The growth of aquaculture in sheltered ocean waters has all but stalled due to issues such as environmental impact, stakeholder conflict, and available locations. As a result, open ocean aquaculture has grown significantly in the past 20 years. This expansion has fueled disruptive technologies that enable farmers to successfully produce fish in challenging conditions. A third and underdeveloped type of location stands to benefit from the breakthroughs in open ocean technology.
There are areas of opportunity throughout the globe where oceanic conditions require less robust equipment day to day yet still occasionally experience seasonal storms. These aperiodic events have proven to be catastrophic to producers every few years. A recent occurred on the Mediterranean Coast of Spain when storm Gloria devastated the industry in January 2020. Farmers reported a loss of more than 40% of sea bass and sea bream production and 60% of their Corvina yield.
Innovasea has been developing equipment suited for this market for the past five years. Based on more traditional equipment such as HDPE circular pens, the new line of equipment combines the functionality well known to farmers in these areas with the added ability to submerge during aperiodic storms such as Gloria. Essentially the equipment can “duck-and-cover” during the storms. The lower-cost offerings integrate with Innovasea’s submerged feeding and remote mortality collection functions developed for the open ocean. Initial testing in Mexico shows promise for this technology in areas such as the Mediterranean and the Middle East.