experience from the implementation of the Norwegian standard,’ said Aqua Knowledge’s general manager, Yngve Askeland.
He compares the Scottish industry with the Norwegian industry a few years back, except that Scottish farms, in his opinion, look better prepared than Norwegian farms before their Standard NS 9415 was implemented.
‘Technical equipment such as moorings and pens are generally in good condition and it is clear that the Scottish farmers are focusing on maintenance and prevention of fish escapes,’ said Askeland.
The biggest change for the Scottish industry will be that it now has to document every single component and that it can`t build up new farms or do major changes to existing farms without having engineers calculate the effect on moorings and net pens.
Aqua Knowledge’s technical manager, Øyvind Refsnes, has reviewed the biggest differences between the Norwegian and the Scottish standards and concludes that the Scottish version is not just a copy of the Norwegian model, but in many ways is better thought out.
An example is that current measurements are required for a period of 90 days in the Scottish standard, compared to just 28 days in Norway.
The amount of data collected over 90 days gives a more precise current value – and the factor used to calculate the 50-year return period is more adaptable for each site (varies from 1,4 ot 1,87) where in Norway you have a fixed factor of 1.85. The 50- year current speed is a key figure when it comes to analysing mooring systems as most of the loads on moorings are caused by this.
There are other differences between the two standards. While ropes and anchors/rock pins have the same factors as in Norway, steel components such as chains, shackles and coupling discs have a much higher material factor in Scotland than in Norway.
The reason for this is not clear, but it is a fact that there have been some fish escapes in Norway over the last few years due to certified chains of low quality, and it looks like the industry wants to avoid any of these incidents in Scotland, Refsnes said.
The documentation of technical equipment has already started in Scotland even if the standard is not yet being enforced.
Two major companies in Scotland- Marine Harvest and Scottish Sea Farms - are now using Aqua Knowledge’s technical database, MMCD, for keeping track of all their technical equip- ment.
The database, built for the Norwegian NS 9415 standard, is adaptable for the Scottish standard, which is very similar in terms of certification rules and requirements for documentation of inspections and general technical conditions.
To better serve the Scottish market, Aqua Knowledge recruited Carla McVicar earlier this year at Aqua Knowledge’s sister company, Net Services Scotland.
She has been busy working on database input with Scottish customers and will now focus on training and start-up for the sites that are ready.
‘We will probably recruit more technical staff in Scotland in 2017 to work with both the MMCD database and other services related to implementation of the standard,’ said Askeland.
‘Most of the Scottish fish farmers are aware that the standard is published and will be enforced in a relatively short time.
‘The farmers who start planning for and implementing the standard now will adapt easier to its criteria - and at a lower cost.
‘Our aim is to contribute to a smooth transition and adaptation to the Scottish Technical Standard.’