DE-RISKING INVESTMENTS IN AQUACULTURE THROUGH HIGH RESOLUTION OCEAN AND WAVE SIMULATIONS INTEGRATED WITH MODEL-BASED ENGINEERING AND TECHNO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

Quantifying typical and extreme wind, current, wave, and ocean biogeochemistry is essential for quality site selection and reliable gear right-sizing for aquaculture cultivation structures. In regions where quality in-situ, remote sensing, or numerical environmental data does exist, synthesizing complex geospatial and temporal datasets to actionable intelligence can be prohibitively challenging. In data sparse regions, this barrier only increases. In the low trophic aquaculture industry, these data gaps slow the development of safe and profitable aquaculture operations.

This talk details a case study addressing this problem. Kelson Marine and the University of Maine are de-risking investments in mariculture by a multi-step modeling process funded by the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation. The authors are creating publicly accessible resources for the site selection and farm design process by applying validated ocean-wave (regional to coastal scale), hydro-/structural-dynamic (farm scale), and technoeconomic analysis methods to derive:

1. Maps of typical and extreme currents, waves, water levels, winds, and representative monthly temperature, salinity, turbidity, photosynthetically available radiation, and chlorophyll-a,
2. Component specifications for cultivation structures at representative sites, and
3. Regional maps of estimated cost-of-production based on site-specific factors.