Cobia in Offshore Aquaculture
July 17th, 2008 by AndrewSnapperfarm operates an open ocean aquaculture facility off Puerto Rico where it is growing cobia.
In mid 2002, Snapperfarm installed its first cages. Snapperfarm currently utilizes SeaStation™and Aquapod™ offshore submersible cages with a combined capacity of 3,000 cubic meters.
Because of the strong currents, extreme wave energy and exposure to hurricanes, the cages are operated fully submerged and are only surfaced for maintenance or harvest.
The decision was made to focus efforts exclusively on Culebran Cobia™ (Rachycentron canadum) due to the excellent traits for aquaculture exhibited in early trials.
Substantial improvements to the growth efficiency of Culebran Cobia™ and operational efficiency of the submerged open ocean operation have been made since 2002.
Working with JC Seafood, Inc. in Miami, Florida, Snapperfarm has successfully introduced Culebran Cobia™ to health and environmentally conscious markets in the U.S.
If you would like to gain a cobia’s eye view of the Snapperfarm cages in operation you can view a 3 minute video showing aspects of their aquaculture operations here.
Tags: cobia, open ocean, Puerto Rico, sea cage, video
Posted in Growout. Permalink for this post: permalink.
If you are a Digg user, please 
Digg this post. If you use use Del.icio.us, then add us in: 
Del.icio.us
What do you think?
Leave a comment! Or send a trackback from your own blog.
Like to read more? Subscribe with RSS
November 11th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Andrew
The corollary to this innovation is provided in an article on the Ocean Farm technology in Forbes.
Cliff Goudey, the director of the MIT Sea Grant’s Offshore Aquaculture Engineering Center has devised a system by which giant spherical cages of fish (based on those being operated by Ocean Farm) would drift underwater in circular ocean currents, or gyres.
He envisages that hatchlings could be placed in cages into a Caribbean gyre near Barbados. The cages would be tracked by GPS, kept on course with propeller systems attached to the cages, and visited by feeding boats. The fish, drifting in the gyre, would grow as the current took them west toward the Yucatan, then north into the Gulf of Mexico and finally into the Gulf Stream where the fish could pass near Miami just as they are good-eating size. Cages could be timed to arrive monthly or even weekly.
Of course there will be a million technical, logistic and regulatory obstacles to overcome before systems like this are a reality. But what a mind blowing possibility!
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/09/23/aquaculture-fish-farms-tech-sciences-cz_jf_0924fish.html