Ingunn Marie Holmen

Exposed Aquaculture in Norway

Farming of Atlantic salmon in exposed areas poses unique challenges to operations, structures and equipment due to severe and irregular wind, wave and current conditions, and sheer remoteness. Many of the operational challenges seen at present sheltered sites are likely to be amplified when moving production to more exposed locations. There is, however, a strong Norwegian industrial interest in utilizing such areas. A new research center, the Exposed Aquaculture Operations center has been initialized to develop competence and technology to address the challenges. Six core research areas are identified that will be crucial to address the challenges with exposed farming, with a focus on the industrial status in Norway. Four areas target technological innovations that will enable safe and reliable exposed aquaculture operations: 1) Autonomous systems and technologies for remote operations, 2) Monitoring and operational decision support, 3) Structures for exposed locations and 4) Vessel design for exposed operations. Two areas represent core requirements for sustainable production: 5) Safety and risk management and 6) Fish behavior and welfare. This paper describes the research needs and the research strategy planned for the Exposed Aquaculture Operations center.

A review of fatal accident incidence rate trends in fishing

BACKGROUND Injury prevention in fishing is one of the most important occupational health challenges. AIM The aim was to describe and compare internationally the trends of the fatal injury incidence rates and to discuss the impact of the implemented safety programs. MATERIALS AND METHODS The review is based on journal articles and reports from the maritime authorities in Poland, United Kingdom, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, United States and Alaska and Canada. The original incidence rates were recalculated as per 1,000 person-years for international comparison of the trends. RESULTS The risk of fatal accidents in fishing in the northern countries has been reduced by around 50% to an average of about 1 per 1,000 person-years. Norway and Canada keep the lowest rates with around 0.5 and 0.25 per 1,000 person-years. About half of the fatal injuries are related to vessel disasters and drowning. The safety programs seem to have good effects, but the risk is still about 25 to 50 times higher than for onshore workers. CONCLUSIONS The overall fatal injury rates in the European and North American studies decreased by around 50% most probably as result of the implemented safety programs. However the high risk in fishing compared to onshore workers calls for continued and intensified safety programs.

A review of fatigue in fishermen: a complicated and underprioritised area of research

BACKGROUND Fatigue in fishing has been a highly underprioritised area of research, even though fatigue has been found to be the largest single contributing factor in accidents. AIM The aim of this article/paper is to provide an overview of the research conducted on fatigue in fishermen up to date, in order to establish a starting point for further research in this area. MATERIALS AND METHODS The review is mainly based on journal articles from PubMed, Google Scholar, International Maritime Health, Science Direct and some relevant articles links were also followed. RESULTS The research revealed that only 5 articles have been published concerning fatigue in fishermen.The articles all confirmed that fatigue is a serious health and safety issue among fishermen, and that further research therefore is warranted. CONCLUSIONS Only 2 of the 5 studies of fishermens fatigue used objective measures and in one of these, the sample size was small (n = 19), effectively limiting the statistical analysis and its application. Further research using larger samples is needed, preferably with a mix of objective and subjective measures, where of some of the questions should be scenario based and some should be from standardised questionnaires. Greater understanding is also needed to assess how much of the variance in fatigue is attributable to e.g. length of trip, hours of work without rest, and type of job and specific tasks. A greater understanding of the similarities and differences between acute and long-term fatigue is also needed.

Risk Management in Aquaculture: Integrating Sustainability Perspectives

The aquaculture industry in Norway produced 1.3 million metric tons of fish in 2014, and further expansion is expected if the main sustainability challenges related to production and operation are mitigated. Major biological, operational and environmental challenges are parasite infection, fish escape, fish health, human injuries and fatalities. The larger farms, exposed locations, and sustainability challenges related to more production of salmon, increases the need for efficient decision support methods and risk management. The combined effect of the technological development, with increased remote operation, autonomy and automation, and the production and operational challenges related to sustainability means that an interdisciplinary and systemic approach integrating risks to the environment, as well as to fish welfare and human safety, is needed. Therefore, the development of such an approach is outlined in this paper. Potential users are fish farming companies, but the paper also addresses the need for an industry standard for sustainability and risk performance monitoring, which should be of interest to authorities and the whole industry. The paper concludes that risk management and sustainable development are complementary concepts that benefit each other because efficient risk management is decisive for achieving sustainability in aquaculture. INTRODUCTION The aquaculture industry in Norway has grown from small scale production in the 70’s into large enterprises reaching 1.3 million metric tons produced fish in 2014 [1]. Further expansion is expected and could reach 5 million tons of fish per year by 2050, if the sustainability challenges related to production and operation are mitigated [2]. Fish farms contain an increasing amount of fish at the same location [3]. Major biological, operational and environmental challenges are parasite infection, fish escape, fish health, human injuries and fatalities. Sea lice is identified as the greatest environmental challenge in Norwegian fish farming [4]. Lice or parasite infection may cause injuries to the farmed fish, it increases the use of medicaments, and the risk of infections to Figure 1. Fish farm, photo taken by NTNU.

Development of a Simulator Training Platform for Fish Farm Operations

The Norwegian aquaculture industry is accident prone compared to other industries and employees report a high number of near-accidents. Furthermore, escape of fish is a challenge for the industry. There is a potential for increased safety for both humans and fish if operators can practice operations in a safe environment. Existing simulators are not suited for this context. This paper presents results from a research and development project aimed at developing a realistic simulator-based training platform for demanding fish farm operations. Three objectives guided the development process. First, a description of operations, aimed at identifying challenges and training needs, which formed the basis for selecting training scenarios well suited for aquaculture. Second, the development of mathematical models that could be used in the simulator were developed, and finally, a curriculum for training course modules to complete the platform. Platform thus points to the integration of the simulator and the practical and theoretical education of operators. In this article, the first and second part of the process are presented and discussed.

Risk and Reliability Centered Maintenance for Maritime Operations in the Arctic: Experience From Fishing

The Arctic is a vast area with many future economic possibilities for the oil and gas, shipping and the fishing industries. The climate is harsh, the environment vulnerable, but the potential profits from future expansion in the area are huge. The on-going public debate on the Arctic includes discussions both for and against industrial development in these areas, however the reality is that as resources become scarcer in other parts of the world, Arctic expansion will become inevitable. Therefore adequate preplanning of the activities, understanding of the operational environment and development of barriers against undesired events becomes infinitely more important for sustainable, reliable and safe operation in the future.The fishing fleet has been operating in the Arctic region for decades and while the safety for the fishers is questionable, it is a matter of resources that drove and will continue to drive this expansion. The IMO’s Polar Code for shipping is now under construction and the fishing fleet will have to comply with this and other regulations for future operations in the Arctic.This paper focuses on the maintenance and safety management regimes and requirements of the fishing fleet currently operating in the Arctic. With long distances to service and help, and a short operating season, a reliable system is a mandatory requirement for the economic stability of these operations. Mutual benefits may be gained if operational experiences from fishing can be utilized by the oil and gas industry and ship transport when moving their operations into the arctic areas, whereas the fishing fleet can improve their safety performance through closer alignment with those standardized procedures applied in other industries.Copyright