Engineering investigation of design procedures for closed containment marine aquaculture systems

The objective of this paper is to investigate potential design procedures for rigid, closed containment aquaculture systems deployed in the marine environment. In this context, closed containment is a term used to describe a range of aquaculture technologies that attempt to restrict and control interactions between farmed fish and the external aquatic environment, with the goal of minimizing impacts. The containment units are often closely spaced and moored to the seafloor bottom. The geographical area of interest is the Straits of Georgia, British Columbia in Canada.In this study, the design configurations of multiple closed containment systems are investigated. The design procedures include examining: (1) local environmental conditions, (2) drag forces on multiple containment units, (3) wave loading, (4) undamped heave motions, (5) mooring gear components and (6) material stresses on a rigid containment structure. Operational and other design considerations are also discussed. Preliminary findings indicate that wave forces could be substantial. In addition, little is known about how containment units, which are closely spaced, will respond individually or as a farm when subjected to surface waves.