Salmon farming is a multi-billion dollar global industry facing considerable difficulties posed by growing pressure from environmental regulatory bodies. Because marine organisms grow on and “foul” synthetic nets, oxygen available to fish is reduced and infectious diseases and parasites can spread among the fish.
A test to study the reduction of fouling formation on netting of fish cages by using the LG Sonic® technology, was executed in Chile (the leading salmon producing country) at a salmon farming facility in the South of Chile.
An LG Sonic® system was installed in a salmon cage of 20m by 20m. The nets used in this experiment were already covered with marine fouling organisms especially filamentous algae. After 28 days, a clear difference could be seen between the nets of the reference cage and the nets of the cage treated with ultrasound of specific frequencies (figure 2a, b, c and d).The reference net (figure 2a and b) were heavily covered with marine fouling (filamentous algae and slimy biological substances) in comparisons with the nets treated with ultrasound (figure 2c and d).Furthermore, there was no changes detectable in the salmons behaviour during the whole experiment. These results indicates that marine fouling formation on salmon cages can be suppressed by the ultrasound, which would subsequently results in less frequent maintenance, less usage of toxic antifouling chemical, and lower maintenance cost.
