Energy and resource consumption of land-based Atlantic salmon smolt hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest (USA)

On a kg of smolt produced basis, the six rearing options showed a wide range in performance. The reuse system had the lowest water (2 m3 kg− 1) and land (0.13 m2 kg− 1) requirements and the third lowest total energy requirement (288 MJ kg− 1). The partial reuse system had the second lowest total power requirement (276 MJ kg− 1), a low land requirement (0.21 m2 kg− 1), and moderate water requirements (33 m3 kg− 1). The partial reuse with temperature control had the second highest total power requirement (657 MJ kg− 1) and land and water requirements similar to the partial reuse system without temperature control. The flow-through system with pumped water supply had the highest water (289 m3 kg− 1), land (2.19 m2 kg− 1), and energy requirements (786 MJ kg− 1) of any of the rearing options. By comparison, the flow-through system with gravity water supply had the lowest energy requirement (218 MJ kg− 1), a moderate land requirement (0.78 m2 kg− 1), and a high water requirement (214 m3 kg− 1). The ranking of the six rearing options based capital and operating costs are likely to be quite different from those based on energy, water, and greenhouse gas emissions.