Research: Tróndur Kragesteen defended his PhD today at the Danish Technical University, DTU: the National Institute of Aquatic Resources.
The title of the new PhD project is “Lice Management in Salmon Aquaculture - Using the Faroe Islands as a Study Case.”
Tróndur’s main focus has been on understanding and managing diseases in farming activities. Sea lice and especially the species Lepeophtheirus salmonis or salmon lice are the main obstacle for further growth of the salmon farming industry in the northern hemisphere. Keeping lice levels low and, or, under control requires treatments, which have a negative impact on the local environment and are expensive, even considering the recent use of non-chemical treatments.
Sustainable control of the salmon lice at low levels, then, is of crucial importance to the salmon aquaculture industry. Bio-physical models have been used as a tool to estimate lice infection pressure on wild fish stocks and cross-farm infections. Further, predicting salmon lice growth on salmon farms using population dynamic models have been developed, however, with mixed success.
Tróndur has been successful in coupling bio-physical modelling with salmon lice population dynamic and bio-economic models capable of analysing the economic profitability of lice management strategies, thus providing a model framework with ability of addressing the central aim of this thesis which is to identify optimal management strategies.
Tróndur J. Kragesteen, PhD, is employed at Fiskaaling, where he will be continuing his research into the spread of salmon lice. This is a Post Doc position, financed by the Faroese Research Council.
Tróndur’s PhD was supervised by professor Ken Haste Andersen of the National Institute of Aquatic Resources, and co-supervised by professor Andre W. Visser and associate professor Knud Simonsen.
Fiskaaling congratulates Tróndur on his significant achievement.
