Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food production sectors due to the decline in traditional fisheries and increased demand in consumer-based aquaculture products. Coinciding with this growth, the aquaculture industry has had to develop various management strategies, such as installing water recirculation systems to capture and treat discharged wastes to meet environmental regulatory demands. While this addresses waste management regulations and prevents eutrophication in local waterways, it also results in large solid waste disposal costs for aquaculture companies. Thus, determining potential uses of this waste is of need and interest to the aquaculture industry. Aquaculture solid waste has been suggested to be used as an organic compost fertilizer because the solid waste is a good source of ammonia, nitrate, and phosphorus that could benefit crop production. However, it remains unclear if aquaculture solid waste is suitable for crop production and what the potential benefits are using it as an organic compost fertilizer. As a result of this need, Sustainable Fish Farming Canada Ltd (SFF), a land based aquaculture producer of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar), is looking to partner with Nova Scotia Community College to determine if their solid waste is useful organic compost fertilizer for tomatoes and lettuce crops. In addition, part of the research will also determine which aquaculture solid waste stream (pre-smolt or post-smolt) is more suitable for development of a compost for crop production. Overall, if aquaculture organic solid waste is found to be a useful high-end commercial specialty compost fertilizer, this would turn a waste product into a viable commercial product resulting in a new revenue stream for the company.