Aquaculture production

Challenges facing the aquaculture industry

The aquaculture industry has grown substantially in recent decades, and is now a relatively mature market. As aquaculture production both onshore and offshore continues to increase, great care must be taken to ensure optimal and healthy fish growth, with minimal impact on the environment.

A rapidly evolving market

In a market which continues to grow rapidly, adapting to a changing industry landscape will require innovation and collaboration. The technical challenges involved in farming fish and other seafood are great in number, and the process can yield extremely tight margins. At the same time, sustainability must be at the heart of all operations to prevent damage to the ecosystem and ensure that both captive and wild seafood stocks remain healthy.

Precision control of environmental conditions

Fish, from salmon and trout to shellfish, requires highly specific conditions in order to thrive, and these can be difficult to create artificially. As such, environmental conditions, particularly at onshore farms, must be carefully controlled to ensure health of stocks, and profitability for farmers. Equipment with the highest reliability is therefore required to ensure healthy environments, while keeping costs down where possible for maximum profitability. Fish and other farmed seafood take years to grow and so have a high sunk cost in energy expenditure as well as feeding. Even subtle improvements in energy efficiency can make a significant difference to the profitability of an operation.

Solutions across the aquaculture value chain

Both onshore and offshore farms, facilities and breeding grounds all have their own technical challenges. ABB is uniquely placed to provide solutions across the value chain for both farmers and the equipment manufacturers that supply them. ABB understands the applications and issues that matter to the industry, and has the technology, experience and expertise to help tackle sustainability, reliability and safety challenges in a rapidly changing market.