Giant platform receives first salmon
JUST six weeks after completing its epic 15,000 mile voyage from China to Norway, the first salmon has been released into HavFarm1, the giant Nordlaks fish farming platform.
Nordlaks said preparations for receiving the fish had gone according to plan. Spokesman Captain André Grøtta said:
‘Until now, it has been a hectic period with a lot of personnel on board preparing for completion. We have given priority to getting the fish in, and we are on track to finish the release by September.
‘The salmon that has so far been released into HavFarm1, also called Jostein Albert after a former Nordlaks chairman, were moved from 100 metre cages at a nursery at Grøtøya and weigh an average of two kilos. Good weather and calm seas helped to make it a smooth operation.
‘So far, the fish have been moved into two of the six units on Havfram1. There are now about 20 people working on board, and there will be extra service people on board for some time to come. There is still a lot of work left before the vessel is completely ready and we have put all the fish in place, but now we are approaching more and more a normal operating situation’.
Trude Lind, head of the Nordlaks operations centre, said the fish had responded well to feeding with every indication they would thrive. The platform also gave them a lot more room to move around.The aim is to move around 2.3-million salmon onto the platform over the next month, with the fist harvest taking place around New Year.
THE Ocean Tracking Network
(OTN), a global aquatic research, data management and partnership platform headquartered at Dalhousie University in Canada, has upgraded their remotely operated vehicle to a 1000-metre rated Saab Seaeye Falcon DR.
Chosen in a competitive bid process, the Falcon was selected as the most powerful and capable ROV of its size, class and depth rating.
Greater depth capability of the
Falcon DR extends the potential for maintenance and recovery of lost tracking equipment, lends itself to oceanographic and biological surveying, and expands opportunities for OTN’s research into deep-water habitats.
‘The Falcon is compact, easily mobilized and versatile, making it attractive to potential partners who are keen to share the vehicle for joint venture research, monitoring and recovery projects,’ says OTN Executive Director, Dr. Fred
Whoriskey.
With its high-definition colour camera and built-in tools - including an arm for non-invasive sample collection - the ROV will provide new insights on aquatic animals by offering a new, safer, and less intrusive way to study them underwater.
OTN’s Falcon also comes with an ultra-short baseline acoustic tracking system, a Tritech multi-beam sonar, a Kongsberg high definition video camera and an associated lighting system, making it a highly versatile platform for the maintenance and recovery of OTN infrastructure equipment and providing high quality video for scientific and communications purposes.
OTN has more than 2,000 acoustic tracking stations deployed across five oceans, spanning seven continents, and in freshwater systems that serve as highways to the ocean for species that migrate between fresh and salt waters.
Worldwide, the Falcon can be sent to find stranded stations that have shifted from their coordinates for a variety of reasons, saving the loss of valuable equipment and data.
Just a metre long, with five powerful thrusters and intelligent control, the Falcon has precise manoeuvrability in strong cross-currents and is the most successful underwater vehicle of its class in the world.
Its revolutionary Saab Seaeye iCON™ common technology ecosystem of intelligent configurable hardware and software modules, provides operators and scientists with a ready development platform if needed.