The offshore oil and gas industry has been operating out-of-sight of land since the late 1940s. The technology has moved from shallow waters in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) to more than 2,744 m (9,000 ft) of water. Now that same oil and gas technology is moving fish farms from shallow water to deeper waters to improve the growing and harvesting of salmon.

Ocean Farming AS, a subsidiary of the SalMar Group, began feasibility studies in 2012 for the development and implementation of new technologies for the next generation of fish farming. The company presented a conceptual solution in 2013 suitable for installation in exposed offshore areas. Ocean Farming received grants from Innovation Norway to develop the project.

The semisubmersible fish farm is a huge fish cage with netting. The unit is 110 m (361 ft) in diameter and has an overall height of 67 m (220 ft) with a volume of 245,000 cm (8.7 MMcf). The fish farm is designed for water depths of 100 m to 300 m (328 ft to 984 ft). The semisubmersible will be anchored in place.

There is a central column that houses the control room, living quarters, utilities, and feed silos as well as six columns around the circumference of the facility. The fish cage is above the water while being towed to location. Once onsite, the semisubmersible is ballasted down so that the cage is submerged.

Global Maritime AS performed the FEED for the fish farm, and basin model tests were performed by Marintek. Ocean Farming AS will tender an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the pilot facility in spring 2014. The earliest that fish farming will begin is spring 2016.

All of the farming operations will be managed onboard the facility without service vessels and outside equipment. The fish can stay inside the net from smolt stocking to final harvesting. The facility also has one moveable and two fixed bulkheads that can divide the facility into three compartments for different fish operations. During normal operations, a crew of two to four people will monitor and manage the facility. The facility also is fully automated to reduce manual operations.

Operational experience from the pilot facility will be used to improve the industrial development of this kind of fish farm.

Fish farming in the open ocean may address some of the problems associated with near-shore aquaculture such as liquid waste and diseases from closely packed salmon in pens.

It is encouraging to see another offshore technology being used for raising fish, much like the platforms being used for artificial reefs in the GoM. The only difference is that the Norwegian facility will likely have a “No Fishing” sign on it.

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