Blue Economy CRC Announces a Collaborative Project with UQ and Tassal: Developing a Robust Collar Tie
This industry-focused project is led by Dr Michael Heitzman, University of Queensland (UQ), in collaboration with industry partner, Tassal Group.
The mechanism for attaching fish farming nets to floating cages in the current inshore farming environment has been identified as a weak point of the structures in a high energy, offshore farming environment. This project will focus on developing a new, robust methodology, and a marketable product for the Blue Economy CRC.
Project Leader, Dr Michael Heitzmann states,
“The project aims at enhancing the resilience of rope-to-rope connections which have been identified as a major weak point in off-shore aquaculture structures. If, and when, successfully proven, there is a myriad of applications in other fields this technology can be employed to.”
Tassal Group’s Head of Aquaculture, Mark Asman said the findings of the project would play a significant role in the company’s farming operations in some of the roughest waters on Earth.
“With the salmon industry moving further offshore there is a real need to ensure we can keep our equipment where it’s needed for the long term. Not only is this important for protecting our people and livestock, but also in reducing and hopefully eliminating marine debris.”
The project will focus on the development of a collar tie replacement, undertaken alongside the collection of sensor data. It is expected that the attachment points will be identified as a weak link in existing systems. A prototype collar tie will be developed to eliminate issues with chafing and wear.
The prototype will be field-tested and refined to develop a commercially viable product ready for manufacture.
“The project outcomes can very likely be applied to many more components across a range of off-shore structures, benefitting the wider Blue Economy CRC community.”
To find out more about this General Project visit the Developing a Robust Collar Tie project page. Find out more about Research Program #1: Offshore Engineering & Technology.
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