Practical Considerations for the Design of Recirculating Aquaculture Systems to Support the Culture of Aquatic At Risk Species

In recent years, intensive, recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) have emerged as a practical means to culture aquatic organisms. RAS offers many advantages, including the ability to control the temperature and water quality of the rearing environment and to produce fish in areas with limited aquatic resources. When designing RAS facilities, emphasis should be placed upon optimization of fish production strategies and technological efficiency by applying aquacultural bio-engineering and principals. That is, the facility must be designed to be simultaneously technically and mechanically effective and biologically productive; it must meet the environmental needs of the fish (e.g. water quality management, biosecurity) and the management needs of the fish culturist (e.g. feeding, grading, handling) in a mechanically efficient facility (e.g. low operational and maintenance costs). This does not mean that RAS facilities need to be complex. A review of simple yet effective RAS technologies will be presented.