The ISMER-UQAR aquaculture station is equipped with everything necessary to pursue work in aquaculture and to produce the various life stages of the invertebrates and fishes under study (from egg to adult). These infrastructures meet the requirements of the Canadian Council on Animal Care. The supply of both freshwater and seawater enables studies on both anadromous and marine species.

Tanks

The station is equipped for rearing freshwater and saltwater fishes, bivalves, and crustaceans of all ontogenic stages, with specific tanks for each stage and species. The use of small, fully recirculating units makes it possible to study thermal stresses and to work with non-native species. The station is equipped for microalga production, and it has a hydrodynamic channel to study the effect of currents and an acoustic tank to examine the effects of anthropogenic sounds.

The ISMER-UQAR aquaculture station is equipped with a series of five large mesocosms, each with a volume of 3,500 litres, for the study of ecosystems. These fragments of unmodified ecosystems, taken from the natural environment and brought back to the laboratory, are maintained in a controlled environment (e.g., temperature, salinity, organic matter) for various studies (e.g., hypoxia simulations, addition of contaminants, temperature increases, changes in the amount of organic matter).

Each large cylindrical tank (3.5 m high and 1.4 m in diameter) is equipped with multiple probes to measure the physical and chemical parameters of the tank water. Multiple applications in chemistry, ecology, and ecotoxicology have been developed by ISMER-UQAR researchers and Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Maurice Lamontangne Institute.

Projects under development include work in ecology on the dynamics of organic carbon and in environmental chemistry on the mobility and dynamics of nanoparticles at the freshwater–seawater interface.

The aquaculture station is also equipped with benthocosms and a new mesocosm system for studying the benthic ecosystem. The benthocosms (45 x 45 x 42 cm in height) are unmodified fragments of the benthic ecosystem from the intertidal zone to depths of 400 m, taken from the natural environment and brought back to the laboratory where they are maintained in a controlled environment (e.g., temperature, salinity, organic matter). Each parameter can be studied to observe the benthic system (e.g., hypoxia simulation, addition of contaminants, temperature increase, change in organic matter). In addition, the use of benthocosms encourages multidisciplinary studies (ecology, geochemistry, chemistry) and provides a better understanding of ecosystem functioning. In addition, benthocosms are well suited to both short- and long-term experiments because the system can be maintained in the tanks for several months.

The aquaculture station is equipped with all the facilities needed to pursue work in aquaculture and the production of the various life stages of the invertebrates and fishes under study.

The station offers a range of research services, including a supply of seawater, freshwater, and compressed air to maintain marine and freshwater organisms in tanks, an instrumentation laboratory with basic equipment (e.g., microscope, liquid nitrogen generator, particle counter, balances), a radioecology laboratory, experiment rooms, two tank rooms, a natural light greenhouse, temperature-controlled rooms, and related services (e.g., warehouse, workshop, meeting room).

Nathalie Morin, Laboratory Technician, Aquaculture Station Technical Manager

981, rue Marconi
Rimouski (Québec) Canada
G5M 1L7

Téléphone : 418 723-1986, poste 1811
Téléphone (sans frais) : 1 800 511-3382, poste 1811

Localisation de la station aquicole (Google Map)