About Aquabiotech

Aquabiotech Mission

Created in 1989 by two Canadian aquatic biologists, AQUABIOTECH offers a variety of warm and cold water recycling systems for aquaculture and trials on toxicology, marine ecology, fish physiology, nutrition, disease, behaviour and reproductive biology. This equipment can meet every requirement of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC). The company also assists with the design of marine research facilities.

Our B2C (business to client) business model is personalized and intended primarily for academic researchers. We maintain close relationships with our research clients and see ourselves simply as “scientists helping scientists” to become leaders in their own field.

Also, Aquabiotech design and builds industrial scale lobster holding systems for the American and European fishing industry applying the same rigorous principles. The Eco Lobster Condo is a concept by which specially designed trays or totes are stacked under a shower or drip system and serviced by a water recycling system.  Shellfish are maintained submerged in cold flowing water that trickles down from one tank to the next below.  Aquabiotech’s systems provide significant advantages:

• Less stress on the animals: no handling of individual lobster
• No dead zones: oxygenated water flows around each animal
• Cost efficient: they more than double the holding capacity of a pond
• Add flexibilty: fish totes can be replaced by trays for long-term holding

History

Aquabiotech’s history began in the mid 80’s when both founders of Aquabiotech were Ph.D. students at Laval University. Tony was working on the neurophysiological manifestations of stress in fish, while Hélène was studying nitrification, the process by which bacteria in aquaculture biofilters strip dissolved ammonia from the water and convert it to non-toxic nitrates. The technology of the day made it difficult to keep fish successfully in experimental chambers without subjecting them to high concentrations of ammonia, so Hélène offered Tony a deal: she would build small-scale recirc systems that would enable him to keep his fish in a controlled environment, and at the same time provide herself with the raw bacterial material for her own research. The systems were successful and the research prospered, leading to a successful working partnership, and in time to the founding of a research-based, business enterprise.

Strengths and advantage

• We guarantee high quality of water in our water recirculation systems
• Our fish rearing tanks incorporate a Faecal Trap that removes at least 80% of solids in a concentrated form
• Simulation of ammonia and CO2 production, oxygen consumption and CO2 degassing in all our closed systems
• Proven biotechnology for coating biofilters with active nitrifying bacteria. Our biofilters are delivered pre-activated with freshwater or marine nitrifying bacteria
• AQUABIOTECH has grown 1 to 6 tons Atlantic salmon smolts for over 6 years in Pilot hatchery with only 10 to 20% of the water volume renewed per day for constant evaluation and improvement of its closed system’s technology
• AQUABIOTECH factory tests its systems for hydraulic stability and specifications before delivery
• A team of professionals with long practical experience in aquaculture that offers excellent after-sale service
• Industry experience with long-term holding of lobster
• State-of-the-art electronic equipment for the environmental control and monitoring of aquatic and marine facilities

Infrastructure

The Company Founders

Hélène Drouin

President (1989–2022)

Hélène Drouin was one of the founding partners of our company and was
president of Aquabiotech from its foundation in 1989 through 2022.
Hélène’s training in water treatment preceded her days at Laval
University.

With a B.Sc. from the University of Guelph, she managed an
experimental trout farm for Université de Montréal before taking
the long course in aquaculture at the Fisheries Academy in
Leetown, West Virginia, where she built her first recirculatory
aquaculture system.

Subsequently, she took courses in sanitary engineering and was
hired by the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture to build a closed
aquaculture system. Only later did she register at Laval University
to pursue her own research.

Tony Pouliot

President

Tony has been the Production Manager since the founding of
Aquabiotech. He holds an undergraduate degree in biology from
Laval University (specialty in aquatic biology) and a master’s
degree in the same field.

He earned his Ph.D. in nutrition from the same university by
studying the effect of the quality of dietary protein on stress
resistance in rainbow trout.

In addition to the design of the units, he is also involved in
research and development needed to continually advance knowledge
and technological development.