RECIRCULATING AQUACULTURE SYSTEMS DECEMBER 2020 WWW.EUMOFA.EU Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Manuscript completed in December 2020. The European Commission is not liable for any consequence stemming from the reuse of this publication. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2020 © European Union, 2020 The reuse policy of European Commission documents is implemented based on Commission Decision 2011/833/EU of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39). Except otherwise noted, the reuse of this document is authorised under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This means that reuse is allowed provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated. For any use or reproduction of elements that are not owned by the European Union, permission may need to be sought directly from the respective rightholders. The European Union does not own the copyright in relation to the following element: cover photo: © Atlantic Sapphire. PDF ISBN 978-92-76-25202-3 doi:10.2771/66025 KL-03-20-812-EN-N FOR MORE INFORMATION AND COMMENTS: Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries B-1049 Brussels Tel: +32 229-50101 E-mail: [email protected] i CONTENTS 0 STUDY OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH ................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH .............................................................................................................. 1 OVERVIEW OF DATA SOURCES USED FOR THIS STUDY ............................................................................... 2 EUMOFA aquaculture production ........................................................................................... 2 EUROSTAT – aquaculture production for human consumption (fish_aq2a) ........................ 2 EUROSTAT – production of hatcheries and nurseries at juvenile stage ............................... 3 Interviews with stakeholders ................................................................................................. 3 Case study on freshwater finfish – trout in Denmark .......................................................... 3 1 GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES ...................................................................................................................... 4 PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY ................................................................................................................... 4 TECHNOLOGY..................................................................................................................................... 5 ECONOMY AND FUNDING ..................................................................................................................... 5 SUSTAINABILITY ................................................................................................................................. 6 MAIN TRENDS .................................................................................................................................... 7 2 EU PERSPECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 8 PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY ................................................................................................................... 8 GROWTH AND SUSTAINABILITY ............................................................................................................. 9 ECONOMY AND FUNDING ..................................................................................................................... 9 DRIVERS AND CONSTRAINTS ................................................................................................................. 9 3 THE GENERAL RAS TECHNOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 11 RAS – STEP BY STEP TECHNOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 12 Mechanical filter .................................................................................................................. 13 Biofilter ................................................................................................................................. 13 Degassing/aeration/stripping ............................................................................................... 14 Oxygenation ......................................................................................................................... 14 Ultraviolet light .................................................................................................................... 14 Ozone ................................................................................................................................... 14 Other elements .................................................................................................................... 15 RAS TECHNOLOGY SUPPLIERS AND SELECTED PROJECTS ......................................................................... 15 4 RAS PRODUCTION IN THE EU............................................................................................................ 18 FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION ............................................................................................................... 18 HATCHERIES, JUVENILES AND SMOLT ................................................................................................... 20 i 5 DRIVERS AND BARRIERS FOR RAS PRODUCTION ............................................................................. 22 OPERATIONAL RISKS ......................................................................................................................... 22 FINANCIAL RISKS .............................................................................................................................. 23 MARKET RISKS ................................................................................................................................. 24 SOCIAL AND REGULATORY LICENSING .................................................................................................. 25 GROWTH DRIVERS ............................................................................................................................ 26 6 CASE STUDIES ................................................................................................................................... 27 SALINE WATER FINFISH – GROW-OUT OF ATLANTIC SALMON ................................................................... 27 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 27 Nordic Aquafarms ................................................................................................................ 28 Investment costs .................................................................................................................. 30 Operating costs .................................................................................................................... 31 Prices .................................................................................................................................... 32 Transport costs – long haul ................................................................................................. 33 FRESHWATER FINFISH – TROUT IN DENMARK ........................................................................................ 33 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 33 Trout farming in Denmark ................................................................................................... 34 Investment costs .................................................................................................................. 36 Operating costs .................................................................................................................... 37 Development and future ...................................................................................................... 38 YELLOWTAIL KINGFISH ...................................................................................................................... 39 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 39 RAS facilities for yellowtail kingfish in the EU .................................................................... 40 Prices .................................................................................................................................... 43 7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING REMARKS ......................................................................................... 44 ii EUMOFA - European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products Recirculating aquaculture systems 0 STUDY OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH Introduction Recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) are land-based aquaculture facilities – either open air or indoors – that minimise water consumption by filtering, adjusting, and reusing the water. Compared to traditional pond or open water aquaculture, the water recirculation process in RAS makes it possible to control