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Project Profile

Salmon Farming in Tasmania

Industry: Manufacturing

Innotech Tasmania have used the Genesis II Digital Control System to control the temperature of a Salmon hatchery in Tasmania for SALTAS (Salmon Enterprises of Tasmania) who are Australia’s largest producer of Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon smolt, supplying over 3.5 million smolt each year to the Salmon farm industry.

At Wayatinah, the water used by the SALTAS hatchery is gravity fed from the River Derwent. During the hot summer months, when river flow is greatly reduced, the water temperature can rise by as much as 10 °C in an 8 hour period. Water temperature in excess of 23 °C can be fatal to the fish stock.

Located 1km from the hatchery is Wayatinah Lagoon, a man-made lake that forms part of the State’s Hydro Electric scheme. Research showed that at a depth of 6 metres, the water temperature was consistently between 9 and 17 °C.

A project was undertaken to utilise water from the lagoon for temperature control at the hatchery and to provide additional water in times of low flow in the River Derwent.

The system is controlled by two Genesis II controllers, one at the lagoon, the other at the hatchery building. Communications between the controllers is via 1.1Km of underground fibre-optic cable.

The Administration building is also connected to the Genesis system, which allows computer access to monitor plant operation and alarms, make adjustments to settings, and generally control the plant to their requirements. The Genesis controller's data logging ability forms part of the hatchery’s quality control system.

Four 22kW submersible pumps, installed on a floating jetty, pump water from the lagoon to the hatchery inlet water screening tank via a 500mm diameter underground pipeline.

The water temperature is monitored at the hatchery where it is maintained at 16 °C +/- 1 by staging the water pumps at the lagoon. One pump is fitted with a VSD to provide precise temperature control. Automatic lead/lag control is used to ensure even wear of the pump sets. The system also monitors the electrical supply for phase failure and correct phase rotation. Alarms are transmitted via the Genesis system to the general plant PLC system and to the Administration office.

Mr. Graham Martin, General Manager of SALTAS states, "Fish farming is a 24 hour a day job and we need systems that are reliable and accurate while being easy to operate. There is also a requirement to operate as cost effectively as possible and to have prompt notification of problems that occur. The Genesis system has proven to be reliable, easy to operate and performed all of the functions required to our satisfaction. In an environment like ours, and with staff who are not technically minded, the robustness and simplicity of the system has been an asset, this is in contrast to our other systems where we have PLC units that require expert personnel to reprogram."

Key Functions