Aquaculture Project Procurement: From Biomass Target to Comparable RFQ

The first honest question in a RAS project is not “which drum filter?” but “what is the peak standing biomass, at what temperature, on what feed load, for which species and size grade?”. Feed load per day drives TAN production, TAN drives biofilter sizing, biofilter and oxygen demand drive pumping and blower power, and pumping power drives the operating cost that the whole investment case rests on.

• Species, target harvest size, grading strategy and stocking plan across the production cycle.
• Peak standing biomass per module and total, with the assumed feed conversion and mortality.
• Water budget: make-up water rate, source quality, discharge limits and permit conditions.
• Treatment train: mechanical filtration, biofiltration, degassing, oxygenation, UV or ozone, denitrification.
• Energy: installed kW, load profile, redundancy, standby power and the local tariff.
• Biosecurity and alarm philosophy: sensors, redundancy, and what happens on a power or pump failure.

• Guarantee basis: is production guaranteed on biomass, on water quality parameters, or on nothing at all.
• Civil works and tanks: concrete, GRP or liner — supplied by whom, to whose drawings.
• Water intake, borehole, treatment of source water and discharge/effluent treatment.
• Redundancy level: spare pump, spare blower, spare oxygen supply, backup generator sizing.
• Commissioning and biological start-up: who matures the biofilter, over how long, and at whose risk.
• Hatchery, nursery and grow-out boundaries when the project is phased.
• Feed, health and stock supply — usually outside the equipment scope and frequently forgotten in the budget.

Illustrative planning scenarios assembled from standard published engineering parameters. Not client cases, not quotations, no performance, price or delivery outcome implied.

1. 01
   Illustrative A — Land-based RAS grow-out module

   A single grow-out module specified by peak standing biomass and daily feed load rather than by tank volume. Scope covers tanks, drum filtration, moving-bed biofilter, degassing, oxygen cone or low-head oxygenator, UV, pumping, control system and alarm redundancy. The RFQ's decisive clauses are the water-quality parameters at peak load, the make-up water rate, installed kW per tonne of annual production, and the biological commissioning plan.

2. 02
   Illustrative B — Hatchery and nursery ahead of an existing grow-out site

   A hatchery sized by fingerlings per year to remove dependence on bought-in juveniles. Scope covers broodstock and maturation, incubation, live-feed or weaning systems, nursery RAS loops, separate biosecurity zones and quarantine. The commercial question in the RFQ is documentation and validation: water treatment validation, disease-management protocols and the training programme.

3. 03
   Illustrative C — Processing and cold chain at an existing farm

   Adding gutting, filleting, grading, ice or chilling, packing and frozen storage. The scope must state throughput at peak harvest — not annual average — plus yield basis, by-product handling, effluent load, hygiene certification for the export market and the cold-storage days required for the dispatch pattern.

1. 01
   Define

   Species, biomass, site, water source, permits, timeline and decision owners in writing.

2. 02
   Calculate

   Independent CapEx and operating-cost range, with energy per tonne stated explicitly.

3. 03
   Structure the RFQ

   Water-quality guarantees, battery limits, exclusions, Incoterms, acceptance criteria.

4. 04
   Research capability

   Reference installations at comparable biomass, species and climate — assessed, not listed.

5. 05
   Compare

   Normalise scope, surface exclusions, review TCO with realistic energy and feed prices.

6. 06
   Financing readiness

   Check documentation completeness before approaching any external institution.

Human review at every stage. No automatic matching, and no introduction without review and approval by David or an authorised team member.

• It is not a manufacturer, an EPC contractor or a fish-farm operator.
• It publishes no supplier directory and sells no rankings.
• It does not lend, broker finance or approve credit.
• It guarantees no supplier, price, delivery date, biological performance or FAT/SAT outcome.
• Formal review and supplier research generally apply from roughly US$250,000 of installed value.