New Atlas

Science Audio available

Stress-analysis device stands in for salmon

Ben Coxworth February 4, 2019

Sea lice infestations are a common problem in salmon farms, and while there are chemical-free ways of getting the parasites off the fish, they're kind of rough. A new device is being put through one such delousing process, in order to measure just how hard it is on the salmon.

Even when chemicals aren't used, delousing may still be physically hard on farmed salmon

Environment

Aquatraz is made to be an Alcatraz for farmed salmon

Ben Coxworth January 2, 2019

Among the criticisms of salmon farms are the facts that non-native fish can escape into the local marine environment, plus the farmed fish may become infected with parasites that spread to wild populations. A new type of salmon pen, however, is designed to address those problems.

The walls of the Aquatraz salmon pen are composed of exposed netting at lower depths, but ...

Science

Transgenic plants could make for more nutritious salmon

Ben Coxworth October 11, 2018

Although salmon are known to be a good source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, farmed fish typically contain much less of them than their wild counterparts. Norwegian scientists are working on a solution to that problem, in the form of fish feed made from a genetically-engineered plant.

Farmed salmon have much lower omega-3 levels than they used to, due to a reduced use ...

Environment

Algae-meal fish food could make aquaculture more eco-friendly

Ben Coxworth August 20, 2018

Even though tilapia may be raised on farms, the food that they eat still contains ecologically-important fish that are caught in the ocean, depleting wild stocks. That's why Dartmouth College scientists are now looking at replacing the fishmeal in that food with existing algae meal.

Pallab Sarker and Anne Kapuscinski (who is now at UC Santa Cruz) work with Nile tilapia

Good Thinking

New method of tilapia-farming makes the old way seem square

Ben Coxworth June 28, 2018

One of the world's most commonly farmed fish, tilapia are typically raised in square pens and get fed by hand a few times a day. New Brazilian technology that does away with those factors, however, is claimed to reduce both expenses AND fish mortality rates.

The new circular pens allow the tilapia to swim continuously, which they can't do in traditional ...

Around The Home

Self-cleaning aquarium fuels its rooftop herb garden with fish feces

Nick Lavars December 12, 2017

In 2015, a startup called Aqua Design Innovations launched a low-maintenance home aquaponics system that relied on the natural filters to keep its waters clear. The company raised a lot of cash in the process, and is now building on that success with a bigger system that accommodates more plants.

Aqua Design Innovations has returned to Kickstarter to fund the EcoQube C+

Environment

Farming fish in a tiny percentage of the oceans could feed the world

David Szondy August 15, 2017

A study from UCLA suggests that if fish farming can be moved offshore, then an area of sea the size of Lake Michigan (0.025 percent of the ocean's surface), could meet the global demand for fish and allow wild stock to recover.

$Ocean-farmed fish and seafood could meet global demand using only a tiny fraction of the world's ...$

Environment

Scientists take the fish out of fish food

Ben Coxworth June 6, 2016

It's one of the great ironies of aquaculture – although the fish come from farms, the food that they eat contains wild-caught fish. A few years ago, however, a study showed that prawns could be fed microbes instead of fish byproducts. Now, another study has concluded the same thing about tilapia.

Nile tilapia grow larger when fed microalgae in place of the usual fish oil

Biology

Salmon the first genetically engineered animal to get FDA approval for human consumption

Nick Lavars November 19, 2015

Following what it describes as an "exhaustive and rigorous scientific review," the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has today announced the approval of the first ever genetically-modified animal for human consumption.

The FDA has approved a genetically modified Atlantic salmon for human consumption

Marine

eFishery fish farm feeder dispenses feed based on fish hunger levels

John Anderson October 19, 2015

eFishery hopes to alleviate environmental waste problems associated with overfeeding on fish farms. Its smart feeding device works by detecting hungry fish behavior and dispensing the proper amount of feed.

eFishery’s automatic smart feeder uses sensors to detect hungry fish behavior and dispense the right amount ...