Injection vaccines are quickly becoming the method of choice for farmed fish species kept in high densities, mainly due to the long-term protection they provide for the fish. To ensure proper immunization, animal welfare, and sustainability, it is important that the vaccinations are done accurately and swiftly. Almost all farmed Atlantic salmon are currently injected with up to three different vaccines in the abdominal cavity, and sometimes also intramuscularly before outset to sea. The majority of fish are vaccinated by hand, but vaccination by machine is becoming increasingly more common in salmon, trout, sea bass, and tilapia farming.
Current manual injectors can inject one or two vaccines intraperitoneally or intramuscularly, but it is not possible to inject in two different locations simultaneously. Machines offer a greater vaccination rate, accuracy, and flexibility.
Enhanced biosecurity is ensured by minimizing the number of individuals required to visit the fish farming locations. Innovations within machine vision and injection systems allow the machines to accurately inject the fish with several vaccines simultaneously, and the site and depth of injection are adapted to the individual fish. Misplaced fish can be excluded automatically, and populations can be graded by size during vaccination.
We will present the use of injection tools to enable vaccinations of large numbers of fish, while increasing production efficiency, improving sustainability, and maintaining a high level of fish health.