Offshore technologies for aquaculture

A workshop on offshore technologies for aquaculture will be held in Haifa, Israel, from 13 to 16 October 1998. The workshop will be organized by the Israeli Institute of Technology, and will receive sponsorship from the EU under the Agriculture and Fisheries research programme (FAIR).

The aim of the workshop is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of moving fish farms towards the open sea. Experience has shown that open sea locations provide better conditions for fish farming, avoid negative impacts on the environment, and do not intrude on recreational aspects of coastal areas. The problems of such a move however include the magnitude and loads imposed on cages and nets in the open sea, difficulties regarding feed supply, and cage protection to ensure adequate safety.

The topics to be addressed during the conference aim to cover these technological difficulties, and present practical experiences with open sea fish farming. The topics include:

- Inland aquaculture and mariculture in Israel;
- Offshore technologies for aquaculture;
- Principles of ocean engineering applicable to offshore fish farming;
- Offshore mooring systems;
- Operational requirements of open-sea fish culture facilities;
- Open-sea fish farming on the Mediterranean coast of Israel;
- Recent practical experiences with ocean spar offshore sea cages.
For further information, please contact:

TECHNION-Israel Institute of Technology
Technion City
Dr. Adrian Biran
32000 Haifa
Israel
Tel. +972-4-8292609/8292618; Fax +972-4-8324533
E-mail: capsd@tx.technion.ac.il