TEXTILES.ORG
More than nine years of research into the development of a low-impact mobile aquaculture system culminated in March. Scientists from Auckland organization Plant & Food Research transferred 2,000 snapper into a moored pen operated in the ocean off the South Island of New Zealand.
Part of the journey to that deployment was months of collaboration with TM Covers, in Nelson, on design, sample trials and the fabrication of a smaller prototype before the full-scale version was assembled.
“The tank was made in a flat panel around 19 m x 19 m [3,886 square feet] with a series of sectional pockets for hoses both welded and sewn onto the top and undersides of the fabric,” says the company’s entry into the awards program. “Some of the pockets were continuous through the length of the panel and others crosswise, terminating in sections at the junction of the pockets.”
Project challenges for TM Covers included taking into account that those working the pen’s operational features would be glove-wearing ocean divers, and many trials were needed to figure out optimal fabrication as far as welding. The sheer size of the project presented challenges in maneuverability and keeping seams straight, whether sewn or welded.
“The prototype is tethered to the sea floor via a mooring and will swing around the mooring, naturally every 12 hours with the tides,” notes a release from the research organization. After the scientists see how the snapper handle the ocean pen, it will be stocked with Chinook salmon. The project is of high interest to the aquaculture industry, the organization says.
The project took the top award in the ATA New Zealand Awards for Excellence in the Innovation category at the organization’s recent conference as well as winning the Supreme Champion award for 2025.
Project name: Mobile Fish Farm
Award: Supreme Champion, Awards for Excellence and winner in the Innovation category, ATA New Zealand
Location: Rangitoto ki te Tonga/D’Urville Island, New Zealand
Designer: Greg Knox & Ross Jacobs, Plant & Food Research, Auckland; TM Covers, Nelson
Fabric: HDMPE, Serge Ferrari
Other: Reid & Twiname Ltd.
Entries into the ATA New Zealand Awards for Excellence are automatically entered into the International Achievement Awards.
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