WO2005043990A2

WO2005043990A2 - Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and acquatic invertebrates

Info

Publication number: WO2005043990A2
Application number: PCT/IT2004/000588
Authority: WO
Inventors: Augusto Lori; Franco Ricci
Original assignee: Enea-Ente Per Le Nuove Technologie, L'energia E L'ambiente; Containers Mtv S.R.L
Priority date: 2003-11-05
Filing date: 2004-10-27
Publication date: 2005-05-19
Also published as: WO2005043990A3; ITRM20030513A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates, comprising at least a container, at least partially filled in with water, for containing fishes and/or aquatic invertebrates, and further comprising temperature control means within said at least a container, water mechanical and/or biological filtering means, connection pipings between said at least a tank and outside and between said at least a tank and said filtering means, means for conveying water within said connection pipings.

Description

THERMOSTABILISED SYSTEM FOR TRANSPORTING LIVING FISHES AND ACQUATIC INVERTEBRATES

The present invention relates to a thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates. More specifically, the invention refers to a system for reproduction within containers suitable for transportation in the natural habitat of living fishes and aquatic invertebrates, particularly by the adjustment and maintenance within said containers of suitable temperature, filtering and oxygenation conditions of water, as well as by the control of the day/night feeding cycle. At present, transportation of aquatic creature is carried out by modes having well evident limitations, both for the dimensions of the creature that can be transported and for distances to be covered. The usually employed method for transportation of aquatic animals is that of employing tanks that can be loaded on trucks, or boarded in case it is necessary the transportation by boat. This solution, although has a satisfying simplicity of use, ad affordable costs, does not have a autonomy longer than 1 - 2 days, since it does not provide the water exchange within tanks, as well as its oxygenation, it involving a fast worsening of the health conditions of the transported animals. Said time limitation imposes a consequent limitation to the transportation for long distances, that could be necessary in case of transportation between distant countries or between countries not well connected. According to the known solutions, it is possible obviating to the above distance limitations at least as far as small animals are concerned, by the transportation by airplane. According to this solution, fishes and/or aquatic invertebrates are placed within plastic bags, filled with water, under oxygen atmosphere, said bags being then packaged within polystyrene or cardboard containers. In very exceptional cases, transportation by air is used also for bigger aquatic creature, using rigid tanks without water change. However, air transportation method, besides problems of costs, also has volume limitations, i.e. limitations of the whole amount of transportable aquatic animals for each single lenght. A further problem is the difficulty of transporting aquatic creature without jeopardising their healthy conditions, very important condition in case the transportation is aimed to a museum, didactic and exhibition use of the animals, without taking into consideration the higher value that they have when the fishes are stil l alive, even in case they must be sold as food. In this context is included the solution according to the present invention, aiming to realise a device for a low cost transportation of large amount of living fishes or aquatic invertebrates, guaranteeing the health of the same also for some days, thus consequently making possible the transportation to far locations without the need of an air transportation. These and other results are obtained according to the present invention suggesting a low cost thermostabilised system for living aquatic creature, under condition the most compatible with those of the ecosystem in which said aquatic creature usually live. It is therefore specific object of the present invention a thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates, comprising at least a container, at least partially filled in with water, for containing fishes and/or aquatic invertebrates, and further comprising temperature control means within said at least a container, water mechanical and/or biologica l filtering means, connection pipings between said at least a tan k and outside and between said at least a tank and said filtering means, means for conveying water within said connection pipings. Preferably, according to the invention, s aid thermostabilised system for living fishes and aquatic invertebrates further comprises water oxygenation means, said means being provided at least within said container. Furthermore, thermostabilised system according to the present invention can comprise at least a container for fishes and a container for invertebrates and can be a modular system. Always according to the invention, said mechanical filtering means can comprise bivalve shells and/or sand l ayers, and possibly active carbons, said biological filtering means preferably comprise a substrate of food polyethylene bio-bubbles. Preferably, according to the invention, s aid thermostabilised system for transportation of living fishes and aquatic invertebrates comprises at least a water reserve tank, said oxygenation means being preferably provided within said reserve tank. Still according to the invention, said means for conveying water within said connection pipings comprise valves and hydraulic pumps and said connection pipings between said at least a container and outside and between said at least a container and said filtering means provides, in correspondence of the points where water is extracted from said tank, only on its lateral surface, a plurality of thin openings, the sum of their surfaces being almost equivalent to the inner section of the piping. Furthermore, according to the invention, said thermostabilised system comprises local and/or remote sensing and control means, said sensing means comprising dissolved oxygen, dissolved carbon dioxide, nitrites, nitrates, pH and salinity meters. Always according to the invention, said thermostabilised system can comprise further inner lighting means for said at least one container, said lighting means emitting light in the viewable band and/or in the ultraviolet band, and automatic lighting means for said fishes and invertebrates. Finally, said thermostabilised system according to the invention is provided within a standard sized container for transportation by terra and/or by sea and/or by air. The present invention will be now described, for illustrative but not limitative purposes, with particular reference to figurel , wherein it is shown a system scheme in a preferred embodiment, with reference to a functionality test case. Particularly, two bigger containers 1 are shown, to contain fishes, and six smaller containers 2, to contain the invertebrates. Also a reserve container 3 for the containers 1 and a reserve container 4 for containers 2 are present. Water loading is carried out by a single inlet valve 5, through a number of pipings 6. inlet valve 5, in case of complete emptying of the system, acts also as drainage. Inlet water is sent both to the reserve container 3 and, through the six ways valve 7, to the containers 1 containing the fishes, and, through the six ways valve 8, to the containers 2 containing the invertebrates and to the relevant reserve container 4. Both system section destined to the fishes and the one destined to the invertebrates has a pair of screw pumps 9, each pair being comprised of a first continuous operating pump and of a second reserve pump. Containers 1 for fishes have each one a capacity of about

100 I, are connected in parallel and have two filters, to which are connected by pipings 6 and six ways valve 7. first one of said filters is a mechanical filter 1 0, and is comprised of a series of sand layers having different granularity, washed bivalve shells, and possibly, a layer of active carbons. Particularly, washed bivalve shells have been demonstrated very efficient in order to stabilise pH of water for a long time. After having passed the mechanical filter 1 0, water returns to the six ways valve 7, and from this passes to the biological filter 1 1 . Within said biological filter 1 1 , materials are present realising a substrate to house microorganisms for the biological filtering of water. Substrate can be comprised of food polyethylene bio-bubbles, realising a very wide surface for sprouting of said microorganisms. Invertebrates containers 2, as shown in figure 1 , are connected in parallel each other. Choice of realising six smaller containers, about 50 litres in the case shown in the figure, is advantageous for removal and transportation of single containers once reached the final destination. Containers 2 are insulated. Water of said containers 2, after having passed through the reserve container 4, can be directed toward the part of the circuit wherein water for fish containers circulates, and consequently, through the six ways valve 7, to the fish containers 1 , or to the mechanical filter 1 0 and/or to the biological filter 1 1 , or again to the part of the circuit for invertebrates. As alternative, water within said containers 2 can be directed, through the six ways valve 8, to the part of the circuit destined to the fish container water, of to the mechanical/biologic filter 1 2. Said mechanical/biological filter 1 2 is comprised of a succession of sand layers having different granularity, washed bivalve shells and food polyethylene bio-bubbles. In the embodiment of the system according to the invention shown in the figure, it provides two almost separate circuits, this choice being dictated by flow-rate reasons. Obviously, there is nothing preventing that the two circuits are interconnected each other, until creating a single circuit, or that the circuits are completely separated each other, or that a plurality of circuits is provided. Figure also shows a water oxygenation device 1 3, placed within the reserve container 3, allowing reaching the saturation point of the oxygen dissolved within the water. In the case shown, oxygenation device 1 3 has been placed within the reserve container 3, in order to avoid the air bubbles noise disturbs fishes. Pipings 6 connecting the different containers each other and with the different filters are provided with adjustment valves 14, the opening and closure of which adjusts the water flow rate within the single pipings. Water change rate, i.e. water flow rate within the various pipings 6, must be different in function of the kind of aquatic organisms to be transported. Particularly, invertebrates need a higher change rate than fishes . Total number of containers for fishes and invertebrates can be varied for each specific application. Particularly, presence of a high number of containers allows placing separate organisms that could not coexist. Further, adoption of a series of small containers allows removal of a single container, along with its contents, without it implies that the other containers suffer of this removal. In this way, it is possible delivering the different organisms with the various final destinations. All the devices comprising the system according to the present invention can be conveniently housed within a standard transportation Container, in order to facilitate its handling. The use of the standard transportation Containers allows carrying out the transportation by sea, on a boat, by trucks or trains, simply moving the whole Container from a transportation means to another one. Housing of the system within standard Containers involves the respect of the maximum volume limit, this limiting the maximum number and the volume of the single different containers. The system can be provided with thermal sensors, dissolved oxygen, dissolved carbon dioxide, nitrites, nitrates, pH and salinity meters. All the parameter sensed can be stored and managed by electronic devices, possibly remote and automatically controlled devices. At the same time, it is possible providing control means, also possibly remote controlled. In case the system is placed within a closed an insulated Container, it is possible guaranteeing a homogeneous temperature within the different containers through the adjustment of the air temperature within said standard Container or container. Thermostabilised system for transportation of living fishes and aquatic invertebrate according to the preferred embodiment has been tested for transportation of Antarctic fishes and aquatic invertebrates, by a boat, maintaining a temperature of water of about 1 ,5 °C for a period of 45 days. At the end of the transportation, healthy conditions of the transported organisms as very good. Thermostabilised system for transportation of living fishes and aquatic invertebrate according to the present invention is particularly advantageous since it associates quality of obtained results with low realisation and handling costs. The present invention has been described for illustrative but not limitative purposes, according to its preferred embodiments, but it is to be understood that modifications and/or changes can be introduced by those skilled in the art without departing from the relevant scope as defined in the enclosed claims.

Claims

1 . Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquati c invertebrates, comprising at least a container, at least partially filled i n with water, for containing fishes and/or aquatic invertebrates, characterised in that it comprises temperature control means within said at least a container, water mechanical and/or biological filtering means, connection pipings between said at least a tank and outside and between said at least a tank and said filtering means, means for conveying water within said connection pipings.

2. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to claim 1 , characterised in that further comprises water oxygenation means, said means being provided at least within said container.

3. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to one of the preceding claims 1 - 2, characterised in that it comprises at least a container for fishes and a container for invertebrates.

4. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that and it is a modular system.

5. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said mechanical filtering means comprise bivalve shells and/or sand layers.

6. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to claim 5, characterised in that said filtering means further comprise active carbons.

7. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said biological filtering means comprise a substrate of food polyethylene bio-bubbles.

8. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that comprises at least a water reserve tank.

9. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to one of the preceding claims 2 - 8, characterised in that said oxygenation means are provided within said reserve tank.

10. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said means for conveying water within said connection pipings comprise valves and hydraulic pumps.

1 1 . Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said connection pipings between said at least a container and outside and between said at least a container and said filtering means provides, in correspondence of the points where water is extracted from said tank, only on its lateral surface, a plurality of thin openings, the sum of their surfaces being almost equivalent to the inner section of the piping.

12. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that comprises local and/or remote sensing and control means.

13. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said sensing means comprise dissolved oxygen, dissolved carbon dioxide, nitrites, nitrates, pH and salinity meters.

14. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that comprises further inner lighting means for said at least one container.

15. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to claim 14, characterised in that said lighting means emitting light in the viewable band and/or in the ultraviolet band.

1 6. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that further comprises automatic lighting means for said fishes and invertebrates.

1 7. Thermostabilised system for transporting living fishes and aquatic invertebrates according to one of the preceding claims, characterised in that it is provided within a standard sized container for transportation by terra and/or by sea and/or by air.