First and foremost, this is about animal welfare and the quality of the end product. We aim to help our customers to make fuller use of the raw material, by handling the shrimp as gently as possible throughout the pumping process.
We have been working on the system for several years and have supplied the pump for use in many installations in the pelagic industry. We have gained invaluable knowledge, and this has helped us to develop the pump so that it can also handle large, live fish and shrimp.
Patented control system
The pump has a patented control system. It has no impellers, valves or other obstructions that can damage the shrimp on their journey.
Pressure inside the pump fluctuates from under-pressure to overpressure every 20-35 seconds, depending on the set operating frequency. This gives an even, shallow pressure gradient.
We adecided at an early stage to work with the research community in Norway, to document the pump’s fantastic animal welfare characteristics.
Sintef Ocean and Møreforskning
Throughout testing we have achieved brilliant results - much better than we had ever dared to hope.
We have worked closely and effectively with Sintef Ocean and Møreforskning throughout the project, and all of us have learned valuable lessons. Having these research resources available within easy reach is vitally important if we are to continue to lead the world in handling live marine biomas.
We have run several tests to measure animal welfare and we have been pleasantly surprised by results, which showed how gentle the Aqua Farm Rid Pump is with the animal and how little stress it causes. In fact, all the report shows that the stress level in the fish was well beneath the recommended threshold.
Fish welfare and sustainable fish handling
We can see enormous potential for farmers and operators who want to move fish as gently as possible to secure and achieve maximum quality of end product
This pump can also replace existing pumping systems where gentle handling is required.
IN THE NEWS; from Aqua Culture Asia Pacific: Norway’s MMC First Process has a game changing pump system for moving fish and shrimp gently from point to point. A good example is transferring fish and shrimp between cages and ponds. It is also possible to use the system to move fish to a processing plant. This is part of MMC First Process’s strategy to transform the seafood industry by providing sustainable solutions right through the processing chain from harvesting to cooling and processing. The company produces equipment for both aquaculture and wild catch fisheries.
During the recent World Aquaculture 2022 Singapore, the team of Roy Glomset, Sales Concept Manager Process; Sit Kok Lee, Business Adviser and Jan Petter Urke, BU Manager Energy, discussed their latest product. It is an innovative spiral pumping system called the Aqua Farm RID Pump, designed to secure fish welfare and quality. This pump is the only such pump with a suction function and Glomset assured us that at no time will the fish or shrimp passing through it be deprived of water. The way in which the water is directed through the spiral pumping system ensures that fish and shrimp are fully immersed in water throughout the process.
“The smallest pump has a water flow of 64m3/hour, while the largest is a high-capacity version where water flows at 1100m3/hour. The large version can transfer fish up to a size of 10-15kg while the smaller pump is to designed to move small fry and fish up to a size of 1-1.5kg. These unique pumps are easily movable for positioning between tanks. They can also be stopped without harming the fish. There is continuous velocity and flow at both inlet and outlet,” said Glomset.
These pumps have other advantages, in addition to bio security and animal welfare. “First comes energy consumption. The Aqua Farm Rid Pump is very energy-efficient compared to other known industrial pumping systems. Cleaning is safe and easy too. All that is required is to connect to the outlet and inlet. When used in a processing plant such as that used for processing pangasius, we reverse the pumping when processing stops.”
The MMC First Process team said that this pump has enormous potential for fish transport and transfer. In Vietnam, trials are taking place at Viet Uc farm to transfer shrimp over 850m distances. Attached to the pump will be an automatic shrimp counter.
Staff at Atlantic Sapphire, an indoor RAS salmon farm, say they have observed that the salmon recover their appetite more rapidly than usual after transport with this system. This indicates that the fish were not stressed. Glomset said, “At an early stage, we worked with researchers in Norway to prove how effective the pump is for fish welfare. The team from SINTEF ran tests using sensors to measure pressure surges and shocks through the pump. Another research group took blood samples and analyzed them for lactate concentration, which is an indicator of stress. Results showed that the stress level in the fish was well below the recommended threshold.” www.mmcfirstprocess.com
You can see a video of the pump with fish passing through it on MMC FIRST PROCESS - RID FISH PUMP - YouTube
