The company Blue Lice AS has developed and patented technology that catches lice larvae before they reach the fish using light signals and pumps. The system will now be installed at SINTEF ACE's aquaculture facility on Singsholmen, off the coast of Mid-Norway.
The technology uses specific light signals to attract free-swimming lice larvae, which then hoovers them in using a pump. The lice can then be collected in a filter. The system is mounted on the facility's frame mooring with sufficient distance to the cages so that it does not affect the fish or daily operations.
- The transition from a treatment-based to a preventive strategy for combating salmon lice can have large, positive effects on fish welfare in the marine phase and contribute to reducing treatment-induced mortality, says project manager in SINTEF Ocean, Andreas Hagemann.
However, it is challenging to document new preventive methods against lice infestation in full-scale field trials. This is due to large seasonal and annual variations in lice pressure, and different hydrodynamic conditions between cages and locations which make direct comparison of data difficult.
- With solid research-based documentation from the project, we can finally document the positive effect we have seen through our results since 2020, says general manager of Blue Lice, Karoline Sjødal Olsen.
Lice trap project
Through the Lice trap project, the researchers will document and quantify the effect of Blue Lice's trap technology as a preventative measure against lice. The sub-goals include documenting and comparing the effect through testing and follow-up of the technology in field trials through an entire production cycle at sea using various methods that include mathematical lice models, weekly lice counts, real-time monitoring of lice caught by the system and quantitative analyses of lice DNA from the system's filter stations.
- Since we in this project will carry out experiments where the equipment is switched on and off, we will get a good basis for being able to quantify the effect of the lice traps, says senior researcher Solveig Engebretsen at the Norwegian Computing Center.
Good documentation can reduce the risk by trying new measures, improving fish welfare and reduce the need for treatment.
The project is carried out in collaboration with Norsk Regnesentral, Blue Lice, NINAgen and SINTEF ACE.
