• Designed specifically for the species of fish that will be produced.
• Dimensioning the hatchery in relation production output.
• Adapting systems to the local climate conditions.
• Optimization of the work environment in relation to product flow.
• Simplification of system design for ease of maintenance and reducing risks through system failures.
• Full engineering design with our/your choice of engineering firm.

The work day of a hatchery technician is very demanding. It requires a high degree of mental concentration often involving physical effort and sometimes even physical discomfort. Through applying ergonomic design criteria we can improve the well being of our technicians and improve productivity. A variety of other factors have to be introduced into the design equation, amongst others, the fish species to be produced, the required production volume, bio-security, material flow, the local climate and water sources, the social and economic environment and available local services. Hatcheries need to be designed by professionals who have worked in them and understand how all these criteria are put together to work in concert. Fish Hatchery Consulting will work with you on this, and follow up with engineers who have had the specific experience of working in this field.

Before signing a lease or acquiring land for a hatchery, an in-depth analysis of water quality and an evaluation of the costs incurred in using the water (pumping, filtration, heating/cooling) need to be performed. I have experienced, first hand, projects that have not carried out this essential step and seen entire facilities come to a stand-still when realizing that they do not have the water quality they expected. Fish Hatchery Consulting will guide you through the necessary stages of site selection, as this is one of the major factors that will affect the output of the hatchery both in terms of numbers as well as your capital and production costs.

• Providing/configuring production protocols.
• Start-up and commissioning of new systems.
• Assisting in sourcing and placement of professional hatchery managers
• On-site training of technical personnel in production processes.

There are ways to carry out the daily production tasks that are efficient and comfortable. There are a lot of associated little “tricks” that result from experience. Rather than re-inventing the wheel, Fish Hatchery Consulting can deliver this experience and instruct your technicians on how to be productive while at the same time remaining observant as to the well being and health of the fish being raised.

These days, hatcheries probably have voluminous protocols that conform to ISO standards. It is unlikely that technicians are going spend their lunch break reading them. Of course, if required these manuals can be supplied but for the daily production procedures simple point form protocols and flow processes need to be laid out. These provide the backbone to streamlining the processes and ensure that if a technician for some reason is abruptly absent then the replacing person can pick up seamlessly from where the process was left off.

Through my network I have contacts with exceptionally capable technical persons at all levels that you might want to consider at the technical management level. Fish Hatchery Consulting will work with you in sourcing such persons.

• Evaluation of capital costs for starting up new hatcheries.
• Evaluation of operating costs for existing hatcheries.
• Developing budgets and financial models for new hatcheries.

Accountants and business persons apply strict procedures when developing budgets for capital and operating costs. These models do not necessarily reflect reality and over time require adjusting. My personal experience of having carried out projects involving the setting up of a new fish hatcheries and managing them through the start up years has enabled me to learn what really happens, what can be expected to happen and how to introduce into the budgets quantities and measures that will provide the business with the capital it needs to bring it to success.

Sometimes, in order to fit the budget into available funds, investors in new businesses under estimate the real costs, skip over stages or save on equipment. In our business we say “cheap is expensive”. There are solutions and ways to mitigating funding shortfalls. If funds are limited then I can assist in determining what needs to be spent and when as well as where monies can be saved while ensuring that the “saving” does not end in production failures and loss of income.