VESSEL REVIEW | Lingding Muchang No 1 – Chinese offshore aquaculture structure fitted with intelligent systems
A new deep-sea aquaculture structure was recently handed over to China's Zhuhai Ocean Group.
Lingding Muchang No 1 (伶仃牧场1号: “Lingding Ranch No 1”) will be operated by Zhuhai Ocean subsidiary Zhuhai Haifa Blue Granary Industrial Park Development. Design work was undertaken by Zhuhai Marine Equipment Research Institute, another Zhuhai Ocean subsidiary.
Built for extended-duration deployments and with a long service life
The truss-type structure has a length of 96 metres (310 feet), a beam of 47.8 metres (159 feet), a height of 18.5 metres (60.7 feet), a draught of 15.5 metres (50.9 feet), a total capacity of 60,000 cubic metres (2.1 million cubic feet), and a projected service life of 30 years.
The structure can be operated in water depths of between 15 and 50 metres (49 and 160 feet). Electrical power is provided by onboard PV panels and a small wind turbine to permit the structure to stay out at sea for extended periods without having to refuel any generators.
Systems are also available for fire protection and for remote monitoring of breeding activities, allowing the structure to be deployed offshore with a limited number of embarked crew.
The structure has systems that can conduct real-time gathering and analysis of data on water quality, cage integrity, fish behaviour and other parameters related to individual breeding tanks. These systems will then automatically execute essential functions such as feeding.
Designed to form part of a networked offshore harvesting arrangement
The structure’s ballast water systems are also remotely controlled and permit safe deployment at offshore sites. These enable the structure to submerge to conduct harvesting or to lift itself out of the water prior to transits to and from offshore sites.
In the event of a typhoon, the structure can automatically submerge, thereby increasing its draught and making it more capable of resisting strong winds and waves.
Lingding Muchang No 1 is currently deployed and installed at the Aizhou marine ranch area off the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong province. It will be operated alongside the similar harvesting structures Lingding Muchang No 2 and Lingding Muchang No 3.
The three large structures and smaller cages within a one-square-kilometre (0.4-square-mile) area were designed to be simultaneously and remotely monitored and controlled from a single platform, allowing these structures to function as a single large intelligent breeding unit to significantly increase harvest volumes.
Lingding Muchang No 1 will be operated as the central control platform while No 2 and No 3 will be the main breeding units.
