AquaPod™ Fish Containment System
Ocean Technologies, LLC
Searsmont, ME
2007 ACEC Maine Engineering Excellence
Honor Award Winner
The patent pending AquaPod™ is
a unique containment system for marine aquaculture, suited for rough open
ocean conditions and a diversity of fish species. Because of an increasing
population and the need to develop food sources to meet world consumption
requirements, ocean fish farming is one industry that can help meet this
demand. Steve Page, CEO of Ocean Farm Technologies and inventor of the
AquaPod™ Fish Containment System, set out to create an affordable fish containment system
that is appropriate for open ocean and deep-water environments. With his
concept and a prototype, Page contacted Kleinschmidt
to assist with the structural design of the AquaPod™. Kleinschmidt, well-known for its capabilities in other water resource projects,
was excited to take on such an innovative and interesting project.
The AquaPod™ is constructed of individual triangular wire mesh panels fastened together in a spheroid shape and functions as a predator-secure containment system while submerged or partially submerged in the ocean. Because of it’s geodesic design, the AquaPod™ is stronger, safer, and more economical than the rectangular surface pens used in near-shore farming. The AquaPod™ was designed to withstand strong currents and will not lose shape or volume while in during inclement weather. The pod’s wire mesh screening is strong enough to withstand predators such as sharks and seals. Kleinschmidt also assisted with the analysis and design of the AquaPod’s™ unique mooring system and the fish containment system can be moored individually or tethered to other pods creating a grid structure.
The first full size pod was launched in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on September 21, 2005 for testing. In July of 2006, several pods were delivered to Snapperfarm, a commercial offshore deep-water fish farm off the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico.
Assisting Page and Kleinschmidt with the design were Paul Cartwright of Cartwright Engineering, Clifford Goudey, a Marine and Fisheries Engineer of Newburyport, Massachusetts, and Vincent Caccese, Ph.D., P.E. of the University of Maine, Department of Mechanical Engineering.
For further information contact Steve Ruell, P.E., Kleinschmidt, Pittsfield, Maine (207) 487-3328.