maximizing the productivity of ocean installations for seafood, energy and scientific
pursuits, and there has been a considerable amount of thinking and discussion that
has taken place globally in recent years to realize this goal. We are deeply grateful
for the contributions of the co-authors of this volume, as their expertise and
experience represents the state of knowledge on the topic of aquaculture as a
potential multi-use of ocean platforms.
We have covered technical, operational, biological, economic, social and
political considerations, as well as case studies, where aquaculture was implemented at pilot scale on offshore oil rigs and wind turbine platforms.
One important area that was not covered in this book was environmental and
ecological risks associated with aquaculture. While we acknowledge that environment issues are extremely important, we felt that they have been covered
exhaustively over the past three decades and that further discussion would not have
added new information for this volume. A recent review paper by the US
Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration
(Price and Morris 2013) does an excellent job of synthesizing thirty years of literature on all environmental aspects of marine fish cage culture, so we recommend
that report to readers with interest of this topic. While most environmental impacts
have been associated with marine finfish culture, there are some concerns with
shellfish and macroalgae culture though to a much lesser extent. These issues are
also covered extensively in the literature (Fabia et al. 2009; Hatcher et al. 1994;
Langan 2007, 2012; Lloyd 2003; Paul 1999; Plew et al. 2005; Price et al. 2015)
14.2 What We Have Learned
While we have extensive knowledge of the technical, social, political, environmental and biological aspects of aquaculture and offshore energy as separate
entities, we have less knowledge and experience with these activities taking place
within the same ocean footprint. Though there are several projects in planning
stages. Particularly in the EU, most of the projects to date have been small scale and
have essentially been opportunistic retrofits on existing structures or hypothetical
scenarios that have yet to be realized. We do know that there are complexities in
site assessment and selection as well as permitting and licensing for aquaculture and
energy installations as stand-alone activities, however, we do not know if the
process would become even more complex if the two activities were proposed for
the same project location, though we suspect they might.
We also know that there is potential for mutual benefits and cost savings for
things like maintenance and operations, though the greatest advantage would be for
aquaculture due to the robust structure provided by energy platforms to serve as
attachment points for e.g. fish cages and bivalve and/or seaweed longlines and
potential inclusion of feeders and possibly even hatcheries and nurseries mounted
on the platforms. Additionally, any power requirements of the fish, shellfish and
macroalgae farms could be provided by wind turbines.
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pursuits, and there has been a considerable amount of thinking and discussion that
has taken place globally in recent years to realize this goal. We are deeply grateful
for the contributions of the co-authors of this volume, as their expertise and
experience represents the state of knowledge on the topic of aquaculture as a
potential multi-use of ocean platforms.
We have covered technical, operational, biological, economic, social and
political considerations, as well as case studies, where aquaculture was implemented at pilot scale on offshore oil rigs and wind turbine platforms.
One important area that was not covered in this book was environmental and
ecological risks associated with aquaculture. While we acknowledge that environment issues are extremely important, we felt that they have been covered
exhaustively over the past three decades and that further discussion would not have
added new information for this volume. A recent review paper by the US
Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration
(Price and Morris 2013) does an excellent job of synthesizing thirty years of literature on all environmental aspects of marine fish cage culture, so we recommend
that report to readers with interest of this topic. While most environmental impacts
have been associated with marine finfish culture, there are some concerns with
shellfish and macroalgae culture though to a much lesser extent. These issues are
also covered extensively in the literature (Fabia et al. 2009; Hatcher et al. 1994;
Langan 2007, 2012; Lloyd 2003; Paul 1999; Plew et al. 2005; Price et al. 2015)
14.2 What We Have Learned
While we have extensive knowledge of the technical, social, political, environmental and biological aspects of aquaculture and offshore energy as separate
entities, we have less knowledge and experience with these activities taking place
within the same ocean footprint. Though there are several projects in planning
stages. Particularly in the EU, most of the projects to date have been small scale and
have essentially been opportunistic retrofits on existing structures or hypothetical
scenarios that have yet to be realized. We do know that there are complexities in
site assessment and selection as well as permitting and licensing for aquaculture and
energy installations as stand-alone activities, however, we do not know if the
process would become even more complex if the two activities were proposed for
the same project location, though we suspect they might.
We also know that there is potential for mutual benefits and cost savings for
things like maintenance and operations, though the greatest advantage would be for
aquaculture due to the robust structure provided by energy platforms to serve as
attachment points for e.g. fish cages and bivalve and/or seaweed longlines and
potential inclusion of feeders and possibly even hatcheries and nurseries mounted
on the platforms. Additionally, any power requirements of the fish, shellfish and
macroalgae farms could be provided by wind turbines.
396
B.H. Buck and R. Langan