New Cage Design Planned to Combat Lice

In the Norwegian aquaculture industry, farming companies can bid for developmental licences for new sites. These licences are free to buy, compared to the extremely high cost of a standard aquaculture licence, which allows the company to invest in novel farming solutions.

The proposed solution must be different to previously proposed solutions, or methods currently used in aquaculture. This new solution is a semi-closed steel cage with the bottom third of the cage open to the environment. One of the main reasons behind this method is to reduce the number of lice on the site.

Lice usually inhabit the upper layers of the water column, and by blocking their access with a solid wall they hope to prevent infection. The fish are still able to access the water’s surface for feeding and clean water will be able to enter the cage through the openings at the bottom ensuring a good flow of oxygenated water.

The company would have had to overcome large engineering hurdles with the design and construction of the new cages as well as the mooring requirements for the system, as the cages will have a much larger drag than conventional open net cages.

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