Profession aquaculture husbandry manager

Aquaculture husbandry managers specialise in the husbandry of ongrowing aquatic species, especially in the feeding, growth, and stock management processes.

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Personality Type

• Enterprising / Realistic

Knowledge

• Rates of growth assessment

  The different methods used to evaluate the growth of most important cultivated species.

• Water currents

  Understand impact of water currents on fish farms, in cages, ponds, lagoons and rivers.

• Aquaculture cultivation equipment

  Understand aquaculture cultivation equipment drawings and plans

• Husbandry and harvesting effects on aquatic resources

  Understand husbandry and harvesting effects on aquatic resources, fish, molluscs and crustaceans.

• Fish biology

  The study of fish, shellfish or crustacean organisms, categorized into many specialised fields that cover their morphology, physiology, anatomy, behaviour, origins and distribution.

• Fish harvesting methods

  Knowledge of up-to-date fish harvesting methods.

• Fish welfare regulations

  The set of rules that apply in fish harvesting methods which ensure fish well-being.

• Biosecurity

  Be aware of the general principles of the concept of bio-security and in particular, the disease prevention rules to be implemented in case of epidemics endangering public health.

• Aquaculture production planning software

  The functioning principles and usage of a software dedicated to the planning of aquculture production.

• Animal welfare legislation

  The legal boundaries, codes of professional conduct, national and EU regulatory frameworks and legal procedures of working with animals and living organisms, ensuring their welfare and health.

• Escapee contingency plans

  The procedures to follow in case there are escapees from cage systems.

• Fish grading

  The method of how fish are graded according to their different characteristics: specification, size, quality and condition.

• Incidents and accidents recording

  The methods to report and record incidents and accidents in the workplace.

Skills

• Ensure aquaculture personnel health and safety

  Make sure that health and safety procedures have been established and followed across all aquaculture facilities including cages. Ensure that personnel and general public are instructed and all work activities are carried out according to relevant health and safety regulations.

• Develop stock health programmes

  Develop a health and welfare programme for those aquatic resources under cultivation, in consultation with the fish health specialist

• Supervise pest and disease control

  Scout for pest damage, order pesticides as needed and within given budget, supervise mixing and application of pesticides, maintain records of pesticide application.

• Control aquatic production environment

  Assess the impact of biological conditions such as algae and fouling organisms by managing water intakes, catchments and oxygen use.

• Collaborate with animal related professionals

  Collaborate with veterinary and other animal related professionals through communication of animal details, case records and summary reports orally or via written or electronic transfer.

• Ensure compliance with aquaculture standards

  Ensure that operations comply with standards for sustainable aquaculture.

• Manage water flows and catchments

  Manage water flows and catchments in ponds, lagoons and sluices.

• Assess cage water quality

  Analyse the quality of water by monitoring the state of temperature and oxygen, among other parameters.

• Identify risks in aquaculture facilities

  Identify the hazards and evaluate the risks to health and safety in aquaculture facilities.

• Plan aquatic resources feeding regimes

  Make the appropriate operations to ensure aquatic resources for feeding regimes, taking into consideration farming constraints:set up fish feeding regimes, check animal feeding behaviour and operate computerised feed systems.

• Manage aquatic resources stock production

  Set up a farm stock production spreadsheet and feed budget (feeding, growth, biomass, mortality, FCR, harvesting). Monitor and maintain stock production.

• Monitor feeding systems

  Make sure that feeders, feeding system and monitoring instruments are working. Analyse feedback from the instruments.

• Implement fin fish feeding regimes

  Implement daily fin fish feeding regimes to take account of environmental variations. Check feeding regimes are followed through the accurate implementation of feeding procedures. Implement adjustments to feeding regimes to take account of fluctuations in production performance and variations in environmental conditions. Control specialist feeding regimes to support specified production requirements. Investigate changes in feeding behaviour to determine cause and required corrective action.

• Calculate aquatic resources growth rate

  Calculate and forecast growth rates. Monitor and assess growth and biomass taking mortality into account, based on the different methods of growth assessment.

• Write work-related reports

  Compose work-related reports that support effective relationship management and a high standard of documentation and record keeping. Write and present results and conclusions in a clear and intelligible way so they are comprehensible to a non-expert audience.

• Supervise waste disposal

  Supervise disposal of biological waste and chemical waste according to regulations.

• Develop fish health and welfare management plans

  Develop a plan which lists risks from outdoor factors, such as predators, and pests.

• Supervise waste water treatments

  Supervise waste water treatment according to environmental regulations.

• Manage work

  Supervise, instruct and plan work for teams or individual members of the team. Set up time schedules and make sure they are followed.

• Handle veterinary emergencies

  Handle unforeseen incidents concerning animals and circumstances which call for urgent action in an appropriate professional manner.

• Interpret scientific data to assess water quality

  Analyse and interpret data like biological properties to know the quality of water.

• Maintain aquaculture equipment

  Supervise and maintain aquaculture equipment and machinery, such as containment systems, lifting gear, transportation gear, disinfection equipment, heating equipment, oxygenation equipment, electrical equipment, air lift pumps, submersible pumps, live fish pumps, vacuum pumps.

• Monitor fish mortality rates

  Monitor fish mortalities and assess possible causes.

• Ensure cage safety requirements are followed

  Ensure that personnel comply with cage safety requirements.

• Monitor the use of resources in production

  Observe and check the use of resources such as food, oxygen, energy, water in the production process.

• Implement contingency plans for escapees

  Carry out contingency plans for cage escapees. Carry out fish capture escape operations.

Optional knowledge and skills

Source: Sisyphus ODB