Cleaner Fish Habitat Support Apparatus for Salmon Cage Parasite Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cultivated salmon in marine cages are vulnerable to sea lice infestations, leading to high mortality rates among cleaner fish introduced to control parasites, and existing methods for reducing parasite attacks are inefficient or environmentally harmful.
Innovation Solution
A habitat support apparatus for cleaner fish, comprising a negatively buoyant peripheral frame arrangement with elongate support substrates for natural aquatic flora, allowing the apparatus to be suspended and adjusted in depth within the salmon farm cage to mimic the natural habitat of cleaner fish, thereby reducing parasite exposure and enhancing their survival.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If cleaner fish are introduced into cultivation cages to consume sea lice, then parasite removal effectiveness is improved, but cleaner fish mortality rate increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cultivation cage environment is segmented into two distinct zones: an exposed cultivation zone for salmon and a sheltered habitat zone for cleaner fish. The habitat support apparatus creates a protected sub-environment within the cage that shields cleaner fish from direct parasite exposure while maintaining their parasite-consuming function, thus extending their lifespan without compromising parasite removal effectiveness
Solution Approach 2:
The habitat support apparatus acts as an intermediary structure that mediates between the harmful cage environment and the cleaner fish. It provides a protective interface that allows cleaner fish to survive longer in the cultivation cage while still performing their parasite control function, resolving the contradiction between effectiveness and lifespan
2Object-affected harmful factors
If copepod filter netting is applied around the cage exterior to reduce parasite attack, then parasite protection is improved, but netting durability deteriorates due to algae build-up and damage
Solution Approach 1:
The solution extracts the protective function from the external netting system and relocates it to an internal habitat support apparatus. Instead of placing protective barriers outside the cage that are exposed to environmental degradation, the protective habitat is created inside the cage, eliminating the durability issues of external netting while maintaining parasite protection through cleaner fish survival
Solution Approach 2:
Rather than relying on durable external netting that degrades over time, the invention uses a replaceable internal habitat apparatus that can be maintained and replaced more easily, shifting from a durable-but-degrading external solution to a maintainable internal solution
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The apparatus creates a sheltered environment that reduces ectoparasite attacks on cultivated salmon and extends the lifespan of cleaner fish, providing a more natural habitat that aligns with their seasonal behaviors, thus improving the effectiveness of parasite control.
Implementation Method 1
the apparatus is negatively buoyant and configured for suspension within a salmon farm cage and for raising and lowering within the salmon farm cage to different depths
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3A
Figure 3B~4A
AI summary
A cleaner fish habitat support apparatus (1) for an aquaculture facility comprising a peripheral frame arrangement (5,7,51,59) defining a habitat support region (21) of substrates (19) for supporting aquatic flora, such as kelp (43), for use as cleaner fish habitat enables the reduction of ectoparasite attack on fish cultivated in an aquaculture system such marine fish farm cages (e.g. salmon farm cages) by providing a suitable habitat for ectoparasite removing cleaner fish, which can be adapted for raising and lowering to enable the apparatus to be positioned at different depths according to seasonal behaviour of cleaner fish and which creates a sheltered environment within the cage (25) more typical of the chosen habitat of cleaner fish in a natural marine environment and thereby extends duration of protection for cultivated fish against ectoparasite sea lice attack and lifespan of cleaner fish.