Nautilus del 2

Technical solution

• The buoyant pen lies on the surface and the net with net roofs and air dome is lowered to less than 20 meters
• Nets with net roofs and air dome hangs from ropes or straps under the buoyant pen
• The buoyant pen is without styrofoam, with associated bottom ring
• Standard frame mooring
• Prepared for installation of sludge collection
• The fish get access to air and feed through the air dome that stands in the middle of the net roof
• Ordinary frame mooring
• Certified according to NS 9415:21

Important functions

• Raising and lowering the net:
  ​​​​The net hangs in straps under the buoyancy pen. When you raise or lower the net, you loosen the straps and use a rope to raise or lower the net. This work is done by a boat, or we can deliver a winch that is permanently mounted on the floating pen. When the net is at the correct depth, the straps are attached to their own mooring cleats on the buoyancy pen.

• Air dome in the deep: Submersible fish farm facilities are not a new invention – there are a number of facilities for different species. But it has never been developed for salmon. The reasons are that salmon have an open swim bladder with a channel between the swim bladder and the mouth. The salmon have a natural need to fill their swim bladder approx. once a day and in an open pen it goes up to the surface and "grabs" some air. This is not possible in a submerged pen and the salmon must therefore be offered access to an air pocket in the depths. We do this via an air dome located at the top of the submerged pen, see figure below. The air is replenished every day using the control system AKVA connect.
• Feeding in-depth: The feed is mixed with water on the barge and then transported out to the pen and down into the depths of the air dome. The feed is distributed to the fish directly under the dome and this area is lit - both so that the fish can see the feed and the air pocket. The fish in Atlantis did not behave differently during feeding than the fish in the surface pens and there are no negative experiences with feeding of Atlantis pens in general.

Picture: The principle for filling a swim bladder in an air dome.

• Camera and sensors: The fish are monitored using a camera attached to a line under the dome. For monitoring and counting lice and fish welfare parameters, a lice monitoring camera approved by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority for lice counting is used. Then there is no need to take the pen to the surface to count lice manually.

Picture: We deliver camera setups customized to Nautilus.