SBIR Phase I: Launching Velella: Testing the Commercial Potential of Mobile Offshore Fish Farming In Ocean Gyres

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目探索通过在区域海洋环流中使用移动、漂流的鱼圈来扩大开放海洋的海水养殖。近海养鱼提供了巨大的发展机会，但也面临一些限制：租赁或扩张的许可程序冗长，以及对水质、底栖生物、野生鱼类健康和视野的影响。Velella漂网箱解决了这些监管问题，减少了潜在的环境影响，并改善了鱼类的健康和生产力。Velella笼被困在近海环流中，使用遥控帆或可展开的海锚作为矢量力。研究人员必须开发出科纳环流的预测模型，通过部署gps追踪的龙卷风进行测试，然后从现有的农场部署一个漂流笼并跟踪其运动。用于视频监控和喂养控制的卫星连接也将进行测试。这项研究的更广泛的影响是开发可持续的、可扩展的开放海洋海水养殖技术。美国国家海洋和大气管理局希望到2025年将水产养殖产量增加五倍。迫切需要：美国？美国海产品贸易逆差为90亿美元。国内海产品需求正在增加，但捕捞渔业面临着库存下降、关闭和监管加强的问题。开放海洋水产养殖以可持续、无害环境的方式为满足NOAA的目标和全球海产品需求提供了最佳机会。Kona Blue在夏威夷海上的生鱼片级Kona Kampachi®的产量已经达到每月10万磅，但扩张机会受到租赁和许可的限制。为Velella开发的更广泛的技术也可以授权给现有的农场操作，以提高自动化程度，减少劳动力和提高效率。该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project explores expanding open ocean mariculture by using mobile, drifting fish pens entrained in regional oceanic gyres. Offshore fish farming offers tremendous growth opportunities, but faces constraints: lengthy permit processes for leases or expansion and concerns for impacts on water quality, benthos, wild fish health and view planes. Velella drifter cages resolve these regulatory concerns, reduce potential for environmental impacts, and improve fish health and productivity. Velella cages are entrained within offshore gyres, using remotely-controlled sails or deployable sea-anchors for vector forces. Research must develop predictive models of the Kona gyre, test this by deployment of GPS-tracked drogues, and then deploy a drifting cage from the existing farm and track its movement. Satellite links for video-monitoring and feeding controls will also be tested. The broader impacts of this research are development of sustainable, scalable technology for open ocean mariculture. NOAA aspires to increase aquaculture production fivefold by 2025. The need is pressing: America?s seafood trade deficit is $9 billion. Domestic seafood demand is increasing, yet capture fisheries face declining stocks, closures, and increasing regulation. Open ocean aquaculture presents the best opportunity for meeting NOAA's goal and global seafood needs in a sustainable, environmentally-sound manner. Kona Blue already produces up to 100,000 lbs/month of sashimi-grade Kona Kampachi® offshore in Hawaii, but expansion opportunities are limited by leases and permits. Broader technologies developed for Velella could also be licensed to existing farm operations, to increase automation, reduce labor, and increase efficiencies.This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).