Linde Gases, a division of The Linde Group, has announced the opening of their state-of-the-art Innovation Centre for Aquaculture, a pioneering R&D and testing unit located at Ålesund in Norway. The centre was formally opened by Norway's Vice Minister of the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, Kristine Gramstad.
The innovation centre, with its location based in the heart of the world's most industrialised fish farming community, will be a leading aquaculture R&D centre globally. In addition to highly equipped laboratories, the centre will feature a number of test and demonstration aquaculture tanks, the largest of which is 55 cubic metres and has been built to a highly innovative specification. A highlight of the innovation centre, the tank will allow both aquaculture technologists and customers alike to observe how the latest oxygenation technologies impact fish development within an optimal on-land farming enclosure. In addition to an overhead walkway extending the full diameter length of the tank, Linde has maximised observational opportunities via eye-level inspection windows and underwater lighting.
"Both the research and development and the subsequent testing of the latest oxygenation technologies is unquestionably needed to ensure the future success of land-based aquaculture," said Stefan Dullstein, Head of Aquaculture and Water Treatment, Linde Gases Division. "Linde's dedicated Innovation Centre for Aquaculture will play a leading role in the delivery of such technologies and give customers the opportunity to see first hand pioneering oxygenation systems in operation."
Linde's advanced aquaculture technology has been developed in response to a progressive trend that is seeing aquaculture production being transferred from sea cages to land-based sites for the full duration of a marine fish's life. It is this change that has confronted the fish farming industry with the challenge of efficiently oxygenating large fish tanks to accommodate fish stock from infancy to maturity. In particular, the Ålesund centre features Linde's innovative fish farming oxygenation technology.
