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Closed System Aquaculture (CSA) is defined as, “Any system of fish production that creates a controlled interface between the culture (fish) and the natural environment.”1
Closed containment offers a promising solution to many of the problems caused by open net-cage farming. In closed containment systems, there is a barrier between the farmed fish and the marine environment. This barrier helps protect the environment and its wild stocks from the wastes, disease, parasites, and other impacts of industrial salmon farming.
CAAR supports the move to closed-containment systems for salmon aquaculture in BC. Based on the results of initial trials and of reviews of similar closed system technology, closed containment in BC should eliminate:
- solid waste to the marine environment
- contamination of the area under the tanks
- escapes from the rearing facility
- marine mammal deaths due to interactions with farmed fish and nets
Closed systems will help control:
- disease and parasite (e.g. sea lice) transfer between wild and farmed fish
- detrimental effects on farmed fish from algae blooms
Closed systems may also significantly reduce:
- water column pollution
- feed waste
- the need for antibiotics and chemical treatments of the fish
Read more about the economic case for closed containment technology:
  Technologies for Viable Salmon Aquaculture. An Examination of Land-Based Closed Containment Aquaculture (2010) (Full Report)
An investigation into the feasibility of land-based closed containment technology for utilization in the British Columbia aquaculture industry. The study concludes that land-based closed containment is technically and economically feasible and that British Columbia is advantageously provisioned with key attributes that will continue to attract and retain the aquaculture industry.
A global overview of closed system aquaculture technologies reveals a large and complex range of technologies that provide a better way to farm fish, and an enormous economic opportunity.
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