Environmental Description in the Design of Fish Farms at Exposed Locations

Abstract

This paper addresses the description of exposure from waves and currents in coastal regions for design of marine fish farms. Representative descriptions of environmental conditions are important inputs to the design and dimensioning of reliable fish farm structures. A trend with moving production to more exposed sites and introduction of new and novel fish farm structures increase the need for more precise descriptions of the marine environment to keep control of uncertainties in design. Dedicated field measurements at two exposed aquaculture sites from February to December 2016 are presented. Results from statistical analyses of the measurement data demonstrate that common practice for characterization of exposure in design of fish farms has several deficiencies that should be improved to reduce uncertainties in design.