Hawaii Oceanic Technology, Inc., a Hawaii based open ocean aquaculture company has received a US patent for its Oceansphere™, Automated Positioning and Submersible Open Ocean Platform for Fish Farming.
The patent was filed in September 2007 and characterises the company’s environmentally responsible system for growing seafood in the open ocean.
Bill Spencer, CEO of the company said, “This is an important value creating milestone for the company. We plan to use Oceanspheres to produce yellowfin and big eye tuna within the next two years. We will also sell and license Oceanspheres globally. The goal of the company is to demonstrate new fish farming technology that allows pelagic species such as tuna to be grown in deep ocean waters where constant currents and large volumes of clean water assure fish health and rapid mineralisation of effluents.”
The Oceansphere was designed to have no significant impact on the ocean and surrounding environment. To do this, the Oceansphere adapts proven off-the-shelf technologies uniquely suited to large-scale fish farming necessary to meet future demand and achieve economic viability for operators.
The company has permits and approval for a 247-acre lease site 2.6 miles off of North Kohala on Hawaii’s Big Island. Twelve Oceanspheres are permitted to operate in the site producing 6,000t of tuna per year. The tuna is being branded as King Ahi™.
“More than 21,000 acres of land and mass quantities of fresh water would be needed to produce the same amount of beef protein,” Mr Spencer said. “By farming protein in the vastness of the ocean, we can be more efficient, use no land or fresh water resources and reduce the carbon footprint associated with traditional fishing methods, not to mention reducing impact on wild fish populations that are already severely stressed,” he said.
