Intensive tilapia production system using large volume tanks - TRGV Fisher

• Grant number: 17/19966-3
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: August 01, 2018
• End date: January 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Fishery Resources and Fishery Engineering - Aquaculture
• Agreement: FINEP - PIPE/PAPPE Grant
• Principal Investigator: Hélio de Sousa Barbosa
• Grantee: Hélio de Sousa Barbosa
• Company: Fisher Piscicultura Água Vermelha Ltda
• CNAE: Aqüicultura em água doce ; Pesquisa e desenvolvimento experimental em ciências físicas e naturais
• City: Riolândia
• Associated researchers: Celia Maria Doria Frasca Scorvo ; Claudio Angelo Agostinho ; João Donato Scorvo Filho

Abstract

Fisher developed between 2011 and 2014 the engineering projects to be used at the Água Vermelha UIP, the environmental licensing and the process of obtaining the concession for use of the aquaculture area. The company, in partnership with FAPESP (PIPE I and PIPE II), also invested in the research and development of the large volume netting tank (TRGV), the TRGV Fisher®. There are still few projects in Brazil that use TRGV (> 100 m3), but there is a tendency to use this type of equipment, in order to increase the scale of production and decrease investment costs per cubic meter. If developed the necessary know-how for the production of more sophisticated machines and equipment with new technologies, Brazil could be highlighted in the world scenario in the production of fish. The TRGV Fisher® was conceived after years of experience acquired in a traditional fish farm with 1,100 tanks of 18 m3 and operated with 60 employees dispersed in an area of 10 ha with a production of 300 tonnes per month. From the difficulties of management, management and effective monitoring, the TRGV Fisher project focused on the rationalization, mechanization and automation of the main steps in the routine of a fish farming. A prototype was built and tested by Fisher, in partnership with a team of researchers from the São Paulo Agribusiness Technology Agency of São Paulo, led by Dr. João Donato Scorvo Filho. The tests were funded partly with resources from PIPE I of the Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo (FAPESP) and were successful and completed in October 2015.The objective of the project was to evaluate the operation of three TRGVs, with 450 m3 of useful volume each, in aluminum structure, developed by Fisher Red Water Fishery, which has the differential of owning specific technology, facilitating classification, fish removal dead, self-cleaning cloths and expense. To evaluate the functionality of mobile devices in response to actual production conditions a tank was populated with 20,289 juveniles, with a mean weight of 41.15 g, at a density of 45 juveniles per m3. The settlement of the other two TRGV was done after the classification of the fish. The TRGV activities were developed from August 14, 2014 to August 18, 2015. The largest juvenile test was carried out in the period from March 5, 2015 to August 18, 2015, in the three TRGV, concomitantly. Secondly, the prototype was implemented with an automatic feed disperser, which led Fisher to perform a pilot with stocking densities of 50,000 juveniles and 60,000 juveniles, where distinct results of the first test were observed for growth and however, other factors, such as season and higher food frequency, did not allow comparisons with the results of the first test. With application of the principle of optimization of space and the best economic biomass, there is a need to test higher densities aiming at the adequacy of handling and support capacity. Thus, the objective of PIPE II is to evaluate three storage densities (60,000, 80,000 and 100,000 juveniles of tilapia per TRGV), in two production cycles (summer and winter) using the 450 m3 TRGV, containing a new component, the automatic feed disperser an innovative equipment. (AU)