HOOD CANAL MARICULTURE INC — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase II: 8.7

Description

Paradigm Shift Technology for Scalable High-Density High-Yield Commercial Multi-SpeciesMariculturePROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: Farm efficiency and commercial competitiveness for kelpfarming and multi-species mariculture (kelp plus shell-fish) will be meaningfully enhancedthrough successful final development and commercialization of novel technology that Blue DotSea Farms (BDSF) has significantly demonstrated/advanced under Phase 1 SBIR.In addition toimprovements in production efficiencies and creation of a significant marketing advantage thetechnology base leads to the ability to franchise to other farmers and create a drive towards moresustainable and commercially viable broad-based mariculture in the United States.BDSF isproposing a novel semi-rigid growing support framework based on using recycled carbon fiber(rCF) cable that will replace and ultimately eliminate conventional plastic line in the farmmarine environment.The macro-algae growing support system will have the capability to easilyaccommodate structures for shellfish and other aquaculture species with demonstrated potentialfor significant improvements in farm systems efficiency.The approach enables:• A semi-rigid structure that eliminates flexible "plastic" (e.g. polypropylene nylon etc.)rope and is designed so marine mammal entanglement is physically impossible.• Significantly closer line spacing to gain 4-6X yield improvements as the semi-rigid rCFcables hold their position during storms/severe currents eliminating entanglementbetween lines and thus abrasion of developing kelps which is common with poly-rope.• Improvements in longevity by an order of magnitude over poly rope resulting in lowercapital replacement operating and maintenance costs.• Faster and easier seeding with inoculated twines that is very simple to automate.• Marine biofouling cleaning to occur with either a light abrasive pad cleansing(demonstrated) or with high-pressure steam (postulated) greatly improving laborproductivity and removing contamination by harmful micro-plastics.• Combined performance improvements that result in multi-cropping (we demonstrated in- situ harvest cleaning reseeding and re-placing lines in one day) without having toremove the system disconnect anchors etc. which was not feasible with poly-rope.Anticipated results will provide a basis for commercial launch including:1. Completing optimization of line spacing for the rCF lines;2. Completion of systems development for in-situ line cleaning;3. Research and demonstration into automation and cost analysis for a semi-rigid systemincluding multi-line harvest clean and re-seeding;4. Research into farm systems manufacturing and capability to achieve rapid deployment ofscaled systems in a turn-key solutions business model; and5. Research on multiple species farming and annual kelp multi-cropping farming and estimationof the limits on applicable species and recommendations for preferred species.The commercial potential if fully realized could impact all aquaculture farms as we drive toreduce and eventually eliminate plastics introduced via marine farming systems.The improvedyields and annual multi-cropping show an excellent business case.In 5 years we anticipatehaving 25 large-scale farms deploying this system in the US as well as developing aninternational export sales potential.1