New Water Quality Course

The NAFC Marine Centre UHI has launched a new short training course in Water Quality Awareness for staff involved in operating recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS).

The RAS Water Quality Awareness course is the latest addition to NAFC's portfolio of specialist aquaculture training courses and provides an introduction to the fundamentals of monitoring and maintaining water quality and fish health in recirculating aquaculture systems.

Course co-ordinator Stuart Fitzsimmons explained that in recirculating aquaculture systems treated water is recirculated through the tanks holding fish, rather than the tanks being supplied with a constant flow of new water with the old being discharged. "The advantage of recirculating systems is that they need much less fresh water than traditional flow-through systems, but it is essential that the quality of the water is monitored and maintained. That includes filtering and treating the water to remove waste material and chemicals, and to maintain the optimum environmental conditions for fish growth."

The course is the latest to be developed by the NAFC Marine Centre in response to requests from the aquaculture industry, to provide specialist training for their staff.

Further information about the new RAS Water Quality Awareness course is available on the centre's website at: https://www.nafc.uhi.ac.uk/courses/ras-water-quality-awareness.

For further information please contact: Stuart Fitzsimmons (01595 772103, stuart.fitzsimmons@uhi.ac.uk )