The commercial fishing industry may be set to benefit from innovative new kite technology – aimed at providing fuel savings for vessel operators.
Oméga Sails, French kite propulsion experts, initially developed the system for pleasure boats, but is now looking to roll the system out to smaller commercial vessels.
Vincent Leblond of Oméga Sails said to World Fishing: “Some 60 m2 kites are now in place on fishing boats of 10-12 m for some individual fishing companies and are now being tested."
He added: “From the first observations, fuel savings appear to be at 40 to 50% for the time the kite system is in use - which is about 30 to 40% of the total sail time. This accounts to a total of 12 to 20% fuel savings provided that the wind conditions are between 14 and 20 knots.”
The company aims to test a larger kite measuring 200 m2 with the Qualitropic group of businesses in the next few months on a 20m long line fishing vessel operating from the Brittany coastline.
Qualitropic brings together a cluster of businesses working on public and private research projects across the food industry – including fishing and fish farming.
