Traditional aquaculture methods have drawn criticism from environmentalists and animal rights activists who claim waste from these operations harm seabeds, fish are kept under poor conditions, operations' usage of medication and antibiotics can harm wild marine animal populations, and the operations encroach on protected lands.
The solution, according to Chile-based Ocean Arks Tech (OAT), is to move fish-farming operations to the deep sea.
OAT proposes transferring aquaculture farms to huge ships that can remain far offshore; the firm’s concept vessel for the ambitious project measures 550 feet by 197 feet, boasts a heliport, and is specifically designed to operate offshore in waves up to 7 meters in height, allowing for repositioning to optimize farming conditions.
The vessels can also operate fully autonomously for up to 25 days, with harvesting of up to 3,900 metric tons conducted by a wellboat across eight mesh cages of 115-foot width or four cages of 210-foot width, with each cage measuring 115 feet long and 66 feet deep.
With the concept in place, OAT now aims to convince investors of its idea.
To that end, in September, company executives traveled to Hamburg, Germany, to present its concept vessel at the 2024 Shipbuilding, Machinery, and Marine Technology Trade Fair.
SeafoodSource spoke with OAT Founder and Director Rodrigo Sanchez, the former marketing and development manager for Salmones AquaChile and former CEO of EcoSea Farming, about the ambitious plans.
SeafoodSource: Doesn’t placing aquaculture pens on a boat increase carbon emissions?
Sanchez: The boat’s engines are not for sailing but to position the vessel in the best place for the fish in terms of water quality, temperature, oxygen, etc. It can drop anchor when the seabed depth is up to 700 meters to remain anchored in a quality water column. When the seabed is 3,700 meters, for example, the vessel does not anchor and remains drifting; the engines are not used.
We designed an early warning system with ROVs [robots] that circulate around the ship 24 hours a day. They give alerts when weather conditions are changing for you to make the necessary corrections. We estimate that we would use the engines about twice a week for three hours a day. It's just to keep up with the good quality water column; the use of the motors is quite minimal. It’s powered by the best, most efficient technology that exists today – a diesel-electric engine.
But, the most important issue is that we bring production closer to the place of consumption. For example, why are you going to send salmon from Chile to Seattle if you can have a ship operating offshore from Washington? There is a tremendous saving of CO2 emissions [in product transportation].
Also, you get really fresh fish because it's right off the coast. This is going to be almost to order; the fish are harvested, and in seven hours, you have them in your restaurant or the distribution center.
That's the advantage our technology has. When it comes to the carbon footprint, countries like Chile are not going to be competitive with countries like Norway or Canada that are closer to the United States. If we place the ship in front of the United States to supply that tremendous market, we are going to be very competitive. We are considered a gamechanger in aquaculture.
SeafoodSource: Does the vessel need to get to port to stock up?
Sanchez: No, it doesn't. Think of it as an oil rig. We are going to have the ship far from the coast, and the crew, together with supplies such as fish feed, are transported to the vessel via boats; the transport of juveniles would be loaded onto the vessel by wellboat; and the harvest is brought back to shore via wellboats.
We’ve had in-depth talks with NOAA over the possibility of having a prototype ship working to see if the U.S. government is willing to give us permission to operate in federal waters.
SeafoodSource: Is this solution expensive?
Sanchez: From an investment point of view, it is cheaper than any other technology in land-based or traditional aquaculture …
