Environment
OUR MISSION
Much like traditional farming, maintaining the environment is essential to ensuring a long-term industry.
We want to make commitments.
We commit to multiple strategies to ensure our activities have the smallest possible impact on the environment and that our industry is sustainable long into the future.
Our commitments
Standards
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council oversees the world’s leading certification and labelling programme for responsible aquaculture. Its standards, along with Norwegian Standards, are perceived to be the most far reaching and strict requirements globally. Unity Marine commits to meeting or exceeding these standards across all aspects of our operations, and welcomes independent scrutiny and auditing of our operations.
Invasive species
The potential for introduction of invasive species as a consequence of aquaculture operations is possible through escapees from production, which could potentially establish a breeding population in the wild, or through introduction of foreign aquatic or marine microbes, plants and animals from ballast water on ships. We commit to:
Adoption of the highest global aquaculture standards to minimize potential for escapees. Additionally, Unity Marine will use either sterile fish or all-female stock in the production process.
These measures remove the potential for escaped fish to establish a breeding population in the Falkland Islands.
Unity Marine will also strictly abide to “The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments” (BWM Convention) to mitigate this potential pathway.
No use of copper or other heavy metals
Heavy metals such as copper have historically been used to prevent fouling of marine equipment. Heavy metals can leach into the surrounding environment and accumulate in the food chain. Unity Marine will NOT use any copper or other heavy metal based anti-biofouling material on the nets.
Automatic net pen cleaning robots will be used to continuously remove biofouling to mitigate against the use of copper.
Use of vaccinations to limit any potential use of medication
Antibiotics and especially chemicals have historically been widely used in treatment of various fish diseases. Use of antibiotics in Salmon farming has however been almost eradicated in recent years in well managed regions like Norway and has not been used since 2007 in the Faroe Islands.
Unity Marine is planning the following strategies to reduce or eliminate the use of antibiotics and chemicals in the production:
Continuous veterinary screening of pathological threats.
Effective prophylactic vaccination programme to prevent outbreaks of common diseases and remove the need for their treatment with medications such as antibiotics
Any sea lice (native to the local environment) will only be removed mechanically (using lukewarm fresh water or lasers), without the use of chemicals.
Reduced emissions using renewable energy and hybrid/battery technology
Like any human activity, aquaculture operations generate emissions through the burning of fossil fuels. In an effort to reduce this impact Unity Marine is planning the following activities:
Utilising wind turbines to provide power to the land-based sites.
Utilising hybrid barges to reduce emissions from daily operations at sea by 66%.
Updating the equipment and vessels with new technology as and when appropriate.
Continuous implementation of new technologies
Unity Marine’s planned production of smolts (juveniles) will take place in purpose-built, local facilities that employ recirculation technology (RAS) that circulates and cleans the water continuously.
That gives rise to the following environmental benefits:
Reduced nitrogen and phosphate discharge.
Reduced Biochemical oxygen demand in discharge water.
Reduced water usage (98-99%)
Prolonged fallowing cycles
Unity Marine intend to adopt an altered production cycle with a prolonged fallowing period between each cycle, well beyond industry standards, which:
Allows time for benthos to re-establish in-between cycles.
Helps to break potential disease cycles.
Gives time to properly service and perform in-depth maintenance of equipment.