Laukaa research infrastructure

Laukaa's research infrastructure, consisting of four production halls and a research building with equipment, enables high-level aquaculture research and national R&D activities in the selection and breeding of salmonids. Laukaa is known for its research into fish farming methods and edible fish species. 

The Laukaa research infrastructure is located in Central Finland. The core function of the site is research and development related to aquaculture production and technology.

Laukaa is home to the national selective breeding program for rainbow trout and whitefish, whose main objective is to improve the competitiveness of companies in the sector and to produce starting material that best meets the needs of the fish farming industry for use by fish farmers. The research conducted at the platforms focuses on recirculating aquaculture systems and related technology. The facility also produces roe and fry from endangered fish stocks in the region for further cultivation and stock recovery.

Laukaa research infrastrucure is a part of the EU-funded Research Infrastructure project 'AquaServ - Research services for sustainable aquaculture, fisheries and blue economy', through which Luke's infrastructure is available for international researchers and developers. 

Laukaa research infrastrucure is a part of the EU-funded Research Infrastructure project 'AquaServ - Research services for sustainable aquaculture, fisheries and blue economy', through which Luke's infrastructure is available for international researchers and developers. 

The research building houses a recirculation unit consisting of twenty tanks, in which the fish tanks share a common biomechanical water purification technology. In addition, the research platform has a research and learning environment consisting of ten research-scale recirculation systems. The facility also has a recirculation unit, whose effluent is led through an outdoor water purification field (woodchip reactor, wetland, and sand filtration), after which the purified water can be led back into the system for reuse. In recirculation systems, fish are fed using a computer-controlled feeding system.

• 20 x 0.4 m3 LED-lit tanks connected to a common water purification system
• 4 x 5 m3 tanks in a FREA recirculation system, with effluent treated via a passive water treatment field
• 10 x 0.5 m3 independent research-scale recirculating aquaculture systems, continuous sensors (O2, temperature, pH, spectrometer)
• 3 x RAS containers, partial water recirculation

The Laukaa fish farm focuses on selective breeding of salmonids and research related to aquaculture production and technology. The farm's water supply comes from Lake Peurunkajärvi, which is of very high quality. 

The flow rate is 400 l/s (operating permit 300-550 l/s). The fish species farmed are rainbow trout, migratory and plankton whitefish, anadromous and land-locked salmon and brown trout. The main products are eyed-stage egg and fry, most of which are delivered to private fish farms and natural feeding ponds for further cultivation. The Finnish Food Authority's fish health service has classified the facility as P1, meaning that egg and fry can be safely delivered throughout the country. 

The facility is equipped to produce all-female and sterile fish stocks (triploid). The facility uses several Rufco recording systems for collecting research data, which can be used to produce individual (PIT tag) measurement data directly in a format suitable for further processing.

Breeding hall (Hall 1)

• 240 pcs of 0.5 m2 tanks for early stage family rearing in the salmonid selective breeding program
• 4 pcs of 28 m2 broodstock tanks separated into compartments for spawning induction through light and temperature manipulation
• 20 pcs of 3 m2 and 20 pcs of 0.5 m2 tanks with partial recirculation for further rearing and research use
• Versatile water heating, cooling, and purification systems
• Computer-controlled feeding robots (2 pcs) and individual feeding systems, additional oxygenation of water, UV filtration in addition to partial recirculation in targeted tanks, underwater LED lights for regulating the spawning season, drum filtration of effluent
• Production hatchery for egg incubation (bucket, tray and cone)

Rearing facilities (Halls 2, 3, and 4)

• 24 pcs of 3 m2 and 12 pcs of 4 m2 tanks for on-growing juveniles
• 12 pcs of 6 m2 and 10 pcs of 8 m2 tanks for broodstock rearing

Experimental hall

• 34 tanks of 0.5–5 m3 with recirculation systems and water purification systems
• Surrounding lighting can be adjusted to correspond to the existing circadian rhythm
• Automated feeding, water oxygenation, and biomechanical water purification
• Quarantine section with trickle incubation cabinets, where 240 groups of eggs can be incubated separately in sectors at the desired temperature, and a separate room with 120 experimental-scale incubation cones for separate groups

Support laboratory for water quality analysis and sample pre-treatment.

• combined recirculation and offshore cultivation
• fish growth and quality management in recirculating aquaculture
• water quality management in recirculating aquaculture
• passive water treatment of wastewater
• fish selection breeding programme