Oceans 11? Some of the offshore ideas floated
FROM above it looks like a space station from a 1980s TV sci-fi series that has somehow found its way into the sea, but the novel design of Ocean Farm 1 (OF1) combines solutions from aquaculture and the offshore industry to create a truly innovative installation that points the way to a possible future of multiple similar new ocean spaces for aquaculture, writes Dave Edler.
Owned and operated by SalMar, OF1 is the first ever salmon farm designed and built for exposed operation and this year it achieved another first by receiving a fish farming class certificate from DNV GL, the independent experts in risk management and quality assurance.
Geir Fuglerud, director of Offshore Classification for DNV GL, said in a press release: ‘Ocean Farm 1 is the first of several aquaculture projects planned for more exposed ocean installation in Norway, and with the experience we and the industry gain from this installation we hope that this marks the beginning of a new era for sustainable aquaculture.’
OF1 was delivered in June 2017 by the Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group in Qingdao, China, and transported to Norway for installation.
DNV GL provided third party verification and certification covering the design, construction, transport and installation, enabling Ocean Farm 1 to meet the Norwegian NYTEK regulations and to operate safely for salmon farming.
The unit was also awarded the new OI offshore fish farming installation POSMOOR class notation, which confirms that OF1 was built in accordance with DNVGL-RU-0503 (offshore fish farming units and installations) rules.
SalMar already has well advanced plans to build its new Smart Fish Farm, which is being touted as the ‘big brother’ of OF1.
The new project will have double the capacity of the first installation and carries an estimated price tag of NOK 1.5 billion (£134 million).
The Smart Fish Farm concept is based on a semi-submersible steel structure consisting of a wide centre column and a surrounding framework mainly with circular cross-sections.
The framework stretches support netting panels that provide eight separate chambers. The total aquaculture volume of the chambers is 510,000m3 when the operating depth is 45m. According to the company, there will be room for two permits of 780 tonnes per chamber, so the farm will be half-full.
Although the new smart farm will look similar to OF1, it differs significantly in some areas. As well as having twice the capacity, it will withstand substantially more exposed areas than its predecessor.
However, the key enhancement is that the central closed column will be equipped for processing fish, control and management of the unit, as well as an advanced system for transporting fish related to the eight surrounding production chambers.
The success of OF1 has also piqued the interest of several other players looking to explore the possibilities of combining offshore industry practices with aquaculture.
Some of the ideas floated included the AquaStorm proposal by Mowi (rejected by the Norwegian Fisheries Directorate) to grow fish in subsea cages 15m below the surface, and a project by Norwegian company Arctic Offshore Farming aimed at creating an offshore remote controlled salmon farm, which it claims could both reduce the cost of feed while also minimising the losses from sea lice.
Could we soon be seeing more such futuristic looking installations populating the deep offshore locations around the Scottish and Norwegian coastlines?