The high demand for fish puts a lot of pressure on the aquaculture industry to increase capacity. Innovations in the field lead to improve efficiency and enabling technologies.
Netmark is a manufacturer of knotted nylon and Dyneema® nettings for aquaculture. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions.
Fish farming and fish farm
Fish farming is made possible by the use of huge aquaculture nets, which can contain different sorts of fish. The most important fish species used in fish farming worldwide are, in order, salmon, catfish carp and tilapia. But many other species of fish can be used when fish farming.
The fish cages can be placed in either saltwater or freshwater, where the nets will protect the fish until they can be harvested.
The following types of nettings are suitable for aquaculture:
Knotted nylon fish cage netting for – freshwater
Our nylon nettings are made of high density raw materials with an unique coating which prolong the lifetime and contribute to the higher abrasion resistance and the optimized water flow. These nettings does not require the antifouling treatment.
Dyneema® netting for fish cages – freshwater and seawater
Nets made with Dyneema® fibers are up to a third of the weight compared to traditional nylon and have smaller twine diameters. This result in a reduced drag from current and waves, improving net stability and improving the environment for the fish inside the fish cages or the aquaculture net. The well-being of the fish is further improved by the better water flow.
Costs are reduced since the thinner nets need less anti-fouling chemicals and repairs to the net are reduced considerably.
Nettings made of Dyneema® have a high bite-resistance, which is important in case of farming of cod or sea-bream. This feature extends the lifetime of the nets and reduces the risk of the fish escapes and repairs.
Predator Dyneema®nettings
In some areas underwater farming is challenged by predators attacking the nets in order to get a free meal. Dyneema® nettings has a high knot-strength which combined with a high bite-, cut- and abrasion resistance make Dyneema® fiber the preferred material for the job. Nettings made of Dyneema® fibers outperform all other nettings.
If you need rope solutions, made with Dyneema® visit our sister company hompage Dynamica Ropes. Dynamica Ropes offers rope solutions such as sinkertube ropes.
The history of Aquaculture
It all began in China circa 2500 BC. Aquaculture started in practice with the waters subsided after river floods, some fish, mainly carp, were trapped in lakes. Early aquacultures fed their bread using nymphs and silkworm feces and ate them. In Central Europe, early Christian monasteries adopted Roman aquaculture practices and the aquaculture started spreading. Aquaculture spread in Europe in the Middle Ages since away from the seacoasts and the great rivers, fish had to be salted so they did not rot.
In first half of 18th century, some changes were happening in the Aquaculture. One of these was that German Stephan Ludwig Jacobi was experimented with external fertilization of brown trouts and salmon. He wrote an article “Von der künstlichen Erzeugung der Forellen und Lachse”.
Oyster farming had begun in the latter decades of the 18th century it was especially in estuaries along the Atlantic Coast of North America.
Where did the word Aquaculture originate from?
The first time the word aquaculture appeared was in a newspaper article in reference to the harvesting of ice in 1855. It was also evident from descriptions of soil-based farming practices during under watering at the end of the 19th century, before they were primarily associated with cultivation of aquatic plants and animal species.
In 1859 Stephen Ainsworth from West Bloomfield, New York, began experimenting with Brook Trout. In 1864, Seth Green had established a commercial fishing closure at Caledonia Springs, near Rochester, New York.
In 1866, with the involvement of Dr. W. W. Fletcher from Concord, Massachusetts, were artificial fish hatcheries on their way in both Canada and the United States.
When the Dildo Island fish hatchery was opened in Newfoundland in 1889, it was the largest and most advanced in the world.
The word aquaculture also appeared in the descriptions of the hatcheries experiments with cod and lobster in 1890. By the 1920s, the American Fish Culture Company of Carolina, Rhode Island, founded in the 1870s was one of the leading producers of trout here the word Aquaculture also appeared. During the 1940s, they had perfected the method of manipulating the day and night cycle of fish so that they could be artificially spawned year around.