Aquaculture can be vital to feeding the world’s growing population, which is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050.

However, marine aquaculture in coastal areas is associated with a number of environmental problems, including sea lice and fish escapes. One way of solving these is to move fish farms onto land or to enclose them.

Closed containment systems face the challenge of balancing CO₂ levels. Recent research has shown that CO₂ levels in the water of land-based and closed fish farms play an important role in fish welfare and growth. If the concentration of CO₂ is too high, this can have a negative impact on fish health and production yield. On the other hand, if the concentration of CO₂ is too low or unstable, this can increase energy consumption.

Based on its multigas analyser, Tunable is developing the Watersense solution to measure concentrations of CO₂ in water. This will allow fish farmers to monitor and control CO₂ levels on a continuous basis.

The solution is tailor-made for the aquaculture industry. Like Tunable’s other gas analysers, the Watersense solution is built using micro and nanotechnology and features the company’s proprietary MEMS tunable filter. It is also highly accurate, compact, robust and easy to install.

The Watersense solution will enable fish farmers to maintain a stable CO₂ concentration at land-based or enclosed sites.

This will in turn improve fish health and welfare, reduce energy consumption, and increase yield and profitability, paving the way for sustainable aquaculture growth.

Aquaculture now exceeds capture fisheries in its contribution to the global seafood market. The global salmon market achieved a volume of 3.7 million metric tons in 2018 and is projected to reach 4.7 million metric tons by 2024.

A demo version of the Watersense solution is currently being tested, with a tentative market launch in the course of 2021.

Tunable is a startup with roots in SINTEF MiNaLab, which is part of SINTEF, one of Europe’s largest independent research organisations.