THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INTRODUCING A DESIGN CODE TO THE AQUACULTURE INDUSTRY IN NORWAY AND THE EFFECT ON FISH ESCAPE

Introduction

From the initiation in the 70s to the end of the 90s there was an accelerating development in the growth of the aquaculture industry in Norway. It was observed that the increase in activity led to an increased number of incidents of structural failures leading to fish escape. This led to the development of regulations to make the aquaculture systems more reliable.

Regulations and design code

In 2003 the first revision of the NYTEK-regulations and the relating standard NS9415 was ready to be implemented. Further with the introduction of the aquaculture act in 2005 the authorities got tools that helped improve the robustness of the aquaculture plants and decrease the risk for fish escape. The NYTEK-regulation and NS9415 has been through revisions and is currently being revised.

Effects on fish escape

The regulations design code has proven to be effective as the number of fish escapes have plummeted in a period when the production volume has nearly tripled. The number of escapes due to system collapses are close to none and the few fish escape that happen is related to operations and human error.