Modeling Fish Farm Operations and Impacts

By
Dale A. Kiefer
Frank O’Brien and Jack Rensel
System Science Applications

American Fisheries Association

September 5, 2007

More Information: Google “AquaModel”

 Model Overview
Harvest
(Tissue C, N & P)
Human
Feed Sources Light
Water Surface

FishFarm Photosynthesis
Soluble
O2 Nutirent
Waste Phytoplankton
(N and P)
Grazing
Recycling
Particulate Organic
Waste Feed&Feces Zooplankton
(C and P)
Egestion

Deposition Aerobic Food Web

Assimilation
Resuspension

River Bottom Aerobicabove,Anaerobic

belowRPD
 Models

• Three dimensional system for marine applications

• Interfaces for models, spreadsheets, databases, and Internet
• PC Desktop & Web-enabled GIS applications
• Compatible with ESRI (arc-info) GIS
Mariculture data
 Hydrodynamic Module

- multibox 3D model

- real or simulated currents

- > 20 unique farms at once

Suspension – Resuspension Layer

Sea Bottom
Bioenergetics Model
 Carbon/Nitrogen/Oxygen Metabolism

• rate of loss of uneaten feed = feed rate – ingestion rate

• ingestion rate = egestion rate + assimilation rate

• rate of feces production = egestion rate

• assimilation rate = rate of respiration + rate of growth

• respiration rate = resting rate of respiration (i.e. basal) + respiration rate

of activity (swimming) + respiration rate of anabolic activity (growth)

Equations invoke principle of most limit metabolic process:

Assimilation may be limited by fish size, water temperature, oxygen,
feed rate
 AquaModel vs Von Bertanlanffy Growth Rates

growth rate day

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

weight ,g
1000 2000 3000 4000
 Rachycentron 500 gm wet weight:
AquaModel growth rate vs temperature

growth rate , d
0.02

0.015

0.01

0.005

temperature ,C
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
 AquaModel growth rate as function of current speed

(500 g fish, 28 deg. C, 5.7 mgO2/l)

growth rate ,1 d
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
current speed ,cm s
20 40 60 80 100
 Cobia Aquamodel: growth rate vs oxygen
concentration (500 g fish, 28 degC, resting

growth rate ,1 d
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
oxygen ,mg l
2 4 6 8
-0.005
-0.01
 Atlantic Salmon measurements and AquaModel
calculations
Growth Rate Measured and Predicted by % BW Ration
0.020
0.018 6%
Specific Growth Rate (/day)

0.016 3%
0.014 1.50%
0.012 P 6%
0.010 P 3%
P 1.5%
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0.000
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Temperature
 Atlantic Salmon:
Respiration RateMeasurements
Measured andof Respiration and
Predicted (P)
Aquamodel calculations
900 resting
1 BL/s
800
3 BL/s
700 Max speed
P Max speed
hr…..

600
P resting
mg O2 / kg / …

500 P 1 BL/s
P 3 BL/s
400

300

200

100

0
5 10 15 20 25
Temperature
 Benthic Dynamics

CO2 O2 H2S Water Boundary Layer POC

Sediment Surface Layer

CO2 O2 H2S POC
gas diffusive exchange particle deposition & resuspension

aerobic H2O
H2O O2
biomass

POC CO2 chemoauto CO2

biomass

anaerobic
S
SO4 biomass H2S
 Oxygen Profile at Benthic Boundary Layer

Oxygen
Profile

Water Column

Benthic
Boundary

benthic respiration
Sediment
 Behavior of benthic subroutine: steady state conditions
defined for low and high rates of loading.

Organic Loading= 5 mg C *m-2*day-1

17.5

15
Steady State
12.5
Rates of
Respiration & 10
Diffusion Diffusion
7.5
(mg*m-2*day-1)
5 Steady State
2.5
Organic Loading= 1mg C *m-2*day-1

2 4 6 8 10
O2 concentration (mg/l)
Findlay & Watling ( 94, 95, 97 )
O2 Consumption to Carbon Flux
CO2 Production vs Carbon Deposition

* predicted *
*
*
* *

*
*
 Conclusions

• Advances in our understanding of fish metabolism and the trophic dynamics

of planktonic and benthic communities have provided us with the opportunity
to develop a model of fish farm operations and environmental impacts.

• When tuned the model we believe the model will provide accurate
predictions.

• Thus, questions concerning the environmental impact of waste production by

fish farms can now be addressed objectively and without the bias that currently
dominates much of the debate on the costs and benefits of fish farms.