As a food producer, the internal and external biosecurity of the building is of paramount importance. Our promise to customers is to supply the highest-quality salmon, grown in pristine water, without the need for vaccines or harmful chemicals.
From a commercial standpoint, we need to prevent any interruption of supply and ensure consumers have complete confidence in the FishFrom brand. A failure of biosecurity could be very consequential, possibly requiring us to flush out a tank with the loss of a generation of salmon. That means, as we work on the detailed design and layout of the 240-metre-long building, we are always thinking about biosecurity.
To maximise protection, we’re incorporating rigorous protocols and state-of-the art equipment that will prove practical and fail-safe. For example, the fish-rearing zone of the building will be divided into six distinct areas. As operational staff move from one area to another, they’ll remove their protective clothing and shower thoroughly. They’ll put on another set of protective clothing — boots, overalls, hats, gloves and facemasks — when they enter another area.
We’ll be installing six changing rooms, each with two showers, to cover the freshwater hatchery, the smolt facility, the three grow-out areas and the harvest tanks. We have a proprietary system for moving the fish between tanks, as they grow, which minimises the risk of contamination.
Each tank will have at least two CCTV cameras linked to monitors in our control room to screen fish activity 24/7. We’ll install technology to monitor water quality and temperature in all the tanks and the surrounding environment. That data, the live CCTV footage and a raft of other data will be monitored by our onsite staff. We’ll also be able to manage the system offsite using a tablet or mobile device, with proper network security, of course.
Visitors will be able to see how the salmon facility operates from an overhead viewing gallery protected by acrylic glass. Outside the building, they’ll be wheel washes to clean all lorries that enter the site as part of the external biosecurity protocol.