energy generation technologies; namely oil and natural gas drilling platforms and
wind farms. As with the trend in marine aquaculture, ocean energy generation
facilities are moving further offshore and offer opportunities for co-location of fish
and shell fish farming.
Drilling for oil and gas in nearshore waters has been going on since the late
1800s and as technologies improved and market forces increased demand, companies moved further and further offshore. Present day technologies are capable of
operating in water depths up to 3000 m (AOGHS 2014). Worldwide as of February
2014 there were 1501 offshore oil and gas rigs deployed, with the highest concentrations in the Gulf of Mexico (229) and in the North Sea (180) (Statista 2014).
While a projection of numbers of future drilling rigs is not available, it is forecast
that the annual investment in rigs will grow from approximately $80 billion dollars
to over $120 billion dollars in 2020.
Wind energy farms have moved offshore as technology has become available to
support renewable energy production in the harsh, exposed ocean environment.
Today 4420 MW of offshore wind power have been installed globally as of June
2012, representing 2% of total installed world wind power capacity. More than 90%
of this capacity is installed off northern Europe, in the North Sea, Irish Seas and the
English Channel. Expectations are that major new developments will be occurring
in China, Japan, Korea, the United States, Canada, and Taiwan in the near future
(GWEC 2014).
Current plans for locating more ocean wind farms around the world indicate the
future of this form of renewable energy is very bright. According to the more
ambitious projections a total of 80 GW of offshore wind power could be installed
world-wide by 2020, with three quarters located in Europe (GWEC 2014).
9.2 Status of Commercial Offshore Aquaculture
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production technology in the world, though
rates have been decreasing in recent years (UNFAO 2014). As a greater diversity of
marine species became available from advances in husbandry techniques and
sturdier growout technologies (e.g., anchored cages, net pens, and long lines), the
industry has begun to utilize the offshore environment (Forster 2013; Jeffs 2013).
But, what is a widely accepted definition of offshore aquaculture?
Recently the UNFAO Aquaculture Office held a workshop to comprehensively
review the status and potential of offshore aquaculture and addressed this question
among others (Lovatelli et al. 2013). Marine aquaculture in the ocean was operationally classified into three categories based on site characteristics; Coastal,
Off-the-Coast, and Offshore. They can be defined as follows:
(1) Coastal aquaculture—Operations less than 500 m from the coast and in protected or semi-protected waters—less than 90° exposure to the open ocean.
Water depth is less than 10 m. These facilities can be accessed 100% of the
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wind farms. As with the trend in marine aquaculture, ocean energy generation
facilities are moving further offshore and offer opportunities for co-location of fish
and shell fish farming.
Drilling for oil and gas in nearshore waters has been going on since the late
1800s and as technologies improved and market forces increased demand, companies moved further and further offshore. Present day technologies are capable of
operating in water depths up to 3000 m (AOGHS 2014). Worldwide as of February
2014 there were 1501 offshore oil and gas rigs deployed, with the highest concentrations in the Gulf of Mexico (229) and in the North Sea (180) (Statista 2014).
While a projection of numbers of future drilling rigs is not available, it is forecast
that the annual investment in rigs will grow from approximately $80 billion dollars
to over $120 billion dollars in 2020.
Wind energy farms have moved offshore as technology has become available to
support renewable energy production in the harsh, exposed ocean environment.
Today 4420 MW of offshore wind power have been installed globally as of June
2012, representing 2% of total installed world wind power capacity. More than 90%
of this capacity is installed off northern Europe, in the North Sea, Irish Seas and the
English Channel. Expectations are that major new developments will be occurring
in China, Japan, Korea, the United States, Canada, and Taiwan in the near future
(GWEC 2014).
Current plans for locating more ocean wind farms around the world indicate the
future of this form of renewable energy is very bright. According to the more
ambitious projections a total of 80 GW of offshore wind power could be installed
world-wide by 2020, with three quarters located in Europe (GWEC 2014).
9.2 Status of Commercial Offshore Aquaculture
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production technology in the world, though
rates have been decreasing in recent years (UNFAO 2014). As a greater diversity of
marine species became available from advances in husbandry techniques and
sturdier growout technologies (e.g., anchored cages, net pens, and long lines), the
industry has begun to utilize the offshore environment (Forster 2013; Jeffs 2013).
But, what is a widely accepted definition of offshore aquaculture?
Recently the UNFAO Aquaculture Office held a workshop to comprehensively
review the status and potential of offshore aquaculture and addressed this question
among others (Lovatelli et al. 2013). Marine aquaculture in the ocean was operationally classified into three categories based on site characteristics; Coastal,
Off-the-Coast, and Offshore. They can be defined as follows:
(1) Coastal aquaculture—Operations less than 500 m from the coast and in protected or semi-protected waters—less than 90° exposure to the open ocean.
Water depth is less than 10 m. These facilities can be accessed 100% of the
9 Regulation and Permitting of Standalone …
189