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October 3, 2016
Nippon Steel & Sumikin Engineering Co., Ltd.

—Implementation of an Offshore Verification Test for a Large-scale Open Water Aquaculture System—

Nippon Steel & Sumikin Engineering Co., Ltd. (Representative Director and President: Shinichi Fujiwara; Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "NSENGI"), with cooperation from Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd. (Representative Board Member, President & CEO: Norio Hosomi; Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "Nissui"), will carry out offshore verification testing of a world-first large-scale open water aquaculture system at a Coho salmon aquaculture farm operated by Nissui group-company Yumigahama Suisan Kaisha, Ltd. (Representative Director and President: Hiroshi Tsuruoka; Headquarters: Sakaiminato-shi, Tottori Prefecture) in the seas off the coast of Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture. The verification test will be carried out in the aim of achieving implementation of the system, in which feed is automatically supplied to the fish cage from a platform-mounted feeding device.

Consumption of marine products has doubled from 100 million tons to 200 million tons in the past 20 years, along with a rise in global population. This growth in demand is met by the aquaculture industry. While output from the boat-based fishing industry that targets natural resources (catch fishing industry) has largely levelled-off at 100 million tons since the beginning of the 1990s, the aquaculture industry (farm fishing industry) has increased its output significantly over this period, from a starting point of approximately ten million tons to a level now surpassing the boat-based fishing industry. This has been achieved by means of Chinese freshwater aquaculture as well as salmon farming in Norway and Chile, among other schemes.

Throughout the world, conventional aquaculture is carried out in areas of calm sea, such as in bays or zones sheltered by islands that are less affected by rough seas. In addition to the necessity to avoid interference with various other forms of fishing activity - such as those that use fixed nets - small-scale aquaculture businesses are suffering from a shortage of manpower. We have firmly set our sights on the development of this large-scale, open water system as a next-generation technology that offers a solution to these issues for the aquaculture industry, utilizing our experience in plant engineering and offshore infrastructure maintenance acquired over more than 40 years.

Following completion of the offshore verification test, NSENGI intends to push ahead with commercial production of the system, with the aim of achieving our first commercial sale in fiscal year 2017. We hope to promote the transformation of the Japanese aquaculture industry into an export-oriented sector by targeting foreign markets - where there is urgent demand - as a sales channel for the farmed fish. We also hope to contribute to the improvement of the global fisheries industry in the future, through the export of this system to foreign countries in which the marine areas suitable for aquaculture activities have reached saturation, in a similar manner to Japan.

Overview of Large-scale Open Water Aquaculture System

Equipment

  1. Automatic Feeding System: Platform-mounted equipment and subsea piping for feeding
  2. Fish Cage System: Large-size floating/sinking fish Cages

Characteristics

  1. Excellent ocean wave-resistance and tidal current resistance, enabling aquaculture in open water zones previously not farmable with conventional aquaculture methods.
    • Ocean Wave Resistance (Maximum Significant Wave Height): 7m
    • Tidal Current Resistance (Speed): 2 knots
  2. Increased cage size enables the production scale of each cage to be expanded by a factor of 50 (approximately).
    • 1,000m3 (small-scale cage) → 50,000m3 (NSENGI system)
  3. Automation of the feeding process enables labor saving/unmanned operation.
  4. As water is deep and tidal currents are strong in open water zones, excrement and unconsumed feed originating from the feeding process can be easily diffused.

Overview of Offshore Verification Test

Overview

  1. Location
    Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture; 3km Offshore (Water Depth: 15m)
  2. Equipment
    Automatic Feeding System

    1) Platform: 1 Unit (approx. 300m2)

    2) Silo (Feed Mixture): 2 Units (approx. 25m3/unit)

    3) Subsea Piping for Feeding: From platform to cages (approx. 150-400m)

    Cage System (Existing equipment of Yumigahama Suisan Kaisha, Ltd.) 1) Cages: 5 Units (approx. 4,000m3/unit)
  3. Organization

    1) Design, production, construction (transport/installation), data acquisition/analysis of the Automatic Feeding System: NSENGI

    2) Fish Production: Yumigahama Suisan Kaisha, Ltd.

  4. Period
    December 2016 - May 2017 (to match the cultivation period of Coho salmon)

161003_01.jpg
Conceptual Illustration of Large-scale Open Water Aquaculture System

[Contact Details]
For more information, please contact below
URL: https://www.eng.nssmc.com/english/contact/

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