Heading Towards Automation: Self-propelled Aquaculture Cage
September 26th, 2008 by Nicholas OngFound this interesting invention on MIT website.
In conventional near-shore fish farming, cages are routinely repositioned when their shallow sites are fallowed to control disease. Such transit is time consuming, expensive and energy intensive and would be simpler and use far less energy by employing a high-efficiency, cage-mounted propulsion system.
MIT Sea Grant’s Offshore Aquaculture Engineering Center (OAEC) successfully tested the self-propulsion concept by using pair of eight-foot diameter, electrically powered propellers, with 6.2 horsepower underwater motors.
OAEC is yet to assess the system’s economic viability. However this is yet another crucial step towards marine aquaculture automation. See the press release by OAEC below:
http://seagrant.mit.edu/news/press_releases.php?ID=54
Tags: automation
Posted in Economics. 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
September 26th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Those interested in further information might care to read this Forbes article which describes the potential for a UAV (ie Underwater Aquaculture Vehicle)
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/09/23/aquaculture-fish-farms-tech-sciences-cz_jf_0924fish.html
September 29th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Making cages mobile is excellent idea and not only solves problems with disease but could aid in production efficiency. Moving cages also enables operators to choose the ideal locations in which to grow their fish. Moving cages for example to geographically warmer climates could see fish like Tuna spawn continuously and grow faster. The ability for cages to move in the water column vertically also has benefits as mentioned above but has the added advantage of removing visual pollution. Its also very handy in a storm.
In the future it could be a case that your mobile fish farm incorporates all the above and more. A vessel could be created that grows and monitors fish and located accordingly. As the fish mature and are ready for harvesting, the vessel could have on board facilities to prepare the fish for market. It would then only be a matter for the vessel to moor at the market door for delivery.
Another advantage I see of this type of technology is that the vessel could be located anywhere in the world to produce fish that the market demands. So if the market for salmon is a little low, they could give Tuna a go for a season or two.
October 11th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
An interesting secondary benefit of these transportable cages has potential utility in reducing the impact of water temperature increases due to climate change.
Often, the limiting factor in cage stocking density is dissolved oxygen levels due to fish metabolism during slack water. The propellers used in this research provide an opportunity to supplement water flow through the cage during those brief events, thereby allowing larger crops of fish by boosting the dissolved oxygen within the cage.
One of the impacts of temperature rises is an accompanying decrease in the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. It is possible that transportable cages such as those being developed at MIT might provide a mechanism to replenish dissolved oxygen within cages when sea temperatures rise during the coming decades.
December 4th, 2008 at 11:08 am
[...] Heading Towards Automation: Self-propelled Aquaculture Cage [...]