MIT Sea Grant leveraged the FY22/23 Aquaculture Supplemental Funds to enhance farm management through automation and explore market expansion opportunities.
Oystermaran - The Oyster Bag Flipping Robot
Existing aquaculture farms require frequent inspection and maintenance tasks such as cleaning nets and oyster bags of biofouling, tasks that for some farm formats are physically demanding and unpopular with farmhands. With this in mind, plus the current trend to move aquaculture further offshore, such routine tasks can be done more economically and effectively by robots and automated systems. MIT Sea Grant developed a proof-of-concept autonomous surface vehicle (ASV), named the Oystermaran, designed to maneuver in an array of floating oyster baskets and flip each basket over to control biofouling. Early versions of the Oystermaran revealed the complexities of maneuvering an autonomous vehicle into a densely packed array of baskets, along with the mechanics of flipping and leveling out heavy (up to 30kg) baskets full of oysters. In this presentation, we describe the current vehicle as well as the final version of the platform which is currently being constructed.
Delineating Seafood Sourcing
The shellfish aquaculture industry in Massachusetts is heavily dependent on the half-shell market at restaurants along the coast. Market diversification is key to the sector’s resiliency and expansion. While many efforts have been made to encourage seafood consumption amongst Americans, there are groups who already frequently eat seafood but may not be consumers of local products. We explored the landscape of significant seafood markets in select communities in Massachusetts, and observed notable absences of local products in these markets. Finding these holes, we aim to offer potential pathways for efficient expansion that industry may consider targeting to reach new but hungry markets.