NZ King Salmon trials submersible pens
NEW Zealand King Salmon is to launch a project investigating the potential of submersible salmon farms.
The pilot, in around 1,700 ha in Cook Strait, will take about a year and is being supported by the Cawthron Institute and Blue Planet Marine.
The underwater pens are based on Norwegian technology, NZ King Salmon chief executive Grant Rosewarne told local news agencies.
Six monitoring buoys will measure temperature, current, sound and other characteristics, and hydrophones will monitor whales and dolphins.
The data collected from the research project would partly determine how many farms would be built within the area, as would the current strength and other factors.
In July, Rosewarne estimated that 100 extra pens in Cook Strait, over 80ha, and with each holding 1,000 tonnes, could lift the company’s annual revenue from $136 million to $2.5 billion.
He said the technology coming out of Norway was designed to go into the open ocean in the North Sea, taking on the harsh conditions with steel.
‘They have quite a big structure above water but ours would only have a few buoys above water and you would have a boat come in to tend and feed the fish.’