Image courtesy of Tassal
Research Program
PROJECT LEADER
PROJECT ID
1.21.003
BECRC PARTNERS
Advanced Composite Structures Australia
Griffith University
Pacific Engineering Systems International
Tassal Group
UTAS
START DATE
February 2022
END DATE
February 2024
DURATION
42 months
PROJECT IN BRIEF
In salmon aquaculture, fish feed represents one of the major costs of the business. Fish are fed whenever possible and useful, using remote feeding control systems with sophisticated monitoring and sensors.
Fish feed pellets are conveyed from the feed barge to individual pens using HDPE pipes which float in a loose bundle. These pipes, and their connections to feed barges and pens, can become disordered and damaged in the more exposed sites, especially in bad weather.
Maintaining and repairing feed pipe systems is expensive and challenging. It is expected that maintenance and repair costs will be substantially higher for any future more energetic sites, while current types of delivery systems may be practically unsustainable.
Interruptions to fish feeding are very expensive because of missed growth, thus a robust feed delivery system is not only important for the fish farmers to avoid missed growth, but vital for any future move further offshore.
This project will understand the dynamics of feed pipe systems, improve robustness of feed pipe systems in the most energetic existing sites, and help develop systems for future more exposed sites.
JUNE 2024 Quarterly Update
In salmon aquaculture, feed is conveyed from the feed barge to individual pens using High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipes, which float in a loose bundle. These pipes, and their connections to feed barges and pens, can become damaged and disordered in bad weather. Maintaining feed pipe systems in existing exposed sites is already challenging; maintenance and repair costs will increase in more exposed sites. Interruptions to feeding are expensive.
Being able to reliably and economically operate salmon farms in more exposed waters will be a considerable advantage for the Tasmanian salmon industry. This project aimed to understand the dynamics of feed pipe systems, especially through computer simulation; to improve the robustness of feed pipe systems in the most energetic existing sites; and develop knowledge and simulation methods to help develop systems for future more-exposed sites.
The team for the recently completed project consisted of eleven main researchers from five organisations: ACS Australia; Griffith University; Pacific ESI; Tassal; and University of Tasmania. This project aimed to better understand the dynamics of feed pipes systems, and to develop solutions to make aspects of the system more robust. The outcomes included:
- Detailed understanding of the operating environment and operational challenges for feed pipe systems delivering pellets from a feed barge to the typical open, floating, flexible, circular, fish pens used by Tassal in energetic environments.
- Computer simulations to predict the movement of fish pens and a feed barge in a 16-pen layout at a Tassal site, subject to wave and current action.
- The development, testing under laboratory conditions, and on-site trails of systems for holding and organising feed pipe bundles, and for reinforcing individual feed pipes.
- Computer simulations to assist in the understanding of problems addressed by these improved feed pipes systems.
The Project Leader, Rowan Paton, of ACS Australia commented that “this project successfully developed technologies to increase the robustness of the feed pipe systems in future high-energy sites, assisting with an important step for Tasmanian salmon industry”.
