Nanoose Company’s Products Utilized in Aquaculture Industry
Kris and Sheryl McNichol of CPI Equipment Inc.
NANOOSE BAY – CPI Equipment Inc. spends a lot of time making bubbles.
Not just any bubbles: Nano bubbles, used in the aquaculture industry to transform oxygen, and combined with aeration systems, they are being used in semi-closed salmon farming operations.
For the past two years, their Semi-Closed Containment technology has been used in a trial with Grieg Seafood of Campbell River. Grieg recently announced it will use it in a semi-closed system on all of its fish farms on Esperanza Inlet off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
“Using our ODiN Titan aeration system with Moleaers Nano bubble technology, we are a big part of what is being called a CO2L Flow (cool flow) system,” says Sheryl McNichol, who along with her husband Kris McNichol started the company in 2001. “This trial helps keeps a barrier in between wild and farmed fish and helped produce information such as better growth, lower mortality, less use of sea lice treatments and a reduction of up to 75 percent in oxygen use.”
CPI Equipment supplies and installs equipment for the local aquaculture industry and international aquaculture market. Their main products include engineering, aeration/plankton (HABs) equipment, semi-closed technology, ensilage systems, water treatment, central pumping and extraction.
“Technology and innovation are the backbone of the aquaculture industry,” notes Kris, the company President. “We proudly work very closely with our clients to help improve our technology and create innovative solutions. Our latest collaboration with aeration and nanobubble technology was a huge success and will be a game-changer for other fish farming companies in every region of the world.”
CPI’s automated ODiN Titan Aeration system is designed to put diffusers into the fish pens and bring up water from various depths.
“This circulation of water has been carefully calculated and is able to enhance harvest and treatment procedures, help control temperature, improve water quality, protect from plankton (HABs) and sea lice,” Sheryl adds. “This aeration is controlled by CPI’s wireless, automated, ODiN Titan system in which all data is stored in the cloud, where the analytics and AI can be used to help predict what may happen in the future.“
Plankton (HABs) is still a large problem in the oceans and CPIs system has helped decrease potential devastations in many areas.
“CPIs Aeration systems have been implemented in many places in the world, Chile and the Shetland’s to name a couple,” she notes.
As the McNichols celebrate two decades in business, they pride themselves on working with their clients to “design new products and innovations all the time, which keeps us on top of what is going on in the aquaculture market,” Sheryl explains. “Along with our clients, we are always striving to be better and develop new technology that enhances and coincides with the high standards of the Canadian aquaculture industry.”
A key to the company’s success has been Kris’s ability to see what is needed and not be scared to reach for it.
“Whether it be acquiring a larger space as a business, adding new suppliers to share their products and technology, developing innovative software, getting engineers on staff and increasing skilled qualified trades within our company,” she states. “The ability to create an aeration system that increases fish health and environmental safety for the farmers has been a huge stepping stone for us.”