Postal address:
Akvaplan-niva AS
Akvaplan-niva’s team of researchers consists of specialists with practical experience and education in all aspects of aquaculture. The team works directly with aquaculture industry in Norway and abroad, bringing scientific findings and knowledge to daily life situations at fish farms. In this way, the team is a bridge-builder between academia and the industry. Research activities are financed by partners from private industry, national and international funding agencies including Nordic research bodies and the European Union.
Development biology and growth physiology
Akvaplan-niva conducts research to understand the basic biology, such as growth, development and reproduction, for a variety of aquaculture species. These include investigation of growth physiology to identify mechanisms controlling the quality of juvenile fish. Our connections with the industry allow us to directly apply this knowledge toward improved aquaculture fish quality and production.
Environmental cues
External environmental factors such as temperature, salinity and photoperiod modulate fish growth and reproduction in aquaculture facilities. Our aquaculture researchers investigate how these environmental factors may be manipulated to improve control of normal development for aquaculture species and therefore optimize aquaculture production.
Improved production regimes
Effective maintenance and management of water quality and feeding regimes during aquaculture operations is essential to achieve economically sustainable fish production. Water quality and feeding regimes are key factors influencing fish growth performance, feed conversion efficiency and overall health status. Our research team performs studies under both controlled laboratory conditions and full-scale operations to identify practical ways to maintain water quality and feeding regimes that lead to sustainable production.
New rearing methods
Environmental damage is a constant threat to outdoor open ocean cage aquaculture. Production costs for operators can quickly increase to unsustainable levels when environmental damage occurs. Our team of specialists have been at the forefront of developing new and improved rearing methods that are both profitable and sustainable for a variety of aquaculture species. These include hyper-intensive land-based aquaculture production technologies based on the recirculation aquaculture system (RAS) and the shallow raceways system (SRS) and aquaponics.
Akvaplan-niva has in-house research facilities and labs for aquaculture experiments, for ecological and ecotoxicology experiments on cold water fish and invertebrate species. The facility includes a fully equipped marine hatchery with permits to perform experiments with aquatic animals. It is designed to carry out full-scale production or experiments with marine juveniles. The facility also includes air and water climate- controlled marine laboratory with an advanced monitoring system for water quality. The laboratory is specially designed to perform chemical exposure studies and determine the effects of single compounds or mixtures of compounds on aquatic animals.
Unilab Analyses offers chemical analytical services, specialising on oil hydrocarbons, lipids and chlororganic compounds. The Company is 100% owned by Akvaplan-niva and located in the Fram Centre in Tromsø. Unilab provides expertise within the analysis of petroleum oils, environmental pollutants as well as lipids. It offers analyses of sediment grain size distribution, sediment geochemical analyses and enzymatic detections in blood plasma. Unilab Analyse AS maintains a comprehensive system for quality assurance and accreditation of its services in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025 standards.
Development biology and growth physiology
Akvaplan-niva conducts research to understand the basic biology, such as growth, development and reproduction, for a variety of aquaculture species. These include investigation of growth physiology to identify mechanisms controlling the quality of juvenile fish. Our connections with the industry allow us to directly apply this knowledge toward improved aquaculture fish quality and production.
Environmental cues
External environmental factors such as temperature, salinity and photoperiod modulate fish growth and reproduction in aquaculture facilities. Our aquaculture researchers investigate how these environmental factors may be manipulated to improve control of normal development for aquaculture species and therefore optimize aquaculture production.
Improved production regimes
Effective maintenance and management of water quality and feeding regimes during aquaculture operations is essential to achieve economically sustainable fish production. Water quality and feeding regimes are key factors influencing fish growth performance, feed conversion efficiency and overall health status. Our research team performs studies under both controlled laboratory conditions and full-scale operations to identify practical ways to maintain water quality and feeding regimes that lead to sustainable production.
New rearing methods
Environmental damage is a constant threat to outdoor open ocean cage aquaculture. Production costs for operators can quickly increase to unsustainable levels when environmental damage occurs. Our team of specialists have been at the forefront of developing new and improved rearing methods that are both profitable and sustainable for a variety of aquaculture species. These include hyper-intensive land-based aquaculture production technologies based on the recirculation aquaculture system (RAS) and the shallow raceways system (SRS) and aquaponics.
Akvaplan-niva has in-house research facilities and labs for aquaculture experiments, for ecological and ecotoxicology experiments on cold water fish and invertebrate species. The facility includes a fully equipped marine hatchery with permits to perform experiments with aquatic animals. It is designed to carry out full-scale production or experiments with marine juveniles. The facility also includes air and water climate- controlled marine laboratory with an advanced monitoring system for water quality. The laboratory is specially designed to perform chemical exposure studies and determine the effects of single compounds or mixtures of compounds on aquatic animals.
Unilab Analyses offers chemical analytical services, specialising on oil hydrocarbons, lipids and chlororganic compounds. The Company is 100% owned by Akvaplan-niva and located in the Fram Centre in Tromsø. Unilab provides expertise within the analysis of petroleum oils, environmental pollutants as well as lipids. It offers analyses of sediment grain size distribution, sediment geochemical analyses and enzymatic detections in blood plasma. Unilab Analyse AS maintains a comprehensive system for quality assurance and accreditation of its services in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025 standards.
Professional Practice
Thesis research