Silverstream Salmon Smolt

The Silverstream salmon hatchery near Kaiapoi contacted us to help them monitor water levels and flow through their water races. The hatchery currently holds 160,000 smolts (young salmon) and several million hatchlings.

Once the smolt reach a certain size, they are transported to larger salmon farms across the South Island where they are raised to suitable sizes for eating.

The salmon farming industry is growing to support the increased demand from consumers. According to stuff.co.nz, Salmon farming has a much lower environmental impact than other kinds of farming.

"The Salmon Smolt hatchery raised 3000 tonnes of fish in just over half a hectare of water area. The farm took 400 cubic metres of water a second from the river and another 30 cumecs from a bore, but all the water was returned completely clean after use in the hatchery".

Our LS1 ultrasonic water level sensor is monitoring the intake of freshwater through the Silverstream hatchery. Farm managers are able to keep an eye on their water usage and water race flow from the Waterwatch Live online dashboard.

They currently have two sensors at different points of the farm monitoring water levels and flow every 20 minutes, transmitting data daily. They have set both increasing and decreasing level alarms so they can be notified when the water levels are rising or falling faster than normal.