The development of open ocean aquaculture in the United States has been difficult due to, in part, compliance with the Marine Mammal Protection and Endangered Species Acts. In the northeast, the intent of these efforts is often to protect the North Atlantic right whale (NARW), since entanglement in rope can be deadly, especially for this species. Opportunity exists, however, to develop kelp aquaculture in many exposed sites in New England providing both economic and ecosystem benefits. Kelp farming, however, typically uses rope components and therefore an entanglement risk exists. The objective of this presentation is to build upon simple design concepts described in [1] to replace rope with components that could reduce the chances of entangling the NARW. A system design will be presented that incorporates the strategic positioning of weak links and shortened lengths of rope, strategies described in Atlantic large whale take reduction plan regulations for fixed gear [2]. The design will also include sections of fiberglass rebar introduced for kelp farming in [3] and high density polyethylene pipe (HDPE) as the cultivation structure. The hypothesis is that HDPE will not wrap tightly around whale parts. Even if the HDPE becomes ‘kinked’ in failure [4], it will shed off the whale easier than rope. This presentation will show system design details with construction, deployment and seeding at an Isles of Shoals site operated by the University of New Hampshire.
[1] St-Gelais, A.T., Fredriksson, D.W., Dewhurst, T., Miller-Hope, Z.S., Barry Costa-Pierce, B-A, Johndrow, K. 2022. Engineering A Low-Cost Kelp Aquaculture System for Community-Scale Seaweed Farming at Nearshore Exposed Sites via User-Focused Design Process. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 6: 848035. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.848035.
[2] CFR: Title 50 Chapter II; Subchapter C; Part 229; Subpart C.
[3] Moscicki, Zachary. 2023. Engineering studies of an experimental open ocean seaweed farm design. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy in Ocean Engineering. University of New Hampshire. December 2023. 260 p.
[4] Fredriksson, D.W., DeCew, J.C. and Tsukrov, I. 2007. Development of structural modeling techniques for evaluating HDPE plastic net pens used in marine aquaculture. Ocean Eng. 34: 2124-2137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2007.04.007.