Luke's diverse research infrastructures are suitable frameworks for experimental research on renewable natural resources

and are widely available throughout Finland.

1) KFRS has 500 independently controlled experimental aquatic units, 3 scientific and 5 technical staff. It offers state-of-the-art manipulative experimentations of artificial stream ecosystems, including PIT-telemetry and video camera arrays to monitor the behaviour and interactions of fish of wild and hatchery origin. Effects of environmental pressures (e.g. sedimentation, drought, temperature, nutrients) on aquatic ecosystems are possible to derive from manipulative experimentations with replicated study arenas.

2) Luke Biodiversity research areas open to access include the vitality of wild fish populations in relation to fisheries, environmental challenges including human-caused deterioration of aquatic environments and climate change, and genetic adaptation. The indoor infrastructure includes 163 egg incubation units; 72 family tanks (0.5 m2); 11 fingerling tanks (2.1 m2 - 12.7 m2); 34 broodstock tanks (28 m2 - 63 m2); and 4 aquariums (2.1 m2). There are 44 outdoor tanks, including experimental flow-through environments (63 m2 - 113 m2). There are globally unique fish strains of land-locked Atlantic salmon, brown trout and land-locked Arctic charr for which Luke maintains conservation programmes and the associated data collection and genetic analysis, including historical tissue samples. There is equipment and expertise for experiments with thousands of fish with individually tagged fish and data collection, including controlled family-based designs and specific matings.

3) Luke Selective Breeding research areas open to access include aquaculture breeding programmes, genomic selection, computational genomics, genomic determination of fish traits, bioinformatics and genome evolution. The indoor infrastructure includes: >263 egg incubation units; 260 family tanks (0.5 m2); 4 tanks for temperature and photoperiod manipulation (28 m2); 20 fingerling tanks (3 m2); and 44 broodstock tanks (7-50 m2). There are globally unique family-based breeding programmes for rainbow trout (annually 200 families) and European whitefish Coregonus lavaretus (annually 40 families) whose genetic materials are widely used by the aquaculture industry. The breeding programme for rainbow trout is one of the world’s largest and longest-running, with pedigree, phenotype, tissue samples and genomic data collected since the late 80's. There is equipment and expertise for small and large family-based experiments with specific matings.

4) Laukaa aquaculture research station (LARS) is composed of a) the “RAS laboratory” with 10 individual small-scale systems (500 L fish tanks) with stage-of-art water quality sensors (spectrometer, O2, CO2, pH) and computer vision cameras where data can be accessed online; b) the “RAS pilot”, a 10 tn capacity system (four 5 m3 fish tanks) connected to an external passive water treatment field for zero-discharge aquaculture research; c) the “Hybrid RAS”, a versatile six tank system (500 L fish tanks), capable of switching from flow-through to partial-RAS and furthermore to full RAS enabling studies such as juvenile production and off-flavour management; d) a “Multi-tank RAS” with 20 x 400 L fish tanks which has been used for feed trials and to produce e.g. juveniles with different backgrounds for marine farming experiments.

5) PMRS for marine fish farming is suitable for research on fish nutrition, growth, behaviour and welfare, and the technology and biology of mariculture in cages, or in combination with RAS farming. Brackish water RAS comprises 12 tanks of 1,3m3 in one or two temperature-regulated recirculations with an automated feeding system and condition monitoring. Outside, there are 12 sea cages in open brackish water with automated feeding and monitoring. Also, includes facilities for gutting, sampling and on-site laboratory analysis equipment and sample storage.

6) FINFARMGIS is a spatial planning service developed by Luke to be used in GIS software to optimize the locations of fish farms in the marine environment.

7) The Otolith Laboratory prepares and analyses fish otoliths and other calcified structures for age determination (e.g. herring and whitefish). Service is used, e.g. in the Northern Baltic Sea by ICES. The same method can be used to process other fish species and teeth from mammals, for example, seals, reindeer, moose, deer and roe deer.

https://www.luke.fi/en/research/research-infrastructures/otolith-laboratory