Aquaculture 2022

February 28 - March 4, 2022

San Diego, California

OPTIMIZING YIELD POTENTIAL AND HARVEST EFFICIENCY OF A SCALABLE COASTAL AND OFFSHORE MARCROALGAL FARM

David Bailey*, Scott Lindell, Clifford Goudey, Domenic Manganelli, Hauke Kite-

Powell, Charles Yarish, Loretta Roberson, Kendall Barbery, Tobias Dewhurst, Beau Perry, Alf Pryor, Nick Mangini, Michael Stekoll

 

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Environmental Systems Laboratory

Woods Hole, MA 02543

dbailey@whoi.edu

 



 Seaweed farming is expanding rapidly in the US and is becoming an important component of our coastal economy. To maintain sustainable growth, both socially and economically, it is essential to 1) optimize the growing potential of permitted lease areas and 2) increase  operational efficiency. Maximizing production per unit area will  minimize  the area required to meet the needs of a growing industry and reduce potential ocean user conflicts and natural impacts .  The dense growing structures required to  optimize production enable operational efficiencies that are not achievable with traditional farming practices. These efficiencies have the potential to reduce the cost of production, which will allow the industry to enter new markets. As part of  the ARPA-E MARINER program an experimental test farm has been deployed over the past two years in Kodiak, Alaska with the goal of increasing yield per unit area and increasing operational efficiencies. During the first growing season 2019-20 the farm  had 11,000ft of grow-line in a 1.9-acre footprint . Harvest yielded 59,000lbs at 5.5lbs/ft. The second growing season 2020-21 had 25,000ft of grow-line in a 3.3-acre footprint. The harvest of 68% of the farm yielded 86,600lbs at 4.95lbs/ft. Harvesting  system  optimization took place with the testing of a purpose-built barge and a commercial fishing boat.  The fastest rate of harvest achieved was 15,000lbs/hr with an average harvest speed of 2,800lbs/hr. The test farm will be deployed for a third season with 44,000ft of grow-line in the same 3.3-acre footprint.