Project Description

Umaro Foods (formerly Trophic), together with Otherlab and the University of New Hampshire, will lead a MARINER Category 1 project to design and develop a rugged and resilient offshore seafarm with high yield and low capital cost. The advanced design includes a passive, wave-driven upwelling system that brings nutrient rich seawater to the surface of the ocean, dramatically increasing yields (higher concentrations of nutrients exist in deeper ocean water). A robotic anchoring system will quickly and efficiently deploy environmentally friendly helical anchors into the seafloor with minimal disturbance to the seabed, allowing for high load anchoring capacity with low installation cost. To test a new marine mammal safety feature, the farm will be constructed of stiff composite fiberglass material instead of rope. The team will deploy an individual full-scale unit of the larger multi-module system in Saco Bay, Maine, in fully exposed ocean conditions. If successful, the system will produce high yields at a cost of less than $80 per dry metric ton.

Contact

PI: Beth Zotter; bzotter@trophic.us

Team Members

Otherlab, University of New Hampshire, University of New England

Team Video(s)