Construction and Testing of a Spar Feeding System for an Offshore Aquaculture Farm

This SBIR Phase 1 project proposes to design, construct, and test and evaluate a spar feeding system suitable for use on an operating offshore fish farm. To minimize the labor costs for operations in a remote location, remote feeding systems are needed so that feeding of the fish can take place even if the farmer is unable to get to the site. Cates International, inc. has developed a feeding system for it¿s underwater cages that functions from a small boat. But this requires the presence of men at the site. We propose to construct and test a 6 meter by 15 meter spar buoy to serve as an automatic feeding station that will be able to feed up to four cages. The spar will contain feed storage hoppers, a diesel electric generator, various water and slurry pumps, and automated equipment to maintain the spars buoyancy as feed is removed.