Welcome to the July 2023 update from the Blue Economy CRC where we highlight the news, project updates, events and achievements over the last quarter.
Recent Announcements
2023 Webinar Series
Project Updates
Upcoming Events
Outreach & Participation
Publications
Latest PhDs & Postdocs
Kelp Mariculture Project – Permit Approval and Phase I Baby Kelp Planting
Project leader, Professor Craig Johnson and the team are in full kelp farming mode following the Tasmanian Government issuing a scientific permit to deploy marine infrastructure and kelp species as part of a pivotal research program on growing kelp.
Craig said, “If done correctly, growing kelp at a commercial scale can yield significant positive environmental outcomes as well as positive social and economic results”.
The research site, south of Blackmans Bay and north of the Tinderbox Reserve in southern Tasmania is prime research real estate and also adjacent to a wastewater treatment plant so in nutrient-rich waters and is being used for research into developing new technologies and systems to support potential sustainable, commercial-scale offshore kelp production in Tasmania’s temperate waters and beyond.
Phase I of the research was completed in June with infrastructure deployment consisting of three small rings and an underwater array, followed by the successful planting of microscopic kelp on lines. Now the project team and our local community wait for what we aim to be 10-12 metres of kelp growth in just 12 months. Follow this journey and sign up for ongoing project updates.
Next Steps Towards Tasmania’s Pilot Commercial-Scale Hydrogen Electrolyser
The BE CRC Hydrogen Microgrid Project at BOC in Lutana is one step closer to realisation with the Glenorchy City Council issuing a Planning Permit Application. This pilot project will develop and demonstrate Tasmania’s first fully operational, commercial-scale hydrogen electrolyser to support the decarbonisation of offshore industries including shipping and aquaculture.
The major project will demonstrate the use of renewably sourced electricity (primarily certified Hydro with some solar) and pure water to produce compressed hydrogen gas (H2) as a medium for the storage of energy and electricity generation.
Connecting Local Communities with Regenerative Farming in Waters off the NSW South Coast
The BE CRC team is pleased to partner with the UOW Blue Futures team on unlocking regenerative farming along the NSW south coast.
Project lead Dr Michelle Voyer said, “Our role in this collaboration is to conduct research which will explore how communities feel about these new activities, and identify how these businesses can work with local residents to share the benefits of the developments and address any areas of concern.”
This new collaboration on regenerative farming between researchers from the Blue Economy CRC and University of Wollongong and local industry leaders is looking at how Indigenous, community and economic values can inform the emerging seaweed farming sector and evolving shellfish farming in waters off the south coast of NSW.
A thriving seaweed industry will contribute to not only local economic growth but also play a role in improving water quality and guide industry leaders to inform future consultation processes for new regenerative farming leases. Follow this journey and sign up for ongoing project updates.
Huge thanks to the Tassal team for hosting the 'Tassal Voyage' in the Tassal East of Lippies farm, Southern D'Entrecasteaux Channel in Tasmania this June. This 4th and final voyage demonstrated the measurement approach developed by the project team can successfully describe the footprint of a fish farm in the seafloor ecosystem.
The goal of this development is to shorten the time it takes to measure the farm footprint from one week to just one day, making future monitoring more cost-effective.
We are pleased to announce our first graduating PhD Dr Mingyuan Ma from Griffith University. Mingyuan’s research investigated the hydroelastic interaction between ocean waves and open-net fish pens in order to design effective systems to operate in high-energy offshore environments with significant wave loads.
“I would like to express my most heartfelt appreciation to my principal supervisor, Professor Hong Zhang. Thanks to her for introducing me to academia, and with her continuous encouragement and support, I was able to persevere in the long research journey. I am lucky and proud to have such an academically excellent, responsible and kind mentor.
Special and sincere thanks to Griffith University and Blue Economy CRC for giving me the opportunity to join a big family with other excellent scholars.” said Dr Ma.
Offshore Engineering & Technology: Blue Economy Symposium
Wednesday 26th July, 2023 4pm – 5:45pm AEST
The Blue Economy Symposium was organised for the first time within the 42nd OMAE 2023 conference in Melbourne Convention Centre from 11-16 June.
In addition to Prof Irene Penesis’ keynote lecture on Challenges of the Blue Economy for Sustainable Offshore Development, the symposium featured 32 lively presentations covering many aspects of the Blue Economy CRC research activities such as aquaculture farm infrastructure, seafood production, hydrogen powering vessels, offshore renewable energy devices, remote and autonomous technologies, offshore development policies, legislations, and ethics.
In this webinar, five presentations were selected to cover various topics related to offshore engineering and technology in the context of the blue economy.
June Webinar: Understanding and improving salmon performance
Our June webinar focused on salmon aquaculture R&D programs using an array of advanced methods to understand fundamental aspects of production biology in the context of making commercially relevant contributions to improving on-farm salmon performance, including through selective breeding programs.
April Webinar: Flow interactions with seaweed
Our April webinar provided a background to offshore seaweed aquaculture including the biophysical effects arising from interaction with waves and currents and an overview of current projects in offshore seaweed aquaculture. Presenters discussed opportunities for cultivating macroalgae in the open ocean, required adaptation to high-energy environments, system design and technologies and the current research gaps in seaweed hydrodynamics.
We are excited to report on the following progress updates across a selection of our current projects.
Developing a Robust Collar Tie
The 3rd and final generation collar tie prototype was installed in January 2023 with positive results following 6 months of testing in offshore waters in the Tassal West of Wedge farm. Development of this robust collar tie will lead to reduced breakages, fewer failures and overall reduced maintenance on-site and repair costs on offshore aquaculture sites. <Read More>
Multispecies Offshore Aquaculture This upcoming project aims to identify which multispecies systems can be viably and sustainably integrated for offshore aquaculture. But who should decide what is 'viable and sustainable' and what are the defining criteria? To begin to explore this, a poster was presented at World Aquaculture Conference held in Darwin in May. The poster was a communicative tool to explore which criteria are important in deciding which species should be grown in offshore aquaculture. Respondents ranked the top five criteria as species suitability for the physical environment, infrastructure cost, growth time, impact on the environment, and species co-location opportunity. This gives insight into what criteria are important in deciding which multispecies systems should be integrated for offshore aquaculture. <View Poster & Participate in Survey>
The Experimental Platforms for Aquaculture Production
The project had some major activity with 630 salmon acclimated at the EAF for six months stocked into the large system to expose Selective Breeding Program families to a simulated sub-optimum Summer and an Autumn recovery. At stocking, the average weight was an impressive 2.6 kg, and being able to use large salmon will under controlled environmental conditions will add considerably to knowledge about family performance. Planning is already underway for Experiment 3 with a focus on understanding feed (= growth) efficiency under discussion. <Read More>
Pre-conditions for the Development of Offshore Wind Energy in Australia
The project held its first meeting during the Participants Workshop and we welcome the PostDoc researchers Dr Miguel Frohich, Centre for Policy Futures, University of Queensland; Dr Hongjun Fan Australian Maritime College, University of Tasmania; and Dr Larelle Bossi, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University to the project. <Read More>
World Aquaculture Society - Darwin
The World Aquaculture Society held is annual meeting in Darwin and was attended by many BECRC participants with Chris Carter presenting an update on the BECRC R&D Building Blocks including the BEZ, case studies on aquaculture development and social licence.
Dr Sarah Ugalde, Chris Carter and Lindsey White presented on future aquaculture systems for Australia and NZ and Leteisha Prescott presented her research on Chinook salmon swimming.
Planning Underway for ICOE 2024
The Blue Economy CRC is underway with planning for the 2024 International Conference on Ocean Energy (ICOE) to be held in the Southern Hemisphere for the first time in Melbourne on the 18th – 20th September, 2024 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
This global marine energy event, expecting to attract between 700 and 1000 delegates from across Europe, North and South America and Australasia, will share recent experiences from research and demonstration efforts in ocean energy.
More information regarding the event will be shared in coming months.
First Blue Economy Symposium at OMAE 2023
The Blue Economy Symposium was organised for the first time within the 42nd OMAE 2023 conference. Research Director Irene presented a keynote lecture on Challenges of the Blue Economy for Sustainable Offshore Development followed by 32 lively presentations covering many aspects of the Blue Economy CRC research activities including aquaculture farm infrastructure, seafood production, hydrogen powering vessels, offshore renewable energy devices, remote and autonomous technologies, offshore development policies, legislations and ethics.
Thank you ~ 2023 Participants Workshop
We would like to take the opportunity to thank our participants and BECRC friends’ network who attended and shared their aspirations, experiences, what they have learned and what is ahead as together, we continue to play our part in growing the blue economy.
Congratulations to Jessica Roach who was awarded the leading PhD Scholar submission as voted on by attendees. She presented a fascinating and informative video about her PhD research on developing technology for seaweed aquaculture that highlights its cultural significance.
Congratulations to PhD Scholar Leteisha Prescott, published in the Science Direct Journal (Aquaculture) on 'Long-term sustained swimming improves swimming performance in Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, with and without spinal scoliosis'.
The BE CRC places heavy emphasis on Education & Training, with an unprecedented scale of research opportunities on offer, including fully funded Higher Degree by Research (HDR) PhD scholarships across its five research programs. We are pleased to introduce some of ourlatest PhD scholars and PostDoctural Research Fellows who have recently joined us.
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